Thinking about getting some new tires for my 99 MAG. Deciding between goodyear mudrunners and mud machine's bi-tri claws. I ride on gravel roads alot, a lot of grass, quite a bit of mud, snow, a few rocky areas, and very little (rarely) blacktop highway.Which tire will give me the best for my money? How much are they. My polaris dealer wants $500 for the mudrunners and that is with out rims! I told him "yeah right"! Also, can I use stock rims on the bi-tri claws? If I can't they are out of the question.

 

Mag; I have the 26" Muddrunners on my Magnum 500 and really like them. I got them from my dealer for $435.00 mounted which was cheaper than the Goodyear dealer would sell them to me for someone on here told me of a cheaper place to get them later on after I got them seems like about $380.00 for the set ,not sure maybe they'll show up here. I like them they ride good ,steering effort was reduced by a lot ,that was worth the price to me. As for the Bi-claws they are good to I've seen them take an average 300 4X4 and turn it into a mud machine like you wouldn't believe . They are likely a better mud tire than the Goodyears but as for all around performance I'll take the Muddrunners. They really made my 500 a better performing and riding machine.

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Kevin Gowdy aka Kagey 1999 Polaris Magnum 500

 

After reading all the tire “shoot-outs” I could get my hands on over the last three years, and buying/trying Vamps, Super Swampers, Kenda Bear Claws and Mud Runners, I’m happiest with the Mud Runners as an all-around tire for the kind of conditions you describe. At first I mounted the fronts on wider ITP wheels but it reduced the height of the tire so now I have them mounted on stock wheels all around. About a month ago I noticed evidence of the right front tire rubbing on the tie rod end so I shaved the ridge off the inside of the tire with a razor blade. Those of you with Mud Runners on stock wheels might want to check for this.

After shopping around I bought mine from a very high volume Goodyear dealer for $350+tax mounted. In this forum I’ve seen two sources for them that were about that same price. One is Raben Tire @ 800-777-2236. The other is Brutt Specialty Tires @ 800-223-9919. I haven’t had any personal dealings with either of these companies.

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FloodRunner, on the Wisconsin River

 

I can only comment on the Mud Runners.Im extremly impressed with their Mudding/snow capibilities.They really dig in.On hardpack they offer a nice ride to.I was somewhat disappointed that the Mud Runners were not involved in the mud shoot out giving by Dirt Wheels.I later found out that Goodyear does'nt sponser DW,so that could be why.

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The Sept 1999 Issue of ATV Magazine included the GoodYear MudRunners and gave them a favorable review (page 70).

 

Go with the Mudrunners. I just put a set on mine about 2 weeks ago, and it made all the difference in the world. All of the favorable reviews and comments, plus a company like Goodyear, it's hardly a gamble.

 

Nine months ago I replaced the 24” OEM Goodyear Tracker MPs on my ’96 Bayou 400 4x4, and the 24” OEM Dunlop KT962As on my daughter’s ’91 Bayou 300 4x4 with 25” Goodyear Mudrunners. In order to avoid putting undue stress on the driveline, and to avoid fenderwell clearance problems, I stayed with the stock 8” front width, and 10” rear width.

Initially, I had decided to replace only the tires on my ’91 Bayou as they were the more worn. I had debated between 25” Wooly Copies and 25” Blackwaters, finally settling on Blackwaters as the tire of choice. I had also wanted to go to a larger diameter wheel for comparison purposes. To that end I had ordered and received four 12x7 ITP steel wheels to replace the 6.5x11 front wheels and the 8x11 rear wheels. When these wheels arrived and I began dry fitting them to my ’91 Bayou, I found that the offset on these wheels, while correct according to ITP, was designed to allow a “Bigfoot” kit to be fitted.

This change in offset from stock, even without wider tires, would push the front tires out four inches further than the stock wheels, and would thus prevent me from getting the quad into my Ford Ranger pickup because it would no longer fit between the Ranger’s wheelwells. (This is no longer a problem as the Ranger has been replaced with a Ford F150). I abandoned the idea of running 25” Blackwaters on 12” wheels, returned the wheels to Rocky Mountain ATV, and decided to stay with my stock Kawasaki 11” steel wheels. Since National Tire & Wheel in Wheeling, WV, the closest dealer carrying Blackwaters, didn’t have any 25x11 Blackwaters in stock, which I found out the hard way, i.e., they told me over the phone they had them in stock, but when I drove 65 miles from Pittsburgh to Wheeling, they were unable to lay their hands on them, I opted for the Goodyear Mudrunners.

I bought the Mudrunners from Brutt Specialty Tire (local ATVers can call 412-771-9919 and ask for Jim), a local Goodyear dealer that specializes in offroad and odd-size tires. Once I put the Mudrunners on the Bayou 300, I decided they looked so effective, and since my Tracker MPs on the Bayou were pretty well worn anyway, and worse yet since they had 23 punctures in them, that I went back to Brutt’s and bought a second set. Cochranton proved to be the most expensive poker run I’ve ever attended, each set of four Mudrunners cost $375 with mounting and sales tax.

Both Bayous handled with ease the worst that Cochranton had to offer. I was even able to back half way down the side of a steep muddy ravine, throw a towrope to a rider on a broken down Yamaha Warrior at the bottom of the ravine, and tow him to the top with no problem. Three weeks later at Salamanca in a spot where the mud was so slippery you couldn’t stand up without holding on to something, I towed a Polaris 500 Sportsman out of a deep mudhole, and two minutes later I towed a new Polaris 325 Xplorer out of another mudhole.

The mud at Salamanca was much worse than at Cochranton. I hate to get my clothes muddy, so I rarely hit a mudhole at speed and I am very careful to pick my line through any mudhole I encounter. In the case of one mudhole about 20 yards wide and 60 yards long, there was no way around and no apparent easy way through, so I simply waded in and tackled it head-on straight up the middle. While my Bayou 400 is no torque monster like the Suzuki 500, it is no slouch either. Still with the throttle wide open in first gear I barely sustained a walking pace through the stickiest, gooeyist mud I’ve ever encountered. The good news is, despite dips, potholes, small hills, ruts, water, and off-camber sections in this mudhole, my Bayou never slowed or faltered. The Mudrunners found traction where seemingly none was available.

Being the first one in our group to cross this mudhole, I waited on the other side to see how my friends fared, and to assist them if necessary. My buddy Bob on his Sportsman 500 also made it across with no problems. Next John on his Wooly Copy equipped 2WD Lakota hit it at speed and made it to about the three-quarter mark before becoming hopelessly stuck. I backed up into the mudhole to help John, but Bob was quicker, and pulled him out with his Sportsman. Then Mike hit the mudhole at speed on his 2WD Warrior and made it to about the halfway mark before also becoming hopelessly stuck. Bob pulled him out too.

This past July when I attended the first invitational Quads-On-The-Rocks outing at Tasker’s Gap in the George Washington National Forest in Virgina, I towed another rider’s broken down quad several hundred yards through some of the rockiest terrain I had ever ridden in. The Mudrunners on my Bayou 300 performed flawlessly. (See the Quads On The Rocks article in the Features section for complete details including pictures).

At walking speeds, below about 5 MPH, the Mudrunners have a mild rumbling, vibrating, but not objectionable, ride. Between 5 and 10 MPH they smooth out, and at any speed over 10 MPH they are easily as smooth as the Tracker MPs they replaced. They handle well whether in mud, or on loose dirt, hardpack, gravel roads, and asphalt roads. All of which were present to varying degrees at both Cochranton and Salamanca.

The Goodyear Mudrunners won the mud tire shootout in the Spring ’98 issue of ATV Magazine, beating out the Bi/Tri Claws, the Vampires, and the Blackwater XTs, to take top honors as best mud tire, and best all-around tire. From personal experience at two very tough poker runs, I can vouch for their performance.

The only downside to all of this, is that my 25” tall Mudrunners only measure 24” tall when installed on my Bayous at 4 PSI front and 5 PSI rear. However, this beats my 24” tall Tracker MP fronts which only measured 22-1/2” tall.

So if you’re in the market for a mud tire, and if you can find them, and if your wallet can stand the hit, buy the Mudrunners. You will not be disappointed in their performance.

Army Man