I have been asking lots of questions about polaris quads, and every time I ask someone always seems to tell me that they are going to break down on me in a year. I was wondering if these rumors are true at all, especially for the newer scramberl 500 4x4s?

 

The reliablity of the polaris's is a matter of how you ride it. If you just beat on the machine and don't maintain it. Yes it will need work on it. But if you care for the machine and lube it after every time you get parts submerged it will work fine. My Xpress is six year's old and it's only been in the shop once and that was because I hit a tree. That was my fault and not the quad's. So it depend's on your riding condition's and amount of maintanace you give the machine. Also if you are a very aggressive rider or if you are one of the people who like to just put around in your backyard.

Hope this help's. Personally I'll not be changing brand's any time soon but I might be looking for a different quad soon![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

LouDog,

Everybody has a story to tell about one brand of quads or another. I think that it may be true that most of the stories are about Polaris, but don't believe them all.

There are a ton of people on here who haven't had any problems with their quads. I'm one of them...my '98 Sport has been ridden hard every weekend since I've owned it (except the winter) and it has held up great. I have never had a single problem with it.

Most of the things you'll hear are from people who have never even owned a Polaris. However, there are a few current and Former Polaris owners that have had problems, but you'll have that with every brand.

I'm not trying to push Polaris on you. All manufacturers have some good quads, but I can tell you that all of the people that I personally know that have Polaris's haven't had any problems.

Take care.

-Josh

 

Depends what you mean by reliable. If you like to wrench on your machine, then by all means, buy the Polaris. They go though a lot, but require twice as much maintenance. The biggest thing to remember is keep the grease gun handy or you will definitely have a pile of bolts in no time.

 

ihave owned 2 polaris's 1st one i never had 1 bit of trouble with it was a 425 4 stroke.didnt ride it as hard as 2nd 1.

2nd 1 nothing but problems it was a 400 2 stroke.went through 3 sets of brakes in 3 months, reeds twice within 6 months, water pump twice within 9 months, steering post bearing,chain twice and 1 wheel bearing. and yes i did ride it hard, but i also lubed it often and took as good as care of it as i could.

so ive had good luck and bad luck out of them.but.... i guess there is lemons in all brands.


so i would not say NOT to buy a polaris.but... i dont think they will hold up to hard riding.

if you just like to trail ride then polaris will make you a very good machine.but... if you to get wild and jump and play race they just want hold up to that kinda riding.dont let the racy plastic on the scramblers fool you there not a mx style quad.and polaris will tell you that too.

 

I consider the riding that I do on my Polaris to be pretty hard. Like I said, I have not had anything go wrong with it that I didn't break myself (Example, I bent the steering post and broke the throttle assembly, and brake lever assembly after it rolled 3 times down the middle of the road...stupid me).

Anyway, I do simple upkeep on it like lube the chain, and I grease it after every ride. Gee, that's though it takes a whole 5 minutes.

Like Bermbanger said though, every brand has it's Lemons.

One other thing that I can add is that it seems like Polaris doesn't make really high quality parts. Such as the parts that I broke when I rolled mine over. A lot of the metal looks like cheap die-cast crap that snaps into pieces when it gets stressed. I admit that quads aren't really meant to be rolled over, but I'm sure the manufactures could guess that it would happen occasionally (and if you are a hard rider, you can expect it to happen too).

I compare my crash on my Polaris to the one that I took on my Banshee and it shows to me that Yamaha does have better quality parts on their machines.

The flop that I took on my Banshee was a lot worse than the Polaris. It was over this huge on trail jump that I hit at the top of 3rd gear and got at least 8 feet of air off of. Well, I came down on my front end and the quad went end over end twice and rolled over sideways twice. Then it rolled down over a bank into a tree. Well, I came out okay....a couple broken ribs, but nothing too bad. Anyway, after I got back up my buddies and I went down and tugged the thing back onto the trail (I wasn't much help...I just watched them do the work). At first glance it looked like it was in pretty rough shape, but after we loosened the handlebars up and moved them back where they were supposed to be, and I took at couple screws out of the plastic that covers the gas tank you could hardly tell anything had happened to it. I started it back up and we finished our ride. However, I noticed that my steering post was now rubbing against my gas tank, so after we got them home we tore it apart. At first I thought that I had bent the post, but that wasn't it. It ends up that I had bent part of the frame (the piece that wraps up over the gas tank). Well, nothing serious though cause we just took the tank off and put a car jack in there and bent the frame back up to where it was supposed to be. Good as new. I would say that a bent frame is a serious problem, but if you guys know the part of it that I bent, then you will agree that it doesn't really affect the quad too much. Sure, next time it will probably bend easier, but it only took about an hour to bend it back to normal so no big deal.

I have to admit that Yamaha builds them pretty good. I know if that was my Polaris it would have been totally trashed. I can see it right now.

Anyway, I'm not trying to put Polaris down. I was just trying to give you an honest answer about "Reliability". Just keep yours on 4 wheels like it is supposed to be and you won't have to worry.

Take care.

-Josh

 

Do not use the word RELIAIBILITY and POLARIS in the same sentenance.At least when it comes to my two brand new Polaris ATVs!Both my 99 Sportsman and my 00 Xplorer were a blast to ride,however,they BOTH required a LOT of trips to the dealership for the replacement of worn out parts.And dont buy into this crap about ''Polaris only breaks down if you dont take care of them''.NOBODY takes better care of their ATVs than me,and still,both my Polaris were POS.

Are the new 2002 Polaris ATVs built better?I dont know and I wont be finding out anytime soon.I've been burnt with two of their ATVs and am not going back for a third one!

Bill

 

thank you everyone i really apreciate the advice.

 

Hey MUDDY4LIFE -- what were some of the things that went wrong with the Polaris machines? (...just out of curiosity, because I was seriously considering buying one soon...)

 

Far to many things to list in here,however,here are a few items that been replaced on the 00 Xplorer.

1-Five sets of outter tie rod ends-Two sets of inners
2-Three sets steering stem bushings[I finally installed HPD]NO more problems with sterring stem bushings!
3-EVERY driveshaft
4-Front hub sleeves and seal at least 4 times[they STILL LEAK]
5-Four sets of chains/sprockets
6-Rear axle bearing replaced once
7-Swing arm bushings/pins done once
8-Master Cyclinder rebuilt once
9-Speedo replaced
10-Speedo sensor replaced
11-Front 4x4 electronic hub sensor replaced,

Now this is just what I can remember on my 00 Xplorer[ I know im forgetting a few things?],my 99 Sportsman was no better.

Bill