Atv tires

I just bought a Sportsman 800, the previous owner really didn’t take very good care of it, well maybe I should say that he was pretty hard on it. The seat was broke, I assume he must have thrown a strap across it to strap it onto his trailer. The battery box is broke too probibally related to the seats downward force when it was strapped. I already replaced the seat and the battery box is only about $12.

The reason for the post is the tires, I guess he was mowing some hedge trees (osage orange) and the tires had about 1000 thorns in them. He had some stop leak, I think it is called fiber fill put in the tires, any way that is what a guy at a local tire shop told me. I was thinking about getting all of the thorns pulled and put tubes in the tires. The guy at the tire shop told me to just use it with the stop leak in the tires. I don’t have problems with them going flat but I am sure that all four tires have the stop leak and when you are going about 30 mph the tires are so out of balance, well I just say it shakes you pretty good.

I have seen some decent looking used tires and wheels on CL for $400 but they look more like road tires, I am sure they are all season, they just are not as agressive as the ones I have now. Do the tires make a lot of difference in the amount of traction you get in the snow while plowing.

Yes,also depends on whether 2WD or 4WD. Air is cheap if they do not go flat often.What do YOUR tires look like? But guys do like tires. If you can afford $400, do it. You will feel like you are going faster and have more traction, wheteher you do or not. At least I do.

The tires you have pictured are very similar to whats on my rubicon. Mud, gravel, rocks, sand, snow, ice they have performed pretty weil in all of those. Only two times I recall getting stuck was trying to get up a steep, leaf covered hillside after dark with an extra 150 some pounds of dead deer along for the ride (dew/frost formed over leaves) and once when I under-estimated the depth of a snow drift (I guessed around 3′ deep, more like 4.5′ and a lot longer than I thought) and tried to punch through it. This is an all the time 4wd machine though too.

Short of studded tires, depending on what the surface is below I would say a set of chains would be a good investment regardless of what tires you put on if you are going to plow snow with it (unless the chains will damage in an unacceptable manner the surface below).

If the tires in the picture are the ones on CL, they look like Sedona Mud Rebels. That is the same tire I have on my 4×4 and I have plenty of traction in snow. Granted I don’t use it for plowing, but I would think you would need tire chains for plowing anyway. $.02

Those tires don’t look like they have a lot of tread but it is the right kind for all terrain so if you are fine with the leaks and don’t plan riding distances then go for it.

If they leak so bad as to have flats after a few days or less I would toss them. If you ever do need new tires you could look here. These guys are in Iowa and have treated me well.

http://www.atvtirestore.com/index.html

The tires I already have are Carlisle made for Polaris, and the tread is pretty agressive. Compared to the Kenda tires that are listed on Craigslist and I didn’t realize it until just now when I looked at this picture that they are only 25″ compared to the 26″ I already have. I think I will just have to stay with the ones I already have for now.

They don’t leak much other than when I took a monster thorn out, it must have been from a locust tree. That tire went flat in about 10 minutes, I put a plug in it and it is good to go. Really the only way I know that they are leaking is the stop leak makes a wet area around the holes I took the thorns from. And I am still finding thorns but they are a lot smaller than what I was pulling when I first got it.

Hey thanks for the replies, I know if I need some direction I can always depend on the guys at IDO.