SXS / UTV – Best soft terrain and snow tread tires?

Well, after 2 years of waiting, my ship may (literally) have come in. Carrying the Honda SXS I ordered back in 2020….

Of course, the stock tires are laughably bad, they are some kind of cross-pavement genera-tread tire that looks like they would lose grip on a slight uphill in a dry supermarket parking lot. So I’m going to need new tires right away.

The UTV will be a work vehicle on my hunting farm. It’s not for plowing a driveway in the burbs or trail riding, it’s 100% work. We use it for field work, as a spray vehicle, and on mainly mud or packed dirt trails in the summer, so soft-terrain performance is what I’m looking for. I won’t spend much time on even gravel roads.

But also I want a tire that works as well as possible in snow because that’s what we have to deal with in the hunting season. I don’t want to mess with chains, at that point with all that screwing around to put chains on, I might as well get on the tractor.

Question: What’s best tread choice for soft ground through snow?

Many thanks.

Grouse, it’s a very tall order to get one tire do all for atv/utvs. We’ve been chasing that dream for decades and found two things.

1 TUSK TRILOBITE® HD 8-PLY TIRE has been the best over all tire we found in the last 25+ years. It’s not the best snow tire, it’s not the best mud, not the best rocky trail tire. What it is – the best over-all utility tire. I’m everywhere with my machines, farm, logging, plowing snow w, pavement, mountains and so on and they perform very well and extremely durable. Very good for a one tire solution.

2 a perfect 1 tire solution does not exist. Guys claim it and we’ve all called BS on them and proved it. If your more set on an awesome snow tire, I’ll get the type from my brother in law that he runs. Awesome in snow and mud but too soft of a utility tire over big rocks/logs. We ran 5 machines with 4 different sets of tires last year in about 10 to 20” of snow in mountains. My BIL machine boogies through snow. Mine was a second for keeping up. All the other “trail tires” sucked donkey dung

Hey Grouse –

I have a 2020 Honda Pioneer 1000-5 that came with the tires/rims shown in the picture. They have all the grip you’ll ever need!
They were a bit to aggressive for me since I do a lot of road driving.
I bought Rock-a-billy tires/rims which better suit me for both worlds.

These tires are as close to brand new as they get.

If you’re interested in them, send me a PM. Don’t have a price as I hadn’t really thought about selling them. I can snap some more pics if you’re interested.

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Randy Wieland wrote:

1 TUSK TRILOBITE® HD 8-PLY TIRE has been the best over all tire we found in the last 25+ years. It’s not the best snow tire, it’s not the best mud, not the best rocky trail tire. What it is – the best over-all utility tire.

That’s probably about the best I’m going to do then. I realize there isn’t a perfect all-around choice but it seems like more and more the UTV tires are biased toward high performance desert and hardpack road running tires. Basically exactly what I don’t want.

I’m going to see the UTV tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll have it back home and in my shop by the end of the week.

Haley, those tires look huge. What size are those?

Sidewall says they are AT 28×10-14.

They are deep tread. Very deep and yes, there are tires good for snow and mud…these are it.

Your Honda will be unlike anything Randy has run. It’s a machine that’s geared, not a wimpy belt driven thing.
You can’t get the wheels churning on anything else but a Honda in 4×4 locked diff.

I have system 3 xtr370’s on my pioneer. They have a decent tread and seem to be holding up great with 2k and very minimal wear. My stock tires were bald at 2k.

haleysgold wrote:

Sidewall says they are AT 28×10-14.

Your Honda will be unlike anything Randy has run.

That’s hilarious!!! We modified a salvaged RZR and created a rock crawler out of it. Pushing 800 ho. It has bigger balls than the honda

Didn’t know Grouse wanted tires for climbing mountains.
Are there any in MN? I think not.

Quote from Grouse:
use it for field work, as a spray vehicle, and on mainly mud or packed dirt trails in the summer, so soft-terrain performance is what I’m looking for. I won’t spend much time on even gravel roads.

Does that sound like he needs a rock crawler? I think not.

Why do all these threads get so far off track from what the original poster asked?

Grouse what model Honda have you got coming?

Best all around tire for mud and snow is a Bighorn 2.0…There’s a reason Polaris and Can-am have used them for so many years. Only thing to keep in mind, they are prone to sidewall punctures and rips if you ride even remotely aggressive on rocks. Second choice is the Maxxis Carnivores. BRP has switched to these on some machines, they do excellent on soft terrain. They clear mud well, bite on snow good and aren’t ungodly loud on gravel/pavement. A good friend of mine put them on his RZR, he likes them but has replaced 1 from a puncture.

For me, they were the first thing I took off my machine. They don’t fair well on high speed trails and are far too soft for aggressive riding…which is what I use mine for. I have been running BFG KM3’s for about 1,500 miles and they’re holding up great but don’t clear mud well. Not a problem for me, I hate mud. KM3’s are the opposite of what you’re looking for.

MX1825 wrote:

Grouse what model Honda have you got coming?

A Pioneer 520. I wanted sxs and a cargo box, but storage space is at a premium and we have lots of trails that are only ATV-width, so the Honda was the only Honda model that would work.

I had a look at it today and drove it at the dealership. Nice little unit, but as expected the stock tires are laughably bad. Couldn’t bring it home yet, the unit was damaged in shipping so the dealer is waiting for parts… Story of my life, really.

Thanks for the other suggestions ME. Will have a look at Maxis as well. Trying to decide if I want to upsize the rims on this machine or just go with bigger /wider tires on the existing rim size.

Also need to get roof and windshield headed my way.

Grouse, I talked to my BIL and he has the Maxxis that he runs for snow and mud. Dam good for that but as he says “ freakin worthless for anything else”

He has a couple sets he swaps out for what he’s using it for. More if a hassle than I’m willing to do

I will second the Bighorn 2.0’s. Came stock on the Defender and I’m pretty impressed with what they’ll go through for a stock setup. A little loud on pavement or hard pack, but that doesn’t sound like an issue for you. I think they are toward the upper end price wise.

404 ERROR wrote:

Best all around tire for mud and snow is a Bighorn 2.0…There’s a reason Polaris and Can-am have used them for so many years. Only thing to keep in mind, they are prone to sidewall punctures and rips if you ride even remotely aggressive on rocks. Second choice is the Maxxis Carnivores. BRP has switched to these on some machines, they do excellent on soft terrain. They clear mud well, bite on snow good and aren’t ungodly loud on gravel/pavement. A good friend of mine put them on his RZR, he likes them but has replaced 1 from a puncture.

For me, they were the first thing I took off my machine. They don’t fair well on high speed trails and are far too soft for aggressive riding…which is what I use mine for. I have been running BFG KM3’s for about 1,500 miles and they’re holding up great but don’t clear mud well. Not a problem for me, I hate mud. KM3’s are the opposite of what you’re looking for.

I planned on buying carnivores but the tire guy I bought from warned me that they are very soft and wear quick. The system 3’s I bought are very similar tread.

My 2016 Pioneer 1000 came with Bighorn 2.0. They are very noisy on pavement but good in snow. I stay out of mud if possible.

I run 30″x10″ BFG KM3’s on my Defender. They are very good at pretty much everything I have thrown at them so far with 800 miles on them. I run a 450lb Boss V plow and have put on approx 500 miles of ice travel and have been through plenty of 1″ minus brush and trees with them
They are plenty quite at 60mph on tar and gravel. Unless Im plowing I only run around 7-8 psi in them.

Additional question:

Do you guys run tubes in your UTV tires?

ATV tires were such a leaking PITA I put tubes in everything that was round whether it leaked or not. Do I still need to do that to the SXS or have the makers finally mastered the tubeless tire?

Nope, no tubes for me. The sidewalls are tuff enough they will roll with 2psi in them.

I haven’t had a low tire on by sxs in the first year of owning it. If and when I do I’m will put tubes in. I have heard that tubes won’t hold up if you are using it for pulling. I didn’t have any problems four wheeler.

I would watch out on how much bigger you go on tire size.

dbright wrote:

I planned on buying carnivores but the tire guy I bought from warned me that they are very soft and wear quick. The system 3’s I bought are very similar tread.

100%. They’re a softer compound than System 3’s. That’s what makes them so great in mud and snow.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Additional question:

Do you guys run tubes in your UTV tires?

No. Mine are even balanced. I essentially treat them no differently than a passenger car tire.

Yes and no. We (group of buddies) have some mixed results. Seems like the combination of the older cheap steel rims and low ply and stiff rubber leak. The lip of the rims bend easy with any side impact and they lose the seal. Couple guys that are set in running cheap tires have tubes. Newer models coming out have better rims plus many of us have bought upgrades. The either softer rubber or higher ply seal up and hold their seals well. I run my tusks around the farm at 3 to 4# unless I’m hauling a hay wagon or log trailer loaded. Never had a leak other than puncture or slice ( I can find any drag spike, broken disc, old fence post….

https://www.itptires.com/our-products/product-detail/mud-lite/?campaignid=1782692805&adgroupid=74880910448&keyword=itp%20mud%20lite&device=c&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9dqdlIyb9QIVBI9bCh2BbQhdEAAYASAAEgIRPPD_BwE

I put ITP Mud Lite on my ATV a few years ago. Great in snow. last 2 winters without chains. Great all around tire…..but I use them 75% of the time in the snow.

MADE IN USA too. AND reasonably priced. I could not be happier with them. Bought them online and had local Pomps put them on my rims. Pomps couldn’t order them.

The last few Carlisle tires – wheelbarrow to riding mower to tractor – ALL dry rotted in 2-3 years.

I put these on my ranger at the beginning of last winter and they have been fantastic. Had the same tires (different size) on my sportsman 700 (before I sold it and got the SxS) and they treated me great for 2 winters. Hard to beat for the $295 I paid with free shipping for SxS tires. For some context, my SxS is used about 75% for plowing and 25% for riding trails while bird hunting. I’ve got a driveway that is 150 yards and when plowing with these tires, I am in 2WD >95% of the time.

I debated forever on tires for my 520…looked at terabytes, bighorns, and a few other brands, but ended up with Kenda Bearclaw HTRs and I love them. Haven’t had to put chains on in the snow yet and we’ve been through some pretty deep stuff.

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Grizzly, could you post a picture of that bucket rack you have on the back? Is that custom-made or what company was that from?

Many thanks.

Grouse