Tire Test

Truck-tough traction-grabber By the staff of Dirt Wheels with Steve Norr Obor Tires has been building momentum in the ATV and UTV markets by innovating and releasing new tires. One of the latest for UTVs is the Brawler. It is so new that as this is written, the tire is available in only three sizes—28-, 30- and 32-inch—and all for 14-inch wheels. The Brawler is claimed to have “light truck-inspired” tread design and features. The Brawler has a tough 10-ply-rated carcass to handle the rigors of rough terrain. THE…

By the staff of Dirt Wheels MAXXIS RAZR XT TIRE TEST Maxxis tires run the gamut from full mud to super-gummy specialty rock tires. Until the release of the Razr XT, the company didn’t have a dedicated, purpose-built desert racing tire. Now, Maxxis took aim at Tensor and BFGoodrich desert race tires. At the moment, the Razr XT comes in a 32-inch to fit 15-inch rims for $318 each. HOW IT IS MADE Since the Razr XT is a desert race tire, it is expected to get traction on everything from silt and soft sand to solid…

By the staff of Dirt Wheels CST APACHE A/T TIRE According to EveryCulture.com, the homeland of the Apaches was a vast region. It stretched from what is now central Arizona, in the west, to present-day central and south Texas in the east. Then from northern Mexico in the south to the high plains of what became eastern Colorado, in the north.  That is a big swath of land. Given the radical difference in terrain found in that vast area, giving a tire the name Apache, puts a lot of expectation on that tire. However,…

By the staff of Dirt Wheels MAXXIS CORONADO UTV TIRES We become used to seeing hard-terrain tires with closely spaced, relatively short tread blocks. Most have a pretty square profile as well. In light of that, we assumed that the Maxxis Coronado was a mud tire with widely spaced, deep tread blocks. Obviously, we were a little surprised to find that the Coronado is what Maxxis calls “the ultimate desert tire for your ATV or side-by-side,” and claiming that the compound is long-wearing and formulated for high speeds…

-- Tons of tread that'll last a long time at a good price -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels Tire testing never ceases at Dirt Wheels! Chaparral’s house brand Ocelot Racing has a vast selection of tires for UTVs and ATVs. The Ocelot line includes these new TG Victory tires. We picked up a set of 30x10-14, which is a standard replacement size for desert dwellers on sport performance UTVs like our Polaris RZR XP 4 1000. CONSTRUCTION The Victory tire is no lightweight. When we first installed them, we figured they…

-- Testing Chaparral's lower-priced performance tire -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels:  Chaparral Motorsports has been an off-road product distribution and sales company for quite a long time and has long had Ocelot Racing as its house brand of budget gear. Ocelot now has a full range of tires. Ocelot specializes in ATV and UTV tires of all types, and we recently picked up a set of its Atacama tires designed for 4x4 machines to tackle the rough, rugged and unrelenting terrain of the desert. We mounted them on our…

 By the staff of Dirt Wheels There is a perfectly good reason that most sport or sport utility UTVs come with a fairly aggressive tire with large, blocky knobs. UTVs are sold all over North America, and it hardly makes financial sense to equip machines headed for different parts of the country with different tires. Economy-of-scale pricing mandates that companies choose a tire that can do everything pretty well. Pro Armor knows that not everyone lives where the stock tires are most effective. For instance, the Dirt…

Rock and roll, and rolling rocks By the staff of Dirt Wheels When we first saw the GBC Kanati Mongrel tires in action, we wondered if they were an automotive tire adapted to UTV use. Nope, they are designed for ATVs and UTVs. When a tire company is building a tire for original equipment, they have a lot of demands to meet. It must offer traction in an extremely wide range of terrain. The tread should clean well in mud yet not be destroyed easily in rocks. The suspension department will want the tire to be as light…

-- DIRT WHEELS TIRE TEST: Tire and wheel that “fuel” your off-road fun -- We were impressed with the performance of the Gripper tire. It helped our Can-Am climb some gnarly rock terrain, worked great in the sand and improved the handling of the car on high-speed sections. When you hear the name Fuel wheels or Fuel tires, you probably think of their killer-performing and killer-looking truck tires and wheels. Well, recently they’ve started a full assault into the ever-growing UTV tire and wheel game. With…

When you think of a description of a mud tire, the word “smooth” probably doesn’t come to mind. However, that was the first word that popped into our driver’s head when he first tested a machine equipped with STI’s new Outback Max mud tire. This huge tire has an aggressive V-shaped pattern with stepped lugs measuring 1.5 inches tall in the center. From there, the lugs stretch and grow to the outside and end up being a full 2 inches tall. The outer lugs are an angled, cupped design. There is a little side bite, but most of…

Eventually, everyone will want new tires on their UTVs, and when they do, there is always the question of, which ones do I buy? A lot of factors come into play when choosing the right tires to better suit your driving style and terrain. Recently, we tested a set of the AMS Radial Pro on an Arctic Cat Wildcat Sport 700. We decided to mount the front 26x9R12 and rear 26x11R12 tires on the stock rims. The Radial Pro is a DOT-approved, eight-ply, directional tire with staggered V-shaped lugs in the center and…

Since the release of the X-Rex tire from GBC, we have always been impressed with the superior traction and durability of it for sport ATVs. Over the last year, we have been testing a set of the updated and renamed version of the X-Rex, the XC Master. This six-ply tire is available in rear sizes of 20x11.00-9, 22x11.00-9, 20x11.00-10 and 22x11.00-10, and front sizes of 21x7-10, 22x7-10 and 23x7-10. We used the 20x11-9 in the rear and 21x7-10 for the front and put countless hours and miles on motocross tracks, desert trails…