Tire

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…

-- Close-to-perfect UTV/4x4 quad sand tires --  Tire test by the staff of Dirt Wheels. The ITP Dune Star tire breaks new ground for us. Here is a tire that has a sharply narrow focus limited primarily to sand, but could also be effective in snow or mud. Keep it away from hard dirt, but when used in the sand it was designed for, the performance is flawless. The single fault we can find is that it currently fits only 12-inch wheels. End of complaints. FEATURES Most sand tires are designed…

A NEW TIRE FOR PERFORMANCE UTVS The UTV tire market is hot. Most high-performance UTV owners are choosing to increase their machine’s tire size when switching to aftermarket meats. The most popular size is 30 inches tall on either a 14- or 15-inch wheel. So, this month we spent some time with a new STI tire. STI has been in the ATV game for years and recently developed stronger UTV-specific tires as well. STI’s latest product is the Chicane RX. The eight-ply tire is available in a handful of sizes that include 28/10-14,…

It’s taking the tire companies some time to get the UTV market figured out. Ten years ago, they were just selling ATV tires to customers buying and using the much heavier UTVs. It didn’t take long for both customers and tire companies to figure out they needed a stronger product. Now we are in a refinement era in which the tire companies are taking what works and experimenting with different tread profiles and compounds, trying to balance weight and tire life. ITP’s most successful tire in the high-performance UTV arena has…