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Hello everyone,
Just giving everyone some opinions on the new tires/wheels. Had a full gambit of terrain yesterday. Dirt/dust, hardpack, slick clay, rocks, wet rocks, sand and of course lots of mud in all their fun varieties
Ran 100miles in tight trails, hills, creeks. That 100 miles took all day and 3/4 a tank of gas.
After receiving the wheels/tires and putting them on. It looks great
Plus! Checked the pressure and they came in at 16psi front and 15 psi rear. I aired them down to 11front and 12 rear. I need to play with this to see if I can get the steering response a little crisper. Measured my clearance stock.. was at 10 3/4 inch in front. Must have went down a little with the grab bar/winch weight in the front. With the Mayhems it's sitting at 12.5", riding I did not bottom out nearly as much going through the same ruts. I did adjust the preload to get it up to 13inches.
Ok, for the test drive. 0-3 mph on asphalt or hard pack you do feel some vibration from the tires but it smooths out after that. Can't really tell you are running some pretty aggressive mud tires. Noticed a little loss of acceleration due to the larger size and heavier tire. Still reached 55 on the speedo just took longer. Going up 5 degree inclines it does slow to 52 or 53. Did have some shimmy in the steering from 45-55 but that's most likely due to the sealant in the tires. Never noticed any shimmy at all on the trails though. Max speed was around 40ish on the trails and ran in low full time. Steering feels lighter and it does feel looser. Not uncontrollable just looser than the stock bighorns.
For the trails it started off very very dusty and hard pack. Again the steering feels lighter and the tires do like to follow the ruts more. Once I put it in 4wd, the steering was a lot more responsive and felt planted. Surprisingly, it did not feel like a rougher ride even with the 14inch rims. No problems keeping up with the 4 wheelers and a new 900s rzr. Ok, hardpack is boring. Lets get to the swamp
Now where these shine, Mud! I know for a fact I would have used the winch many more times than the 1 time I had to use it yesterday. First big mudhole of the day I would have been using the winch with the bighorns. I did get semi stuck with the Mayhems but put in reverse and they actually pulled me backward in some thick mud. Now I had a running start, put it in low then floored it.. they threw huge chunks of mud and ate their way out of that hole. Couldn't believe it myself. None of the 4wheelers or rzr could make it through without winching. Everyone was saying that the Wolverine is a beast. I agree. Pretty much all the mud holes were no drama. Made it too easy, I gave it gas, tires gripped and move me through them.
These tires grip well... the one hole I did get stuck in and used the winch I found out the slip clutch in the front diff. With the extra pressure of the winch pulling down on the front, the tires gripped and the front end slipped. Tires stopped spinning with a few sliding pop sounds. Let off then gave more gas and it did it again. Let the winch pull a little more then eased on it.. pulled right out. It was deep soupy mud with no bottom and a huge sharp incline to get out.
Then the rain began, the dusty trails turned into slick mud and slick clay. The Mayhems slid around some since they couldn't get a full bite on the mud. Wasn't as bad as I thought they would be and the razor with 27" Dirt Commanders was sliding just as much. The steering was pushing a lot but was manageable with the 4wd engaged. It would slide down into ruts and was hard to hold it out of them. Rain rain and more rain... slick rocks were no problem, slick mud no problem. Sandy creek bottom was just like riding on the trail. Things wouldn't really spin but hook up and move you forward.
Ok, to play with tire pressures and suspension setup. I could have increased the front dampening to much causing the pushing. Overall, I'm really happy with them. They did everything I could have asked from them.
Just giving everyone some opinions on the new tires/wheels. Had a full gambit of terrain yesterday. Dirt/dust, hardpack, slick clay, rocks, wet rocks, sand and of course lots of mud in all their fun varieties
After receiving the wheels/tires and putting them on. It looks great
Ok, for the test drive. 0-3 mph on asphalt or hard pack you do feel some vibration from the tires but it smooths out after that. Can't really tell you are running some pretty aggressive mud tires. Noticed a little loss of acceleration due to the larger size and heavier tire. Still reached 55 on the speedo just took longer. Going up 5 degree inclines it does slow to 52 or 53. Did have some shimmy in the steering from 45-55 but that's most likely due to the sealant in the tires. Never noticed any shimmy at all on the trails though. Max speed was around 40ish on the trails and ran in low full time. Steering feels lighter and it does feel looser. Not uncontrollable just looser than the stock bighorns.
For the trails it started off very very dusty and hard pack. Again the steering feels lighter and the tires do like to follow the ruts more. Once I put it in 4wd, the steering was a lot more responsive and felt planted. Surprisingly, it did not feel like a rougher ride even with the 14inch rims. No problems keeping up with the 4 wheelers and a new 900s rzr. Ok, hardpack is boring. Lets get to the swamp
Now where these shine, Mud! I know for a fact I would have used the winch many more times than the 1 time I had to use it yesterday. First big mudhole of the day I would have been using the winch with the bighorns. I did get semi stuck with the Mayhems but put in reverse and they actually pulled me backward in some thick mud. Now I had a running start, put it in low then floored it.. they threw huge chunks of mud and ate their way out of that hole. Couldn't believe it myself. None of the 4wheelers or rzr could make it through without winching. Everyone was saying that the Wolverine is a beast. I agree. Pretty much all the mud holes were no drama. Made it too easy, I gave it gas, tires gripped and move me through them.
These tires grip well... the one hole I did get stuck in and used the winch I found out the slip clutch in the front diff. With the extra pressure of the winch pulling down on the front, the tires gripped and the front end slipped. Tires stopped spinning with a few sliding pop sounds. Let off then gave more gas and it did it again. Let the winch pull a little more then eased on it.. pulled right out. It was deep soupy mud with no bottom and a huge sharp incline to get out.
Then the rain began, the dusty trails turned into slick mud and slick clay. The Mayhems slid around some since they couldn't get a full bite on the mud. Wasn't as bad as I thought they would be and the razor with 27" Dirt Commanders was sliding just as much. The steering was pushing a lot but was manageable with the 4wd engaged. It would slide down into ruts and was hard to hold it out of them. Rain rain and more rain... slick rocks were no problem, slick mud no problem. Sandy creek bottom was just like riding on the trail. Things wouldn't really spin but hook up and move you forward.
Ok, to play with tire pressures and suspension setup. I could have increased the front dampening to much causing the pushing. Overall, I'm really happy with them. They did everything I could have asked from them.