[Deeyoh]

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.

 

[mimeeks3]

Sounds like you had a good day. I looked at something more aggressive than the Bighorns when I bought mine, but in my area, we pretty much have about every type of terrain (mud, rocks, hardpack, creek beds, etc), and I knew the Bighorns were a great all around tire from running them on my Rancher for all those years. It'll be interesting to see how long they last for you because I know those more aggressive tires can sometimes wear out pretty quick. My buddy went through 2 sets of mudlites on his rancher and I still had over half tread left on my tires and we bought our first sets at the same time.

 

[Deeyoh]

Oh yeah Mimeeks.. was a great day for sure!! Nothing like hang out with a bunch of old guys around a mud hole. LOL Oldest was 70 and he hit the mud laughing the whole time Awesome.

Think they are less squirrely now that they are scuffed in pretty good. No real wear yet but definitely got them scuffed from all the rocks we were on too.

 

[EpicWolverine]

Sounds like you had a good day. I looked at something more aggressive than the Bighorns when I bought mine, but in my area, we pretty much have about every type of terrain (mud, rocks, hardpack, creek beds, etc), and I knew the Bighorns were a great all around tire from running them on my Rancher for all those years. It'll be interesting to see how long they last for you because I know those more aggressive tires can sometimes wear out pretty quick. My buddy went through 2 sets of mudlites on his rancher and I still had over half tread left on my tires and we bought our first sets at the same time.

I bought the mud lite because the ride like a radial on hard pack, another reason was everyone said how long they last. I've had mine for just over a year and they still look practically new. With that said I don't ride on pavement much.

 

[EpicWolverine]

Nice review Deeyoh!

 

[mimeeks3]

I bought the mud lite because the ride like a radial on hard pack, another reason was everyone said how long they last. I've had mine for just over a year and they still look practically new. With that said I don't ride on pavement much.

A lot of ride spots in my area are trails, some gravel roads, and then some pavement. My buddy bought his mudlite ATs at the same time as my Bighorns, and for those first couple of years I probably rode twice as much as hi, and his tires were gone in no time. My bighorns were on for 8 years and still had over half tread left. I wish I had more ride parks like that muddy place you talk about down by you. A lot of our trails are on private land and are getting shut down. I'd say probably close to half of the miles on my machine are road riding just trying to find places to get off the road.

 

[Deeyoh]

Bighorns are a great tire. I even liked the 2.0's it came with. Just needed a little more mud capability. I'm taking my fronts tomorrow to be balanced. See if that gets rid of the shimmy at 45-55.

 

[mimeeks3]

Bighorns are a great tire. I even liked the 2.0's it came with. Just needed a little more mud capability. I'm taking my fronts tomorrow to be balanced. See if that gets rid of the shimmy at 45-55.

Hopefully that works for you. I know on my last ride, I got a big clump stuck in one of my front wheels and it rocked the steering wheel so bad once I got up to speed, I had to stop and dig it out. I've never noticed any weights on any of my wheels before, and I've never had any sealant put in then. Is there something special they do to balance them, or is it some kind of secret squirrel stuff they do?

 

[Deeyoh]

There's some bead things they put in the tires that break open and balance somehow. Not really sure if they work well or not. Found this. How to Balance ATV UTV ITP Tires

I supposed to have the Ride-on balance and sealant. Guess that's not up to snuff.

 

[mimeeks3]

Thanks for that, I never heard of anything like that before. a while back we had to break down one of my dads tires because it would hold air after he knocked it off the bead and got crud inside. His tire didn't have anything like that in it.

 

[Axo938]

Bighorns are a great tire. I even liked the 2.0's it came with. Just needed a little more mud capability. I'm taking my fronts tomorrow to be balanced. See if that gets rid of the shimmy at 45-55.

let me know how it turns out, my pitbulls shimmy pretty good over 40 mph.

 

[Deeyoh]

Update: Well, I took them off last night and was going to take the front to get balanced this morning. When I was rolling it out to the car in daylight, I noticed some splitting on the lugs. It was only the front driver side tire that had any splitting at all. Also, that was the one I could see wobble when over 40. May not even need balancing but that 1 tire may be bad. Called Rockymountain this morning and sent them some pictures. Rockymountainatv is easy to deal with and has great service. I'll keep you guys updated.

Here's the separation pictures. This is only 100 miles of trail/mud on this tire.

 

[mimeeks3]

That sucks man. Hopefully they make it right for you.

 

[Deeyoh]

Finally got a call back from Rockymountainatv. Said ITP wants a picture of it with the sidewall cut open then they'll send a replacement. Guess I'll take a sawzall to it. LOL Strange. They are sending out a new one today and should be here by Friday. Just sucks now I have to pay to get it mounted.

Anyone want a lightly used Mega Mayhem front tire.

 

[Deeyoh]

Received the replacement on Friday. Rockymountianatv does have great customer service. Went and had it mounted but they couldn't balance the wheels on their machine. Looks like a harbor freight bubble balancer may be in my future. So far no more splits and they are working well. The shimmy is much less now. Must have just been a bad tire.

 

[mimeeks3]

Glad to hear they made it right for you. No way a brand new tire should chunk up like that.

 

[Deeyoh]

I can't find anywhere that says what tire pressure I should be running the Mega Mayhems on a UTV. Rolling on the trails and hardpack they are smooth. I give them that. Think I just need to dial in the tire pressure to find the sweet spot for trail riding.

Started out with 12PSI front and rear. Steering light and front pushing on trails.

11 front/rear. About the same but front not pushing as much.

I'm now down to 10 front and 11 rear. Steering improved and not pushing as much. Back still likes to slide out on hard turns with lots of throttle. But that's normal.. even with the Bighorns it was like that.

This weekend I'm going to try 9 front and 9 rear to see how it goes. They get better the more I air them down. Looks like the 7psi recommended for ATV's but "See owners manual for UTV" pressures may be the sweet spot.

 

[Deeyoh]

Verdict is in. 9 PSI Front and 10PSI rear works like a charm. On the trails they handle almost as well as the bighorns. No more pushing and they really grab and go.