Mud tires in sand

[gr8tdragon]

I was thinking of putting a set of mud tires on my Polaris Sportsman 450. I heard that if you use these tires in sand that the mud tires will cause you a substantial loss in power over stock tires. I know going to the mud tires will drop my power by a bit because of the weight difference. I can live with that as more traction is better then stock in the mud trails around here but we also have a couple sand trails. Does having mud tires on make that big of difference over the stock in sand?

[leonard]

from my experience most mud tires are worse in sand. because they dig you down a-lot.

most paddled sand tires pull the sand in towards the center of the tire.. most mud tires push out to get down to the hard ground.. you see how this is the difference that causes you to either sink or run on top of the sand.

[rmksledder]

dont buy mud lites if thats what ur going to ride in they suck in sand

[Garryese]

Depends on the mud tires you choose. A tread design like Bearclaws K299 can be swapped left to right (ran backwards) for sand use. Mud Lites work so-so backwards. Sand also requires tire speed to climb up on top, so smaller diameter tires tend to work better in sand, but kill you in the mud. If your looking for a tire that can ran down a trail that has deep sand and deep mud on it, you will not find a tire that works well for both.

Mud tires eat up horsepower and so does sand. You are running a heavy machine that is light on horsepower anyways. When you are looking at tires make sure the tires weight no more than 27 lbs for the rear and no more than 24 lbs for the fronts.

[gr8tdragon]

Thank you for the good information. I will keep it in mind about weight and type of tire. I was thinking the super grip super lites or Mud bitch. But if the Mud tires are that bad in sand I might just stay with the super lites and do side swaps if going to be in sand all day. Most of my riding is in mud, muskeg and loon crap. So will probably go with the Super lite 1.25" deep lug.

[BIG_BRUTE750]

i really like my outlaws in the sand....

[leonard]

outlaws are nothing special in sand bro..

were talking if your gonna go out Duneing dont bother with mud tires.. if your talking about creek riding its not nearly as bad.

[mavrick]

I can say this mud bugs and crap in the sand went to the local dunes and spent more time spinning then anything.

[stripe]

good info here guy thanks

[Scrambled]

Ive gone to the Orgon Dunes afew times with my mud lites turned backwards,worked fine,are they as good as paddles no but better then just the regular nobbys,they got me up every big hill I pointed at.

[Bushy15]

i run 26 " swamp lites on my rincon.
i've never been stuck in sand, but you are going to lose a lot of power, and forget about sporty cornering.
i even find the iron horse trail, can give me power problems with all the loose gravel and sand.
but they sure work in muskeg!!