All New Pirelli ATV Tires
- Updated: September 8, 2005
By Nathan Delabar
Photos by Scott Wilhelm
Both tires seemed to do really well in the mud. The quads we were using seemed to be able to keep the wheels spinning through the muck better with Rut Buster while the Mud Wiser grabbed more traction than the quad could handle.
Pirelli has finally brought their long standing hi-performance automobile and motorcycle tires to the ATV world. Introducing the new Pirelli’s Mud Wiser and Rut Buster line of ATV tires.
Now the same tire name found on your Maserati Gransport, Ferrari F430 dream car can be found on your ATV. The Pirelli name is very well known in the tire industry for their quality and performance so when they invited us to the Wisp Ski Resort in McHenry, Maryland to test their new tires we couldn’t wait. The Wisp recently held round 9 of the Grand National Cross Country Series and was sure to provide excellent trials and obstacles to find out what these tires are really made of.
For the ride we would be using Suzuki Eigers that the Wisp uses for rentals. To say the least these machines were not a high horsepower big bore machine, but would do the job.
The first thing we noticed about the Rut Buster fronts was the precise steering they provided. Wherever you pointed the handle bars is where the quad went, – simple as that. What’s more, no noticeable sidewall flex was found. However the sidewalls still seemed to absorb rocks and other small obstacles well. The test trails were mostly made of hard-packed soil with rocks and roots just like you would find on your typical trail ride.
The Wisp Ski Resort provided an excellent place to test the tires. The Rut Buster rear tires provided great straight-line traction as well as letting you break the tires loose just enough in the turns. On high-speed strait sections the tires stayed true and didn’t want to walk around on you.
The Mud Wiser is for exactly what the name implies the mud. However, unlike some other mud tires the Mud Wiser seemed to ride very smooth on the hard packed trails. The tires require a little extra effort to steer but provide an extremely smooth ride for a tire that is classified as a mud tire. With that said, you might ask how do they perform in the mud?
The Wisp Ski Resort and Pirelli representatives provided us with a very deep and intimidating man-made mud obstacle. With a backhoe and fire hose a three feet deep extremely sloppy play ground was made. Unfortunately the Suzuki Eigers we were using lacked the power truly needed to test these aggressive tires. In other words we don’t think we got to take full advantage of the traction these tires can probably get with more horsepower.
The Rut Buster were impressive no matter what terrain we through at them, however in the rocks is where they seemed to shine the most. The steering precision while on the rocks was great right along with the traction and shock absorbtion.
OH YEAH that mud pit is calling my name. Bring it on!
Later a few of us decided to take the tires for a real test, — a ride test on the Wisp GNCC track. After all most of the trails we had been cruising on on all day were pretty mild in comparison to the nasty 11 mile track that the racers had just used a few days earlier. Beginning where the starting line for the race was we set out to push these tires and machines as hard as we could in race conditions.
If you don’t follow GNCC racing The Wisp is the rockiest track on the series and causes numerous flats. With the Rut Busters only being a 4 ply tire I was concerned about whether the tires would hold up or not, but they wanted us to try out the tires and I couldn’t think of a better way to really put them to the test. Much to my surprise not only did the tires hold up to the entire lap by all the riders but the handling was very impressive. After arriving back at our base camp and inspecting the tires. Little to no wear was visible, even after a full day of riding in some of the most unfavorable conditions possible.
The Rut Buster seems to be a very nice upgrade for stock tires while the Mud Wiser meats would seem to work better on a larger machine. In the end, we really like what the high tech boys and girls at Pirelli tires have in store for ATVs. A job well done if you ask me.
Pirelli ATV tires are available through you local Parts Unlimited dealer. For more information please check out us.pirellimoto.com.
