27" or 28" Tires on my 500

[Turk]

What do yall think my SP 500 would be better with 27" or 28 tires?? I looking to ditch my 26" sooner or later...I hope sooner.I'm still not sure what brand tire i'll go with yet.I'm leaning toward 28" as I hear thats really the biggest you should run a 500cc.Would love to hear any opinions or suggestions.

[Bigdog800EFI]

Alot will depend on what tire you chose. I had 28" outlaws on my 500HO carb and that was to much tire. I ran 28" gators and worked good. Vampire EDL worked OK. 26" Mudbug Great tire. I run 27" Executioners on my 500EFI with great results. Had 26" Executioner. almost the same power as stock.

[Dirtbmw20]

I run 28" Outlaws on BOTH my 500's and absolutely love them. We've had both bikes in some pretty bad situations and they never fail to spin the tires, regardless of how bad we were stuck. I personally think a 28" tire is the perfect tire for the 500's, both my bikes will spin the living crap out of them with no problems at all.

[Bigdog800EFI]

I am comparing how my 800 spins them to how my 500 did with the same tires. Same week at Mud Nationals. 800 would do it with easy, 500 with a clutch kit was not what I would call easy. It would do it but When it was thick, it just didn't have the power. Just my opinion.

[Turk]

Alot will depend on what tire you chose. I had 28" outlaws on my 500HO carb and that was to much tire. I ran 28" gators and worked good.


Thats why I want to look at and consider all the brands.Right now with the 26" 589's I dont seem to loose any low end power but they did take about 6mph off the top end speed.I plan on keeping the 589's and putting them on my stock steel wheels eventually.When I bought the 598's I was playing it safe because that was before the bike was lifted and I had no plans on lifting back then,funny how things like that change.

[Dirtbmw20]

You can fit 28's easily with NO lift. We run 28's on the wife's bike with NO lift and never had any problems.

[Turk]

You can fit 28's easily with NO lift. We run 28's on the wife's bike with NO lift and never had any problems.

On aftermarket rims with the proper offset I can see 28's fitting with no lift.But would they fit if mounted on stock wheels and no lift??

[OnlyPolaris]

they would only work on stock wheels if you ran spacers. get 28". i love my bug. they seem to wear good to me and they are fairly light.

[Dirtbmw20]

A 28" tire is still a 28" tire, it doesn't matter what the offset of the rim is. The offset of the rim isn't what allows the tire to fit without a lift, the offset of the rim will depend on if you need spacers or not but won't affect if you need a lift or not. Now...... wether they will fit on STOCK rims will all depend on WHICH stock rims you have, WHICH 28" tire you are going with AND the width on that 28" tire.

Now...... I couldn't take the 28" Outlaws and mount them on the stock silver steel wheels and put them on her bike without using spacers. If I used spacers then I could fit them on her bike with the stock steel rims and with no lift.

[Turk]

Now...... wether they will fit on STOCK rims will all depend on WHICH stock rims you have,


The 28's will be going on my ITP type 5 wheels.

My 589's will be going on my stock steel wheels.

[Turk]

WHICH 28" tire you are going with AND the width on that 28" tire.

Dont know what tire i'm going with yet.As of now to fit in the door frame of my covered trailer I cant go wider then 9" up front without having a problem fitting through the doorway.i'll run 12" in the back.

[OnlyPolaris]

Dont know what tire i'm going with yet.As of now to fit in the door frame of my covered trailer I cant go wider that 9" up front and i'll run 12" in the back.

soemthing like swamp foxs, mudzillas. those come in 9 and 8 inch wide for the front.

[Turk]

soemthing like swamp foxs, mudzillas. those come in 9 and 8 inch wide for the front.


Yeah it's the offset of the ITP wheels that put the tires out past the fenders,but I love that look.As the way things are now my choices are,stay with tire's no wider then 9" up front to get in and out of my trailer doorway or sell my trailer and get a one with a wider doorway.I could go with wider tires up front if I used the stock rims but I like my ITP type 5's better and i'm going to put my old 589's on the stock rims once I buy the 28" tire's.Remember to that i'm not doing any of this for a little while but I want to educate myself beforehand.

[OnlyPolaris]

but if you put the 28" tires on stock wheels you would have to get spacers which woruld be the same as having them on the itp rims.

[Turk]

but if you put the 28" tires on stock wheels you would have to get spacers which woruld be the same as having them on the itp rims.


DOH!!!!....I overlooked that.Yeah I have to stay with the 9" wide tires on the front no matter what rims I use unless I got another trailer with a wider doorway and thats not gonna happen.I've already modified my current trailer door so I can fit with ITP's with the 9' tires on the front.

[OnlyPolaris]

i probably wouldn't get mudzillas because i wouldn't want 8" wide tire in the front. for me that is to skinny.

[Turk]

i probably wouldn't get mudzillas because i wouldn't want 8" wide tire in the front. for me that is to skinny.


8" is to skinny for me as well.I was just looking at my stockers and they have 8" on the fronts and no way.So my choice of front width on the tire is now set at 9" due to my trailer doorframe width which I modified once so far to fit with my IPT's and the 9" wide 589's.It's a pretty close fit but makes it in with just enough on each side to give me about 1/8 of an inch on both ends.So I want to go with 9" up front and 12" for the rear on tire width.So now I have to look at tires and brands and what I think is going to fit my riding and budget.

[Mole]

I like the new Zillas from Maxxis. I got the 27's on my 700 and so far I love them. 9" wide in the front and 11" in the rear. I believe that's the only widths they offer right now.