Max IV with Vendetta tires

[Canadian_Zuk]

Hi guys, Here's a short vid of my 1st test drive with the 26x14x12 Vandetta tires. I got a great deal from a forum member on a barely used set of tires and rims. I spent a few hours today pulling the tracks, spacers and 21" tires. Lubed everything up and reinstalled the front chains and then put the new shoes on. Wow, what a big tire lol and a fat swimmer. I need to get the red spring now.

Here are 2 videos of my Max, the 1st one is with the Vendetta tires, the second one is with the 24" Argo tires for comparison.

[Canadian_Zuk]

A few pics because everyone likes pics



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[Delduck]

Nice swim, noticed all the ice is gone.

[Rusty-Gunn]

Very impressive speed. Turns were fast, too.
How do these compare to Super Terra Grips, speedwise in water? (Assuming you might know) Thanks.

[Canadian_Zuk]

Very impressive speed. Turns were fast, too.
How do these compare to Super Terra Grips, speedwise in water? (Assuming you might know) Thanks.

I haven't run the Super terra's myself, but I understand they are a very fast water tire as well. I've had the 22" runamucks, 21" AT-101s, 24" Argo tires, 22" Bear claws and now these. Honesty, the 24" Argo tires were pretty darn quick in the water but I'd have to say the vendettas are faster. Not a whole lot faster judging by my "seat of the pants" comparison but the machine is MUCH more stable and bouyant feeling. With the smaller tires it was very easy to steer by simply shifting my weight left or right, these tires require a had shift of weight to get any lean in the water. I'll have to change my driving style in the water, but the stability is appreciated.

[Canadian_Zuk]

I edited my original post to include a video of my Max on the water with the 24" Argo tires for comparison.

[Noel Woods]

Both the Vendetta and Argo tires really propel the Max4 well.

[Rusty-Gunn]

Thank you. My Max IV has STG tires now. Still in very good shape. I keep a look out for eventual replacements. These Vendetts look extremely good.

[Canadian_Zuk]

Hi all, I've had these Vandetta tires for a while now and have about 50 hours on them, time for an opinion update.

1st off, the ride on these tires is simply amaizing! At 1psi they just soak up everything on the trail, they wrap around rocks and logs providing excellent traction. In the water these things are incredibly fast, faster than I ever expected. When I blip the throttle on the lake the tires "grab" the water and actually pull the front end of the Max up out of the water, a few blips gets things rocking pretty good . My only grip is they do not move the machine in reverse on the water at all, not one bit, not even slowly...completely dead in the water in reverse.

Quote taken from another thread.

Try reversing your rear tire on the very back of each side, that should give you some reverse swimming capability without taking much away from your forward speed.

I did this a few weeks ago and just went back to 6 facing forward this weekend after a very long test period, here are my conclusions regarding reversing the rear 2 tires.

Water speed suffered greatly. After I switched the rear 2 tires around my forward water speed was cut in half if not more. This was a shock, I expected some loss in speed but I did not expect this much of a loss in performance.

Reverse in the water. Switching the rear tires around gave me satisfactory reverse in the water. The machine will actually back away from the banks now. It is nice to be able to navigate through narrow passages knowing I will be able to get back out if I cannot continue forward.

Turning and manouvering on the water. BIG NEGATIVE. I lost most of my steering control switching the rear tires around. The only effective way to control direction of travel was through weight shifting alone. Previously I would shift weight to control dirrection when I was traveling along at full throttle and use the laterals to control direction while moving slowly (just off idle), with the rear tires reversed using the laterals to control direction was difficult. The machine was slow to respond to input, the turning radius on the water tripled at least.

Backing out of holes. Reversing the rear tires made a positive improvement here, I found it easier to back out of holes or back up onto a steep shoreline.

Skidding. There seemed to be more turf damage from the ground being torn in two directions while skidding. A minor issue of no consequence but something I noticed.


Water ingress! OMG! LOL. I thought I had a bigger water problem than I actually do! Previously I would take on a gallon or 2 of water for every 30 minutes I spent cruising the lake. After I switched the tires around I found very little water in the tub after an extended voyage on the water. The reason for this turned out to be water shedding from the tires. With the tires in the forward direction they scoop massive amounts of water and the rear tires were throwing that water up to the engine cover where it was just running down into the tub lol. My "water leak" appears to be coming from above not below, with the tires reversed very little water gets tossed from the back tires. Looks like I just need mud flaps lol.

[milkman5687]

Man, I want a set of those! Wish they made a size to fit the max II. nice machine...

[Mike]

Thanks for posting your findings. This will surely help others out, particularly with your long term testing. Have you tried leaving the rear tires in the normal direction and changing the front two around?

[Rusty-Gunn]

How has the tread held up? Are they wearing down much?

[philipatmaxfour]

Mr. Zuk, I'm pretty sure there were mudflaps on that machine. No?

[Canadian_Zuk]

Thanks for posting your findings. This will surely help others out, particularly with your long term testing. Have you tried leaving the rear tires in the normal direction and changing the front two around?

No not yet, I'll try that next and then try the middle 2 tires after that.

How has the tread held up? Are they wearing down much?

They are holding up amizingly well. I ride in the Ottawa Valley, nothing but sharp granite rocks everywhere. There is no chunking and no cuts at all so far, the tread is showing very little (if any) wear. I avoid the asphault like the plague and stick to the soft shoulder as much as I can when I do need to travel down the road a little. So far so good.

Mr. Zuk, I'm pretty sure there were mudflaps on that machine. No?

Yes there were mud flaps on it when I picked it up from you *hangs head* I removed them when I started to fab up the new ROPS/cab system I'm making. The Tazz flaps are going back on, I still have them lol.

[flsupraguy]

How much top speed did you pick up with the Vandettas versus stock?