According to the manufacturer, the ITP Mud Lite XTR ATV tire was designed to combine all the good features of their 589 & standard Mud Lite ATV tires while improving performance and adding radial tire technology. Here is a quick Project Foreman tire history based on my own experience:
The stock 25" Dunlop's that came on my 1998 Honda Foreman were the pits. They wore well but were soft (2ply construction), was not very aggressive, punctured way to easy, and provided no rim protection leading to damaged beads.
After two seasons riding the stock tires I purchased a set of ITP Blackwater XT's (27" height) and they were a huge step up from the OEM 25" Dunlops. They were nice and aggressive for the rough stuff but still maintained a decent ride on hard pack. These tires were a 6 ply construction so they were much more puncture resistant, protected the rims perfectly, and wore well lasting over 6 years.
In 2003 I had a chance to compare them to a set of Maxsys Mudzillas. French installed a set (26" height) on his 2003 Foreman 450es. These are very aggressive, featuring a 2" lug and they hooked up very well. They did have a rougher ride on hard pack, and were quite heavy which really sapped power from the 450cc bike in deep mud. In bogs where I could use 2nd gear on my bike with ease the Mudzillas were relegated to 1st gear only on French's bike. These tires would be (and certainly are) great for the avid mud rider riding a larger displacement bike.
In 2006 French and I upgraded tires on our Honda Foreman's to Mud Lite XTR radials. He picked up a set of 26" XTR's, and I am running 27's on mine.
Having owned them well over a year now and tested them in countless situations, I have to say they are fantastic. The tread is 1-1/8" deep and fairly aggressive so they work very well in mud & bog, provide great hook up for climbing gravel pits, and have siped tread blocks for traction on bare rock. Hard pack trail handling is like nothing I've experienced on ATV before. The tire has a square profile so they corner very flat making the bike faster in the turns (and much more stable).
I've used them quite a bit in snow (packed trail and moderately frozen stuff) and they were far superior to any other tire I've used previously. Again the square profile seem to give better flotation in loose snow, grip is great, they don't dig and the tread cleans out well in hard pack snow. Overall I highly recommend the XTR's you will not be disappointed at all.
2017 Update:
Eleven years and many thousand kilometers later and I'm still running the same set of Mud Lite XTR's! They are holding up well, the 1-1/8" deep lugs have worn to about 3/4" tall so traction although not as good as new, is still quite capable in all conditions.
These tires have performed fantastic on trails, bog and rough country and are surprisingly really good in snow.
French has since sold his Foreman ES replacing it with a 2014 Yamaha Grizzly outfitted with a set of 27" Mud Lite XTR's.
2019 Update:
Just before our Annual Winter Cabin Trip in February 2019 I decided to pick up ice some studs for the tires on Project Foreman. We presently have no snow but thanks to very cold weather we have lots of ice. The ice coated steep trails around Sooley's cabin are treacherous so the added traction of studded tires will be a welcome feature for trail riding and hill climbing. Using my Milwaukee Fuel M18 impact driver I quickly installed 700 x 1/2" studs across the four tires.
My older set of ITP XTR's are now studded so I decided to relegate them to winter duty and finally purchase a fresh set of summer tires mounted on a 2nd set of steel wheels. I'm still very pleased with the XTR's so much so I went with them again for Project Foreman.
Canadian Loonie tread depth measuring device on new tires...
...and the old tires. The amount of wear for 13 year old rubber is quite respectable as they have been well used, abused and have 1000's of kilometres on them!
All in all 100% would buy again, these tires work very well in everything I throw at them.
Cheers, Mike
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