Hercules Tires, who has been developing and manufacturing car, truck, trailer, industrial and specialty tires since the 1960s, has jumped into the ever-growing UTV space. In collaboration with TIS Offroad Wheels, the new Hercules TIS UT1 tire/wheel combination is here and we had an early opportunity to test it. Here’s our Hercules TIS Offroad UT1 Tire Review.
We mounted up the new Hercules TIS UT1 combo on our Kawasaki KRX 1000 and took off to one of our favorite test locations. This mountainous trail is filled with many different kinds of terrain from hard packed dirt, sand washes, rain ruts, steep hills and descents and a whole bunch of “gotchas” in the form of sharp rocks and sticks.
We opted to run a 32X10-15, which is a great replacement for the majority of high performance UTVs. They’re also available in 28×10-14, 30×10-14, 32×10-14, 30×10-15 and a soon to be released 35×10-15. Each 32” tire weighs in at 40 pounds. Its big name competitors, the Maxxis RAZR XT weighs in at 43.7 lbs, the BFGoodrich KM3 weighs in at 44.3 lbs and the System3 RT320 weighs in at 41.6 lbs.
Our Hercules TIS UT1 Tires measure exactly 32” tall and 10.25” wide (¼” wider than the website suggests). We began testing the tires at our preferred 20 psi for desert-type terrain, then dropped down to 18 psi to provide extra traction and a more comfortable ride. We slid through rocky corners, drove through sharp bushes and put the tires through a thorough evaluation without any failures.
The rounded profile of these tires provided a predictable ride and gave our KRX a sense of confidence when pushing the traction limit. We definitely prefer rounded edges over more of a squared edge truck tire in the desert. The tread ratio is balanced and smooth with subtle biting edges that help pull through the sand and loose fire roads.
We love the look of the new TIS Offroad Wheel. It’s a tad flashy, but the red accents matched our KRX perfectly. The main disadvantage with a non-beadlock wheel is that you’ll definitely need to invest in a spare tire/wheel combo to throw in the bed or on a rack. Not saying the tires aren’t stout, only making sure that you make it back to camp if you slash a side wall.
Overall, we’re impressed with the looks, handling and quality of the new Hercules TIS UT1 Tires. We’re also pleased with the Hercules Performance Promise which is a 24-month limited protection policy for workmanship and materials. The tire prices start around $170, which also puts these tires at the lower end of the market compared to other big name competitors.
