Everything is sticky!

Eddyj · Feb 26, 2019

This is not calling out any one tire or manufacturer. It just seems like the term "sticky" is getting thrown around a lot.
So to really simplify things what makes a tire a sticky?
Is there a way to test and compare? I know you can use a durometer to gauge softness but that is not gauging the gription.

I went from 43 nonstickies to 43 sticky's and could tell a difference the first time out. But all the new entries in the off-road tire market dint have a standard tire to compare to.

So a tire manufacture is debuting a new tire and throws the term "sticky" on it and they sell 25% more?

d_daffron · Feb 26, 2019

I'd vote for a 39 red to be the gold standard. If its as sticky as one of those are then it has earned its place in the sticky hall of fame.

cbrjeeper · Feb 26, 2019

Once you go sticky you you dont go back.. hah.

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P · Feb 28, 2019

cbrjeeper said:
Once you go sticky you you dont go back.. hah.

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Once you go sticky, then you get picky......

cbrjeeper · Feb 28, 2019

Haha.. well played. I just went from treps to 43 sx and miss my treps in crawl mode. But love the sx on moonshine mode..

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jeeptj99 · Feb 28, 2019

Eddyj said:
This is not calling out any one tire or manufacturer. It just seems like the term "sticky" is getting thrown around a lot.
So to really simplify things what makes a tire a sticky?
Is there a way to test and compare? I know you can use a durometer to gauge softness but that is not gauging the gription.

I went from 43 nonstickies to 43 sticky's and could tell a difference the first time out. But all the new entries in the off-road tire market dint have a standard tire to compare to.

So a tire manufacture is debuting a new tire and throws the term "sticky" on it and they sell 25% more?

I've wondered the same thing. I havent seen them in person the but just the videos and stuff i've seen the USD look like they are stiff as a Catholic priest's pecker when the alter boys come in.

skipnrocks · Feb 28, 2019

I actually last week sent an email to each of the tire manufactures to try and get them to participate in a scientific approach to this very question. The proposed testing would give the strengths and specs of each tire. All run on the same rig in the same conditions using force guages to measure the traction in key situations. All testing would be in a controlled environment so they would be at the same temps etc. Testing would also use force guages to test sidewall and main carcass tear and puncture resistance. Then each tire would get rated 0-10 on traction in multiple settings ie dry wet sand mud as well as toughness etc. Then the whole process would be video documented and each manufacturer would be promoted for their strength. This is not a way to bash any manufacturer. But would give the lay person an idea of what tires they need for their type of Wheeling.

Bfg said contact a local distributor to see if they would send the 5 tires needed. So if you know one who would be interested in helping let me know. I figured they might want to defend a category they seemed to pioneer especially with all the new comers.

Superswamper said they would look into it this week. I haven't heard back yet though. But since they kinda pioneered this "tough" larger bouncer sticky tire they might be interested in it.

USD and Mickey Thompson have not responded one way or another.

skipnrocks · Feb 28, 2019

Also didn't get a response from maxxis

tallnate · Feb 28, 2019

It seems to me that stickies have a lesser amount of elasticity in the rubber than non stickies which is why they hook harder and shred rubber off so much faster. I don't know if elasticity is the right word but there's definitely more to them than just a softer compound. They're like a pencil eraser as opposed to a bungee cord i'd say. I felt a set of Nitto stickies recently and they felt very firm, almost identical to a DOT tire but the lugs were scrubbing off almost like they'd been rock crawling across broken glass. Reds have always felt stiff to me too in comparison to treps or SX's but they still hook good on rocks and they definitely wear down fast.

I did get a chance to feel the lugs on the new USD tire and they felt much firmer than my SX's. Haven't seen a set of the new Mickey Thompsons in person yet but they are supposedly about 5 durometer points softer than the SX.

But there's no disputing that a sticky tire finds traction better than a non sticky, especially on wet and muddy rocks. So if these new "Stickies" don't actually have that magic pencil eraser compound in their rubber, then they'll struggle to keep up and we'll know the truth.