Massive Mini Mud Tire Test

Spider Spacing
To prevent our having two sets of wheels for the test, we installed a pair of heavy-duty Spidertrax wheel adapters on the '10 four-door Jeep Wrangler JK. This allowed us to easily covert the JK's factory 5-on-5 wheel bolt pattern to 5-on-51/2. This created a safe and easy way for us to transfer each wheel set from one ride to the other.

Information: Spidertrax, 800.286.0898, www.spidertrax.com

Wheel Classics
As one of the legendary names in the off-road world, Mickey Thompson excels in building durable and lightweight aluminum wheels for your off-road machine. In order to have a constant wheel variable for our test, we mounted each tire on a 15x8 Mickey Thompson Classic II wheel. The lightweight rims made swapping tires around a bit easier on the back and created less unsprung weight and rolling resistance for the Jeeps.

Information: Mickey Thompson Performance, 330.928.9092, www.mickeythompsontires.com

4Wheel Mounting
Since our five sets of 33-inch mud-terrains weren't going to mount themselves on our 15-inch Mickey Thompson wheels, we teamed up with the 4Wheel Parts store in Van Nuys, California. Though mounting 20 tires and wheels is a pretty tall order, the 4Wheel Parts crew had us fixed up in no time flat. Seeing as how we wouldn't be road testing the mini mud-terrains on this test, we bypassed the balancing machine and aired each tire to 20 psi.

Information: 4Wheel Parts, Van Nuys, CA, 818.988.2754, www.4wheelparts.com

San Gabriel Canyon OHV Area
To test our batch of mini mud-terrains, we needed a proper wheeling venue with plenty of rich dirt and fresh pits. Fortunately we were able to secure our pit paradise nearby at the San Gabriel Canyon OHV Area just outside of Azusa, California. To help coordinate our top-secret mud testing, we enlisted the help of Azusa Canyon Off Road Association President Mike Bishop (left). An active off-road enthusiast, Bishop works with local and state land use officials to help keep places like the San Gabriel Canyon OHV Area open. From all of us at 4-Wheel & Off-Road, a big thank-you goes out to Mike and the San Gabriel OHV Area Forest Service for allowing this test to happen.

Information: U.S. Forest Service, San Gabriel Canyon OHV Area, 626.910.1235, www.fs.fed.us