Some more budget friendly brands that make good tires are Hankook.
Yes, it is worth it to spend more money. They will last longer, be more comfortable, have more grip, and make less noise.
Ridden both for XC racing and I have come to prefer the specialized tires over maxxis. I personally like to run ground control T5 upfront with fast track t5 in the rear as my base for my local trails and most race courses ( mid Atlantic area US) . If the course is hard pack and not super technical I’ll run fast track upfront with fast track or renegade in the rear. My I also found to get I got pinch flats more often on maxxis or side wall cuts through rock gardens. This is completely a personal preference but I’ve also felt more in control of the bike with specialized tires I mentioned
I have also ridden both. Like pretty much everyone else here said, it’s a matter of personal preference. I had a lot of problems with the 120 TPI Maxxis XC tires where I live because we have a lot of sharp rocks. I have been using the 60 TPI rekon race tires for the last couple of months and they have been great.
I ride a Maxxis Aspen up front and a Specialized Renegade in the back. Both are very fast rolling and I like the Aspen better than the Specialized Fast Track up front.
In my experience I have had way less flat tires switching from specialized to maxxis tires. Fast trak and ground controls were super unreliable for me. I’ve used maxxis rekon, ardent, ikon, and aspens. Will never go back to spec tires.
My favs: Hankook kinergy PT last forever. Michelin crossclimate 2 are great in weather. Uniroyal tiger paw are a decent bargain.
Just installed on EQE SUV. OEMs were Cooper Crossrange Discoverer…they were run flats. I thought the ride quality would improve…it really didn’t, they are rather stiff too, as are all EV tires now. That said, they are growing on me. The ride is more controlled, the sounds emanating from the tires are more hushed over bumps, but you’ll feel them. The highway noise is mostly hushed, though slightly louder over coarse surfaces. I think overall this is a good tire. Hankook did their homework on this one. They do handle very well, and…this is a good looking tire as tires go.
I'm on my second set of maxxis and they're good for intermediate to hard stuff. If it's slippery out and I need to do a steep hill climb using momentum it's almost impossible, but I've never experienced a better softer tire yet so can't compare to anything else.
The Ardent sucks by most accounts. Read this article from [NSMB.com](https://nsmb.com/articles/ask-uncle-dave-talking-tires-maxxis/) where the Maxxis rep basically says the only reason Ardent's are even made anymore is because people recognize the name. Rekon 2.4 is my vote (not a particularly wide 2.4, more like a 2.35). Some have mentioned the Ardent Race, but the Rekon has way better cornering traction than an ardent race, and bigger center knobs than an ardent race for braking traction.
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