A friend of mine told me to check out this forum because there is this guy who rants and raves about how crappy polaris is. After further review I would guess it is this character called wolf1.  Well wolf1 your comment about polaris having tons of recalls is bogus.  They just chose to admit when there might be a issue.  Unlike some other brands where someone has to break there leg 100 times before they deside to address the issue.  I am not real sure if someone from polaris is sticking your old lady and that might be why you hate polaris so much or what the deal is but I do think you should get your facts strait before misleading these people about there product.  I have been reading some comments you wrote on different issues and some of your diagnoses for the problems you gave are very comical.  I am not sure what you do for a living but I would hope that you are not a mechanic.  I guess you have not notice the two recalls that Yamaha has released in the past few weeks.  Let see, I would much rather my ecm run a little hot than my leg get broken or even have my wife and kid riding my rhino and the brakes magically stop working.  Then there is the case you bring up on how polaris due not back there warrentys.  I do believe out of the last 50 or so warrenty claims I wrote up they covered everyone of them.  Its all about how much your dealer wants to take care of you.  Have you ever thought that maybe just maybe the dealerships that are not covering the those warrenty claims are saying polaris didnt approve the warrenty to make a buck.  That is not Polaris fault.  We dont make a lot if any on warrenty work so.  I really think this forum should be for helping members with questions about there units.  If anyone has any Polaris questions please dont take one misinformed individual.  Sorry for all the grammer mistakes I am not a English teacher.  

Hey man! If you're a mechanic and have a miniute, I posted a blog on sunday for a 2005 polaris atp (sportsman) 500. I've lost hp and want to adjust the valves, (among other things). Can you tell me how to find tdc and the clearence for the valves? Im ok with a wrench but I dont want to shell out the cash for the manual, or mostly, don't want to wait for one. Any other ideas you have would be great aside from cleaning the fuel system (except any tricks to that) and the air filter. Thanks, Bro!  

well to start the claim is completely founded ...check  out the consumer product safety commission. the recalls are crazy with polaris there.


just go read it yourself you don't have to be a grammer teacher to do that either.

their recalls speak for themselves.

polaris is junk  

wolfie,wolfie,wolfie...i will put my 1999 scrambler up against anyone who says that polaris is junk!! Over the last 2 years i have bought wrecked and scrapped a yamamaha,honda and a kawajunki that couldnt stand up yet after flipping over the polaris endo backwards,forwards and barrel rolling it hitting numerous trees the only NEW POLARIS PARTS are...wait there arrent any NEW parts as i keep straightening them back out and ride on where the others well lets just say they werent worth fixing.MY POLARIS IS A TANK AND I WOULDNT TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING! it will be a sad day (for me) and a GREAT day for my local polaris dealer when the scrambler is finally retired as i will run,hobble or catch a cab to go buy a new POLARIS!!!  

you know i was going to ignore this post as polaris own record speaks volumes about their lack of quality,
it never fails that you run into someone who is uninformed, thinks polaris is the greatest thing in the world,

Yeah you may have one polaris that actually holds up decent, or even 50 out of a hundred thousand but just reading the many posts for polaris problems on here will tell you that they have serious issues.
and would you want to take the chance that yours is one of those 50 that is accidentally built halfway decent??

as well going to
http://www.atvsafety.gov/atvrecalls.html

you can read every defect on every atv. and see that the defects for polaris are extremely high in number and year after year most are the same defects.

then you can even do a search on the internet and read about how Polaris' co-founder was quoted as saying "if we made 400 machines we got back 500"

as well as do a search and find out that polaris paid out 3 million in settlements last year due to defects in their machines that were severe enough that they caused serious injuries to the riders.
still.... year after year many of the same defects appear in polaris machines.


or maybe you thought that Polaris you have is all american???
No sorry, Polaris is co-owned by fuji heavy industries
and as well the predator 90's are taiwan made machines.
and we all know the issues with the chinese made atv's so do you really want to put your child on one of these??

as well i own an atv and dirtbike repair shop,  have for many years, and i see polaris on a regular basis new and old machines.
and most of the Polaris  customers come to me after the dealer has refused to honor the warranty due to a defect they don't want to admit to or don't want to repair.


but don't take my word for it,  become more informed yourself.
you have a computer and the internet.... look it up for yourself rather than just spouting rhetoric that only amounts to the equivalent of spray painting the water tower like some half drunk redneck protecting his sisters' honor.  

can't agree with u more wolfie. polaris wouldn't pay for the damages to my predator 500. a brake line recall came out in 04. i bought the piece of crap in 05. they denied the warranty claim. had maybe 25 hours on machine. first question out of there mouth was, was anyone hurt. i told theme no one was seriously hurt. after that they denied the claim. been trying to find lawyer after lawyer. screw polaris. i never finished paying for 4-wheeler. paid it off with credit card and fought about it with credit card company. bottom line polaris does not back there own product up.  

wolf is right. I have owned numerous japanese quads and dirt bikes and recently purchased a polaris. What a mistake! I bought my wife a hawkeye to ride around. It is the absolute biggest pile of crap I have ever encountered. My old beater 86 lt250r is way more dependable. The polaris has 150 miles on it and no longer runs because of carb issues. My poor brother just spent 10 grand on a ranger. before thirty hours of use it broke both front axleshafts. Furhtermore the polaris dealer will only warranty one. I have three other quads and have no intention of ever buying anything polaris again.  

be careful with that hawkeye, that's one of the models polaris had that the steering shaft broke while riding it.
A LOT of people were seriously injured on the Hawkeye model.
and it took them a year and a half to admit they had a problem.  

yo, wolf. stop dissing polaris. i dont say they're good or bad or whateva.
its just if you have a useless life THAN DONT MAKE OUR LIVES CRAP TOO!!! if you can't afford something, that doesn't mean you have to hate it!
...so switch of that stolen laptop and go play with yourself  

you know guys, I joined this site because someone told me it was helpfull...I am starting to wonder if this bashing campain is all ya get?  And yes...I own a POLARIS and I love it!  

I never met a Chevy owner who didn't bash Ford - and who also failed to accept that the Ford F150 is the most popular vehicle, car or truck, in North America. More F150's are sold than any other single make or model of vehicle.
I guess wolfie drives a Chev.

I started racing bikes in 1966 (pre-Polaris) and went from Ducatis to Nortons. In '71 I raced Yamaha snowmobiles (396GP?). My son has raced moto using Kawasakis exclusively. I currently own a Honda 450 Nighthawk, a Suzuki 800 Marauder, a Kawasaki 1500 Classic and 3 Norton Commandos.
But, when I want to get somewhere hassle-free I use my Polaris 550 Indys (I have 2)in the winters and my Polaris 335 Sportsmans (2)in the summer/fall. They've never let me down and I'm no wimp driver with a motor between my legs!
Oh and an F150 too!

No make/model is perfect and every company has had it's moments but to say that Polaris is the worst is a personal opinion.
You're entitled to it and I'm entitled to ignore it!  

Wow-  Ok, former Polaris owner.  Had 1500 miles on a Polaris Hawkeye.  Found out that the "noise" that was normal per polaris dealer was a bad bearing.  Two years old, paid 5k and got 1K on trade in.  Talk about getting beat up!  Went to Can Am and love the power.  So beware of noises... I thought Polaris was the cat's meow.    

*** happens - regardless of make or model.
You may notice that I'm looking for help in solving a problem with my "perfect" 355 right now.
My F150 isn't perfect either but it's the best I can find.
It suits me.
ATV's, bikes, snow machines, wives, beer, etc - they're all very personal.
All I've suggested is that it's hardly fair nor wise to suggest I'm stupid to have a Polaris or that ALL Polaris's are crap. That's simply not true.

BTW, the machine and the dealer are 2 different animals. I'm in the retail business and to blame a brand name because you get shitt.. service from a dealer is not fair either. Change dealers. If he's no good and enough people leave him he's gone and we all win!

Make sense?  

Seahunter,
You should know that if you combine Chevy/GMC trucks sales, that GM out-sells the F-150 by a couple of hundred thousand units per year. Ford has been pitching the "Most Popular Truck" idea for years--I'll stick to my Chevy's "The longest lasting truck on the road."
As for ATV's, I would have to agree with you. All the companies have their pros, cons, and lemons. I will say that when riding this summer with my family, I watched a couple of 8 year old kids snap the axle of one of those Hawkeyes. They weren't doing anything overly aggressive, so I don't know what happened.
I personally stay away from Polaris because they don't know how to trim weight without trimming strength.  

I don't think that would count as a single model. The claim, supported by pretty much everyone in the automotive world, is that the F150 model is the biggest selling model in North America.

Does that mean Ford should combine F150 through F450 plus all the Mercury and Linclon trucks it sells. Wouldn't that be unfair?

Anyway it's academic now. With the merger of GM and Chrysler (General Chrysler??) I'm sure the F150 status as the biggest single model vehicle sold will be gone.

I don't know the Hawkeye. I have owned Yamaha and Honda and Argo too. I like the Polaris. It's light, easy to drive, easy to work on and does the job.