MAXTRAX XTREME Turquoise Recovery Boards

MAXTRAX XTREME is the hard-use version of the recovery board that started the category: 88 user-replaceable hard-anodized alloy teeth set into reinforced heavy-duty engineering-grade nylon, for drivers who need bite on rock and ice. Made in Australia, sold as a pair, with a lifetime warranty. Turquoise is the coastal one — bright without being fluorescent.

Turquoise is the coastal XTREME. It reads bright against pale sand and wet rock without tipping into fluorescent, and nothing in a beach landscape is that shade — not the water, not the dune grass — so a board left in a wash-out is easy to find on the walk back. It is the strong middle ground of the range: more visible than the grays when the light goes flat, less shouty than Signature Orange if you would rather your rig not read as a rescue vehicle.

Mounting an XTREME is a height decision. Each board is 4.5 inches deep against the MKII's 3.5, so a pair stacks appreciably taller — the number that decides whether you clear your garage or a parking structure. One MAXTRAX Universal Mounting Pin now fits the whole range, so XTREME-specific hardware is gone, and these nest with MKII and Mini. A roof rack is easiest, but 20 lb up high is more noticeable than a pair of MKIIs; a bed rack keeps the weight low; a spare-tire mount is the cheapest option.

• The MKII is the honest recommendation for most people. XTREME earns its price only if you use boards hard and often — recovery work, driver training, competition. Otherwise buy the MKII.
• Alloy teeth are bulletproof, with one caveat. They grip where a nylon lug would polish smooth, but they carry an increased risk of tire damage if you don't know what you're doing. Square the board under the tread, and use almost no throttle.
• Easy to spot, with one downside. Turquoise stays legible at dusk and under flat overcast, which dark boards do not. It does show dried mud more than a mid-gray — cosmetic only.
• Lifetime warranty, and we rarely see one come back. The failure we do see is bridging in very cold weather with a hard impact. MAXTRAX has always taken care of it.

Picking the pin. One Universal Mounting Pin fits the whole MAXTRAX range, leaving two choices: thread length — 17 mm for bracket mounting, including every bracket we sell, or 40 mm through a camper panel — and capacity, a two-board pin or a four-board pin if you run two sets.

More recovery gear and traction board mounts.

Not sure the alloy teeth are worth it for you? Worth a call first. We were MAXTRAX's original U.S. distributor and have stocked the brand since it first reached the United States, and the range sits in our Prescott, Arizona warehouse rather than at a drop-shipper — so we can tell you how a pair will sit on your rack, and whether the MKII is the smarter buy.