[SHAKE35]

Im interested in the km-2 i really like their aggressive look how do they handle are they loud are they worth the money this is going to be my first set of mud tire im looking to put them on stock wheels 285-70-17 also want to do the ome 3'' lift thanx for any input

[alkarich]

I run the original MT KM's on my 40 and really like them. I'm assuming the the new tread design is better than the old? Also I think alot depends on what kind of wheeling you are going to do. Good luck.

[cruise diesel]

I just mounted a set on my BJ 42, I have not had the chance to run them off road yet but so far so good, great on the road. they are super bad-ass looking and little road noise.

[SHAKE35]

they are bad ass lookin im sure they handle good though my buddy tellin me their goin to be loud on the road thanx for lettin me know you like'um

[NCFJ]

I have a set of 285/70/17 on my FJC mounted on stock steelies. Ss far so good. I generally wheel in mountain terrain up and down the Appalachain chain, Tellico, Coal Creek, Harlan. Lots of rocks and when wet lots of mud. I was pleasantly surprised how quiet they are on the road. I would certainly buy them again.

[bigjer]

I like the looks of the tire but the noise is pretty loud. not bad at first but after about 6000 miles they had a distintive sound. If youdo a lot of highway driving they will drive you crazy. toyo's are not as bad.

[joebob2586]

Has anyone used pitbull tires?

[Niner]

Originally Posted by joebob2586

Has anyone used pitbull tires?

Woody runs them on his 40 37" I think. He said he loves them last I asked but the raisin is not exactly used as a DD more of a rock buggy.

[ANGRY BARBER]

Originally Posted by SHAKE35

Im interested in the km-2 i really like their aggressive look how do they handle are they loud are they worth the money this is going to be my first set of mud tire im looking to put them on stock wheels 285-70-17 also want to do the ome 3'' lift thanx for any input

Best tire I've owned so far. Better on-road capabilities than the KM or even the Toyo....because of a tad harder compound. I'll definitely replace these with another set.

[ANGRY BARBER]

Originally Posted by bigjer

I like the looks of the tire but the noise is pretty loud. not bad at first but after about 6000 miles they had a distintive sound. If youdo a lot of highway driving they will drive you crazy. toyo's are not as bad.

First person I've EVER heard this from......

Totally disagree.....I've had both and the Toyos came across way louder to me because of their softer compound. I actually WISH these were a lil louder to be honest lol. Down side is their a lil more expensive....but IMO....worth the extra $50. a tire. Do what I did...find them online (I used SPORTZTRAILERS : Vendio Stores and get the best quote you can then call 'Americas Tire Store' and tell them what you've been quoted and by who but don't tell them that they were an online store). You'll save almost $60 a tire. Anyhow...I'll never go back to Toyos.

[Romanski]

i just bought a set from Onlinetires.com for $175 a piece and that is for a 285/75/16 (for the Cruiser). Shipping was $76 but I also had to pay CA tax ... That is the best deal I have found. Tirerack wants $216 for the same size.

As far as why I chose the KM2, well I heard about 80% positive feedback on this tire for on road and 100% offroad. I'm switching from BFG ATs so I will give my feedback on the difference. We do mostly rock and snow. I'm sure they won't be as bad as my TSL Swampers on the 40.

Check out Onlinetires.com they have best deals around for all brands and models. N I"M NOT AFFILIATED!

[Stinkyfinger]

Originally Posted by SHAKE35

Im interested in the km-2 i really like their aggressive look how do they handle are they loud are they worth the money this is going to be my first set of mud tire im looking to put them on stock wheels 285-70-17 also want to do the ome 3'' lift thanx for any input

I run a lot with a few Fjs that have these tires, they seem happy with them on the road and off. From what I've seen they seem like a good trail tire, but I wasn't as impressed with them on really rocky trails. It seems like the rubber compound is to hard to grip the rocks properly, sections where I ran opened they had to lock or use A-trac. Which is sad to me because there tires are new with a few thousand miles on them and I have 43,000 on mine, but maybe they will get better with more miles.
I'm curious how they will do in the snow.

[Romanski]

Here is my review of the KM2 as we just had a good chance to try them out over the weekend. Wife and I took a trip to Tahoe for the weekend and had to put the KM2s through some testing.

I have a pretty good feel for tires as I used to do quite a bit of bmw club racing.

Here is the skinny.

Tires were inflated at 45psi cold.

HWY

When we started our trip we had 1/4 tank and on the HWY the KM2s were no louder than the BFGs KOs they replaced. After we filled in Dixon and got back on the HWY with a full tank the tires became much louder. They were definitely louder than the BFG KOs but not unbearable. They were much smoother than the KOs but that may be do to the thick unworn blocks that acted like pillows were the KOs were close to the wear bars. I did not notice any change in MPG between the 285/75/16 E Load KOs nor the 285/75/16 KMs E Load.

Street:

I know I have KM2s because when truck starts going from a stop I can feel the tread blocks start making contact with the pavement. They feel a bit like the Swamper TSLs when rolling. The feeling goes away after 5+ mph.

Handling on twisties at HWY speed:

Coming down from Tahoe to Sacramento there are plenty of different turns to test handling. These tires are not confidence inspiring but they are stable even though I can feel the tire sidewall flex through the turns. We easily made the turns at 10+ mph above posted speed with no drama. The KMs are street tires second, hopefully off road tires first.

Offroad:

While heading to Tahoe we took Ice House Road towards Rubicon and about 10 minutes up Ice House road is the old 7 mile section of the Pony Express trail (1 difficulty in good weather 3-4 in bad). The trail was fairly easy and at the moment can be done in 2wd (its much more difficult when covered with snow). Up the steep climbs and over ruts we had 0 and I mean 0 tire slippage. Where the KOs would spin some, the KMs seemed to be attached to the gravel and ruts. I know this was not much of a test for the KMs but I'm sure they will do great at Rubicon.

Overall I'm very impressed and happy with my purchase. I will most likely put these on the FJ40 next year.

[cruzinwyo]

Shake- I run 285/75/16 Km2's on my FJC .......love 'em.
MPG went down from stock tires

[xtfritz]

I have the 285/70/17 KM2s with the OME heavy lift (one day will get the ARB+Superwinch, but for now everything works) and I haven't had a single issue. About the only thing that I have come across is that the tires under full turning will sometimes come in contact with the stock skidplate, though if you've dropped this pos, then you won't have any issues. I consistently get around 16mpg either highway or city and I use my FJC as my DD. I also have a snorkel and ARB rack on mine and both probably hurt the MPG too. If I were to do this again, I would have considered the 255/85/16 (or 17 I'm not sure what size BFG has...) for two reasons: 1. I'm more interested in expedition capacity and the difference between 14 mpg and 18 mpg over 5k miles adds up in fuel, 2. when deflated the 'pizza cutters' will get the same traction as the 285's. Don't get me wrong, I love my 285's. Fantastically aggressive tread and they seem to hold up well even as a DD. So far in my offroading I've never had to let air out of the tyres for traction and I run them at 40psi. In fact (knock on wood) I've not gotten stuck yet in the mud around SE Texas.

Hope this helps, enjoy the KM2s...I certainly do

[FelixLeiter]

Anybody use the 255 80R17 size? It is 33.3" but 30mm (10/8") narrower--meaning 5/8" narrower on each side (more clearance to the body mount during full turn).

[Romanski]

Still don't understand why people want to run a thinner tire... Even though it is only 30mm, that is multiplied by 4 which is a difference of almost 5 inches of contact patch reduction. I understand the 'cookie cutter' principle but what about flotation? To each his own but driving on knobby tires that already have less contact with pavement because of all the gaps will only make it worse with a thinner tire. I also think that a thinner tire will also wear faster because the weight will be distributed over a smaller surface area. Just my .02

[FelixLeiter]

Stock size is 265--so 255 is only 10mm narrower than stock. 285 is 20mm wider than stock. Since most of the weight of a tire is in the tread a wider tire adds quite a bit of weight= worse gas mileage and longer stopping distances because of greater rotational mass.

Originally Posted by Romanski

Still don't understand why people want to run a thinner tire... Even though it is only 30mm, that is multiplied by 4 which is a difference of almost 5 inches of contact patch reduction. I understand the 'cookie cutter' principle but what about flotation? To each his own but driving on knobby tires that already have less contact with pavement because of all the gaps will only make it worse with a thinner tire. I also think that a thinner tire will also wear faster because the weight will be distributed over a smaller surface area. Just my .02

[Romanski]

Originally Posted by FelixLeiter

Stock size is 265--so 255 is only 10mm narrower than stock. 285 is 20mm wider than stock. Since most of the weight of a tire is in the tread a wider tire adds quite a bit of weight= worse gas mileage and longer stopping distances because of greater rotational mass.

So, reducing width of the tire is better for traction because of rotational mass under braking conditions? If you reduce the surface area of two identical brand and model of tires you will notice the thinner tire breaking traction before the wider. In heavy braking situation, ABS will turn on quicker with a thinner than with the wider tire because grip will be lost sooner. I would rather have my heavy tire turning under braking than having ABS actuate the brakes between lock and turn. Compare the contact patch on a street tire, a/t, and m/t. Without even measuring you can see the reduction in where the rubber meets the road. The thinner tire will also wear quicker and will not support the same amount of load as a wider size.

Personally, I would not go thinner than OEM (I've gone wider). For the amount of fuel I lose due to rotational mass, increaded friction, and aerodynamics, I'll make up for it in slightly better safety and better grip offroad (you waste gas when you're spinning your tires because of lack of traction offroad and also waste rubber). To each his own but my almost 5k lbs brick will ride on 285s.

[jmylie]

There have been some "unofficial" studies on tire width and off road capabilities.

With the exception of sand, a narrower tire is better off road and in snow.

There was a post with a link a while ago but I could not find it.

Of course, on the street, it's a whole "nother" ball game.

[FelixLeiter]

Originally Posted by Romanski

So, reducing width of the tire is better for traction because of rotational mass under braking conditions? If you reduce the surface area of two identical brand and model of tires you will notice the thinner tire breaking traction before the wider. In heavy braking situation, ABS will turn on quicker with a thinner than with the wider tire because grip will be lost sooner. I would rather have my heavy tire turning under braking than having ABS actuate the brakes between lock and turn. Compare the contact patch on a street tire, a/t, and m/t. Without even measuring you can see the reduction in where the rubber meets the road. The thinner tire will also wear quicker and will not support the same amount of load as a wider size.

Personally, I would not go thinner than OEM (I've gone wider). For the amount of fuel I lose due to rotational mass, increaded friction, and aerodynamics, I'll make up for it in slightly better safety and better grip offroad (you waste gas when you're spinning your tires because of lack of traction offroad and also waste rubber). To each his own but my almost 5k lbs brick will ride on 285s.

The size of the contact patch between the tire and the road doesn't increase when you increase the width of the tire...it only changes in shape, not size. Wider tire = wider but shorter contact patch. Narrower tire = narrower but longer contact patch. Of course, this is only true for tires of the same height...a 285/70 is taller than a 265/70.

I have driven many lifted 3/4 and 1 ton trucks with large aftermarket wheels and rims (brand new off the dealer lot, therefore no wear) and braking power is significantly reduced on dry pavement by heavier rims/wheels. Not to mention acceleration and cornering ability--CF rims are not just for the bling factor.

[Romanski]

Avon tires had a complete engineered study on their website but unfortunately I can't find the link.

Are wide tires better than narrow? - MotorAuthority - Car news, reviews, spy shots <-- the skinny on the German ADAC study.



There are also other advantages of wider tires over narrow ones not mentioned (load capacity, better sidewall protection, and reduced chance of rollover).

[ropedrag]

I installed a set of these and to be truthful I'm not that happy with them.

3 week long wheeling trips to Moab, 2 with Toyo MT's and 1 with the BFG's. I can tell you that there were numerious obsticales that I had no issues with running the Toyo's that were a bear with the BFG's

I wanted to save some money and weight along with trying a new tire, well at least for me I can cross this one off the list. Note that in other conditions outside of the Moad slickrock they seem average.

[jmylie]

Hers is the link to skinny vs wide tires:

Expeditions West: Tire Selection for Expedition Travel

[Niner]

lots of scientific data to back up their beliefs.

[marius]

in africa the 70 pick-up comes out with real skinny tires and they take it allover
it is much easier to turn front wheels with lockers on with 255/85/16 than 285/75/16's and that helps a lot

[Niner]

That Marius doesn't take shit


inside joke

[Romanski]

from what I've read, wide, tall tires have not been available for off road trucks until recently. Sure, cargo, troop carriers, and other work and military trucks have had large tires but until recently they were not available for the enthusiast. Those guys in Africa and other countries around the world who can't afford a $800+ tire setup (if they can find 'em) run what they have access to. Sand I've never been in but in 2+ feet of snow last week I really enjoyed my 285s.

[SkyKing]

My mind tells me to go as big as I can, so to me even 285 is to small. Now I am old enough to remember the US Army Jeep. It had thin tires, and was 2x4.
Very hard to stop them, but 6 men could move the thing 10 feet. No weight... Had to have thin tires to try to dig, and it did. That jeep was a real off road truck before off road trucks were made.

I have to go with my first thought for the FJ.
This thing is a tank empty (about 4,000lbs). Once loaded up, I know I need fat tires on her. Or dig I will, fast...To my frame...And stuck I could get... Okay I got a Lucrum winch mount and a 12000lb MileMarker in it!

I got BFG AT's, and am going to the MT this summer.
I have used the BFG AT's on 4 trucks now (5 sets), but my FJ is a better off road truck, and I find myself off road in mud and stuff a lot more now days... I know the MT's are better.
Still not a true mud tire, but will also work on the road (thats how I get off the road).

I do like a lot of mud tires better, but at $200 a pop, (and we need 5), I need a tire that works well, and can last on the streets just as well.
I do hear that the BFG MT does not work that well on snow covered streets (the light stuff), but what does that is still good in mud?


Whew, I gots to stop drinking so late at night... Sorry...

[SHAKE35]

thanks for all your replies i decided and bought the km2's there sittin in my living room right know i need to get them mounted iwent with 285/70/17 they look awesome and there not even on yet thanks