BFGoodrich tire advice (1 Viewer)

[hamishpotter]

I'm no expert, but after seeing the pics above, and noting that your family will be inside the vehicle, from what I have heard BFG KM2's are not a good choice in the snow. The pattern is not snow-friendly, and my LX450 buddy in NY complains a lot about sliding in them. And these trucks weigh a lot. I just picked up a set of Goodyear Duratracs, which land between an AT and an MT, and are legendary in the snow.

my $0.02

 

[SmokingRocks]

based on what you have said I would do duratracs hands down... DO NOT do km2's they are NOT what you need for your application

 

[Romer]

Or the Toyo ATIs or the BFG AT KO2s. Those would be my choice for what you stated. I don't see why you want the KM2s other than they look "bad ass". Lots of tires look great, but this is the only thing between you and the road, you need something that fits your driving.

But then it does come down to personal preference. That's why there are so many opinions about what is the best tire

 

[richmondbob]

I'd put another vote down for the Goodyear Duratrac. Living the Vancouver area of BC, Canada we see alot of rain and snow in the mountains during winter. I ran BFG ATs and found them horrible in both conditions. The Duratracs? Total driving confidence. Money well spent to keep my wife and kids safe in the LC.

 

[super40]

the km2 are amazing off road for traction... ON road is fine too unless the road is wet.. then its a less than ideal tire, when roads are wet i drive like granny.

 

[SmokingRocks]

the duratracs on my tundra have BLOWN my mind when it comes to snowy / icy conditions not to mention they look BA and I have had experience with many tires. My BFG's are on the opposite end of the spectrum.

 

[greentruck]

Been running BFG radials since they came out: AT, MT and then the evolution to KM2. And it snows every winter here...
w
The KM2 is a considerable improvement over the older radial MTs. Still, they have to be treated with respect as any specialized tire would. In winter conditions is not a place where I tend to test the envelope of performance anyway.

There is relatively little performance drop-off in stepping up to 33s, either the 285 or 255 on 16" rims. Go over that and YMMV, depending in altitude and expectations. As others have noted, stepping up to 35s and over really starts requiring various mods.

20 mpg? Sounds like a stretch, but maybe not. I regularly see 17 mpg at 70 mph on the ScanGauge (no rack or running boards, ARB up front, air up for distance travel.) It's getting up to speed, winds, grades that drag down your MPG, but over long distances, driven right, an 80 series can be surprisingly thrifty.

 

[medtro]

The key thing is what do you want to do with your truck. I ran most of the trails in Moab and many in Colorado, Missouri and South Dakota with 33's 285's. The only reason I upgraded to 35's (315's) was to do the Rubicon.

When you upgrade to 35's a lot more things come with it besides gears. Potentially shocks, bigger lift, etc. Also you change the pinion angle which required me to rebuild my drive shafts with new U joints. The old U-joints didn't like the higher angle (likely age and wear)

Upgrading from 285's to 315's should not change your pinion angle. Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Romer]

Upgrading from 285's to 315's should not change your pinion angle. Please correct me if I am wrong.

The change in pinion angle was caused by going to a slightly larger lift to provide enough room under compression for the larger tires. I did not specifically state that in the previous post, but it was one of the many things needed to go larger along with longer shocks and modified bump stops when I laid out the plan to go from 33's to 35's. My point is that unless your just going to drive around town, wheeling with 35's isn't just about changing tire sizes. There is more that goes with it.

I do know some folks that went to a double Cardon due to the pinion change. I just replaced the ujoints and rebalanced the shaft and I was fine

There may be even a few that have gone to 35's without changing anything else. YMMV

 

[hamishpotter]

I have 315s / 35s on SCS F-5 rims which are lighter than stock. So far ok for Northeast without regear. On OME 2.5 mediums.

 

[Dave 2000]

I was hoping for BFG A/T's but could not get them anywhere at the time, went for the Toyo Open Country A/T, great tyre thus far, no punctures yet which are quite prevalent running on the sharp shale here on unmade roads. I do a hell of a lot of tarmac miles as well, at the moment the Toyo's appear to be wearing similar to the BFG's when comparing the mileage when I had them on my Land Rover Discovery.

It is fair to say 55/45 in favour of the Toyo, it would have been 50/50 but the BFG's needed balancing every 5,000 miles or so, something the Toyo's have not needed, why I do not know but, IME.

regards

Dave

 

[Thirsty]

Not sure what your budget is or need to make your tires last but I've gone through two sets of BFG ATs in 305/70-16 and each set lasted 50K to 60K miles. My current set of BFG MTs in 315/75-16 have already scalloped badly with less than 20K miles, and that's with the same religious attention to rotation and with Dynabeads. That said, the MTs do look baddass if that is most important on your criteria and you decide to go BFG.

 

[Azca]

I know there are those that complain about the KM2s but remember, the new AT is out, it has the snowflake and appears to be better equipped for the snow.

Me, I like reliability. I personally have seen too many failures on the Duratracs to consider them for anything but gravel roads and pavement. My brother ripped 3 sidewalls on the same trip. I have used the BFGs, both AT and MT and never had a failure. Last thing I would want, especially with children, is to be stranded somewhere. If you are going to go out in the woods where rocks, roots or other hazards exist, go with a proven tire. You started down the BFG road, I would stay on it. If nothing else, if you buy a tire and don't like it you will kick yourself for listening to others. If you don't like the BFG well... You don't have far to kick!

 

[B Point]

I have a set of 315 Kumho MT's which replaced some well used 315 Toyo MT's. The Kumho's are nice riding but way too soft for any kind of longevity. If you do go MT the Toyo's are nice. For the winter I use a dedicated 315 Yokohama snow tire. I don't like F'ing around with ice and snow like this.

 

[SmokingRocks]

I know there are those that complain about the KM2s but remember, the new AT is out, it has the snowflake and appears to be better equipped for the snow.

Me, I like reliability. I personally have seen too many failures on the Duratracs to consider them for anything but gravel roads and pavement. My brother ripped 3 sidewalls on the same trip. I have used the BFGs, both AT and MT and never had a failure. Last thing I would want, especially with children, is to be stranded somewhere. If you are going to go out in the woods where rocks, roots or other hazards exist, go with a proven tire. You started down the BFG road, I would stay on it. If nothing else, if you buy a tire and don't like it you will kick yourself for listening to others. If you don't like the BFG well... You don't have far to kick!

There is nothing wrong with KM2's they are GREAT tires for certain situations. It sounds like he is more interested in driving down gravel roads and pavement with the family, in that case I have not had a better AT agressive tire than the duratrac. The sidewall issues are blown out of proportion, yes they are weak but if not air'd down too much and some care is taken when driving them (ie avoiding sidewall slashers) they are fine. My BFG AT KO are simply terrifying in the ice and snow, completely different from my duratracs. KM2's are a horrible choice for on road driving with occasional gravel / rutted road stints, they are loud wear quickly and suck nuts on ice, IMO a very unsafe tire to have on a family truck that isn't 80% on the trail.

 

[mangycruuser]

I have the same lift (OME 2.5 inch heavy) and I run a bfg KO 305x12.50 on my stock wheels. My brother has the exact same lift and runs the same tire in a 315x75 on stock wheels. We pull a ski boat and drift boat trailers with either one with no issues in the mountains of NC. I would say 315 would be a fine choice if you're not going to be pulling a lot. If you are I would go 305.

 

[mangycruuser]

Oh and I have never had any trouble on snow or ice in my LC. No tire is going to help you on ice and driving in the snow comes with experience and not getting too stupid with it.

 

[half k cruiser]

Another vote for the Duratrac. The 94 had Terra Grapplers before I had 285 Duratrac's installed. When the KO's on the 97 wear out its getting Duratrac's. Exceptionally quiet, fairly aggressive, and as others have said they get it on in the snow and nasty weather.

 

[BILT4ME]

I, too, recently got rid of my factory spec 265/75/16 Michelin MTX tires. I did a LOT of research here on 'Mud as well as outside on my own. I used to live in NW Iowa where we would get LOTS of snow and cold each year, so I am very experienced in snow as well as mud (from the farm). I used to run BFG Mud Terrain MT's on a previous vehicle and they were nice, but had soft sidewalls. Those tires have since been upgraded to what I believe are the KM2's.

After reviewing total mileage estimates (wear distance), weight per tire, snow traction, rain traction, and noise levels, I chose the Goodyear Duratracs. I increased the size to 285/75/16.

Thus far, I have been EXTREMELY impressed with the DT's. I was recently back in NW Iowa during a stint of bad weather and was easily forging 3 ft high drifts as well as 100% snow packed and 80% icy roads. I had no problems at all, and ended up being the ONLY one on the road in the middle of the night, running 70 MPH down the middle of a 2 lane hwy because absolutely no one else was out. There is very little noise to the DT's.

The only complaint I have is the increase in diameter is a noticeable loss in power to me. I drive fast and accelerate hard, so I feel more of a loss than many folks here. I have run these tires for about 5000 miles now in rain, snow, and a little bit of greasy mud. I would recommend them in a heartbeat. I am 95% on-road in the city, but I always want a vehicle to be ready to traverse difficult weather situations, so I go with more tire than I "need". I am keeping them pumped up to 45 PSI, which is a little tight, but I do it to keep my gas mileage as high as possible. Since I have not corrected my speedometer, I have not checked my actual mileage for the difference. I would be willing to bet it has decreased slightly, but not significantly.

Good luck with your choice! It's a big decision. I shopped mine from a number of locations and scenarios, and ended up buying from Discount Tire Direct (Kansas City Area) I went with (5) tires so my spare always matches and I will work it into my rotation sequence. (Make sure your spare matches in diameter since it's 4WD.....you can search other threads on that topic)