BFG KO2 vs Falken AT3W

[z531519]

I was hoping to wait till spring to get new tires but the all seasons I have now (Cooper HT) is not doing it for me on snow packed conditions. I have experience with BFG KO2s (35") on my Jeep which performs better than average all-season tires on snow/ice. However, i started looking at AT3Ws, they look like they have more siping and has deeper thread! Both are E-rated, and weight is pretty close, with the BFGs running slightly lighter. An advantage on KO2, it's everywhere but realistically, having a 5th spare tire is more than enough for the trails i run. My KO2's on the jeep took two trips to balance properly, but them are 35s which tend to be a bit more finicky.

Costco has decent pricing on KO2s, which pretty much covers the cost difference between the two. So in the end, it all boils down to performance (looks matter too, so show what you got!). So what does the mud wisdom have to say?

Oh i am also getting 285/75/16, sticking to 33 sized tires. If i have to guess, the KO2 will run smaller than the AT3W.

Thanks in advance.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

I just bought AT3W in 285/75r16, I did a lot of research and so long as the tires don't end up wearing badly or have balancing issues I think they will be a better choice for all seasons. The sipping is full depth, they have a treadwear warrantee (even on the e-rated) as well as the deepest tread depth around (which is probably why they are both winter rated AND warranted). The overall diameter is about the same, but the AT3w is .2 inches narrower for some reason. I don't mind. They seems to grip like crazy in the limited snow and ice I've driven them on, but then again they all do for the first 5000 miles so we'll see.

 

[LINUS]

Yeaaaaaa, a tire thread!

Srsly, you didn't mention how you plan to use tires, so:

BFG's : decent onroad, decent in dry dirt - They're no MT (had KO2's myself)

Fawlkens: tread looks like a decent road & snow tire. By the design I doubt it's going to be a decent dirt tire aside from bone dry.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

Yeaaaaaa, a tire thread!

Srsly, you didn't mention how you plan to use tires, so:

BFG's : decent onroad, decent in dry dirt - They're no MT (had KO2's myself)

Fawlkens: tread looks like a decent road & snow tire. By the design I doubt it's going to be a decent dirt tire aside from bone dry.

I aint afeared of taking them into the dirt, they have a lot more lug clearance than they look, certainly no worse than the KO2. The type of terrain I do though I rarely see mud so I guess there's that.

 

[z531519]

as far as use, it will be a mix but generally in an overland sense. i venture to the UP so i like them decent in mud though generally i try to avoid them. i am planning idaho, oregon next year. less concerned abkut daily but do want good snow traction since i use the 80 as ski shuttle for my kids.

I forgot to mention that the all season tires i have now is from when i got the truck. it has plenty of thread left but i need a reason to switch them out sooner than later

 

[apcoleman]

I just put a set of the AT3W on my rig replacing BFG KO. So far so good and the price was right compared to the KO2s in my case

 

[z531519]

Yeaaaaaa, a tire thread!

Srsly, you didn't mention how you plan to use tires, so:

BFG's : decent onroad, decent in dry dirt - They're no MT (had KO2's myself)

Fawlkens: tread looks like a decent road & snow tire. By the design I doubt it's going to be a decent dirt tire aside from bone dry.

Yeah i've had stock MTs on my jeep and those are just amazing on the mud compares to a KO2. i was crawling mud while others would have to really hit it while skipping their skids off the rocks yikes. i dont plan to do that again so switched to an AT.

 

[LINUS]

Based on use, is there a reason you aren't looking at the Goodyear Dura-Tracs?

Severe service (snowflake icon) rated, and where you live the asphalt never hits SW temps, so uneven wear is less likely.

I have MT-Rs but my next set will probably be DT's since I trail less & less but drive to Mt. Baker ski area plenty.

DT's & a set of real chains (even a pair) - would get you to any ski area where the Subarus line the ditches.

 

[HDJdreams]

Duratracs, basically a mud tire with snowflake rating, are fairly noisy. Got very tired of them drowning out the growl of the 5.9 in my Ram.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

Based on use, is there a reason you aren't looking at the Goodyear Dura-Tracs?

Severe service (snowflake icon) rated, and where you live the asphalt never hits SW temps, so uneven wear is less likely.

I have MT-Rs but my next set will probably be DT's since I trail less & less but drive to Mt. Baker ski area plenty.

DT's & a set of real chains (even a pair) - would get you to any ski area where the Subarus line the ditches.

For you and anyone else interested in the Dtracs - Meh.

These wore funny for me and my buddy in his tacoma and the sipes are not full tread depth. Mine had plenty of treadwear left when I replaced them but they vibrated badly on the highway, they were noisy and they were scary in the wet and snow.

Durable suckers though, I never got one puncture even with some hard sidewall hits.

 

[z531519]

Based on use, is there a reason you aren't looking at the Goodyear Dura-Tracs?

Severe service (snowflake icon) rated, and where you live the asphalt never hits SW temps, so uneven wear is less likely.

I have MT-Rs but my next set will probably be DT's since I trail less & less but drive to Mt. Baker ski area plenty.

DT's & a set of real chains (even a pair) - would get you to any ski area where the Subarus line the ditches.

Tread depth and sidewall protection reviews i read was not positive. Our local trail, Iron Range, is a tire slasher which out the DT iut of the running when i was shopping for tires last year for the Jeep. But i should probably look at it again.

 

[scottryana]

Duratracs have served me well with a lot of off-road and on-road miles. Not a huge amount of snow. I was in Texas, Moab, and Virginia, for all the winters I have had them. But I have done 2 cross country trips, and 2 Texas to Utah trips, plus almost daily wheeling in Moab for 3 months and some in Texas. They are now starting to get loud and I think like @hammerheadfistpunch mentioned wear funny. Not so much funny but more like a MT than an AT. I think if you were really diligent about your rotating schedule it would be longer before you notice it, but I have probably 4 years and 30 thousand miles and have rotated them 3 times. They still have a lot of tread left.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

Duratracs have served me well with a lot of off-road and on-road miles. Not a huge amount of snow. I was in Texas, Moab, and Virginia, for all the winters I have had them. But I have done 2 cross country trips, and 2 Texas to Utah trips, plus almost daily wheeling in Moab for 3 months and some in Texas. They are now starting to get loud and I think like @hammerheadfistpunch mentioned wear funny. Not so much funny but more like a MT than an AT. I think if you were really diligent about your rotating schedule it would be longer before you notice it, but I have probably 4 years and 30 thousand miles and have rotated them 3 times. They still have a lot of tread left.

Yeah, that sums it up. I had 56k on mine but they were noisy and vibrated for a long time.

 

[Bludozer]

Chevron Delo 15w40

 

[scottryana]

Tread depth on the Duratracs is also 20% more than the KO2's. 18/32 vs 15/32. That said I will probably replace mine with something else when I do. But I am going to a real MT since I don't daily the truck.

Tread depth and sidewall protection reviews i read was not positive. Our local trail, Iron Range, is a tire slasher which out the DT iut of the running when i was shopping for tires last year for the Jeep. But i should probably look at it again.

 

[ThomasMore66]

Tread depth on the Duratracs is also 20% more than the KO2's. 18/32 vs 15/32. That said I will probably replace mine with something else when I do. But I am going to a real MT since I don't daily the truck.

You, little mister, need to be thinking about turbos, not tires.

 

[LINUS]

Tread depth and sidewall protection reviews i read was not positive. Our local trail, Iron Range, is a tire slasher which out the DT iut of the running when i was shopping for tires last year for the Jeep. But i should probably look at it again.

No 1 tire is going to score 10's across the board.

You mentioned taking kids to the ski area, then a "few trails" - as for anyone who even mentions tread noise, well- get a Prius? They are quiet.

I intentionally have a ~50% awesome stereo in my 80 for exactly this - I don't need Morel separates in a 4WD w/ 4WD tires. I have an Eclipse amp & Excelon/Pioneer speakers.

Me & @scottryana are going in opposite directions but have near identical reviews - I have a little uneven wear but I'm lazy about tire rotation so my fault.

I used to trail plenty, but now I roll on alot of DNR roads & shuttle where we mtn bike, camp, etc - the word 'Moab' is less & less my type of thing and more beers around the evening campfire & my 80 being the bike shuttle.

MT-Rs were great, now I bet I'll get along fine on DT's.

Plus, I'll do better on the road up to Baker before I chain up. (OK, 1x so far between last year & this year.)

DT's aren't perfect but they do alot of things well.

 

[ace10]

My latest 80 arrived with Cooper HTs in stock size. They obviously aren't up to any sort of winter challenges.

Ordered Nokian Rotiiva ATs in 285. Should be here next week. I'm a big Nokian fan, but this will be the first set I'm gonna try to use for four seasons. I'm more concerned about winter performance than ultimate offroad grip.

 

[dogfishlake]

I've got two trucks with Dura Tracs (my 80 and F350) and they are excellent in snow and ice. As a matter of fact, I thought they had no equal outside of a dedicated ice and snow winter only tire. I just put KO2's on my 100 because I couldn't get DT's that day, and I will say that they are amazing in snow and on icy roads. Head to head, I see no difference and no weaknesses. This is only rating the two with very good tread.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

Chevron Delo 15w40

And green, right?