New BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A KO2 (1 Viewer)

[profro]

As promised I went out to Windrock this evening with my boys and tested the tires on tougher trails. Its been raining and I tried Trail 35, which has a couple technical rock sections and a few clay sections. It climbs the entire length so gravity was against me. I air down to 20psi on each tire which was my standard set point with my 255 KM2s.

Again, anything with rocks or with rocks mixed in, the tires did great. To be honest I even think they performed better on wet rocks than the KM2s. I was really impressed how well they handled the trail. The only place they struggled was when I stopped on a pure clay incline and tried to start again. I was tough to restart, but backing up and coming into the section with a tiny bit of momentum was no problem.

I think in the nasty, nasty these will struggle, but as an overall, do everything tire they seem to be incredible.

 

[mcgaskins]

Looks like it performed quite well considering. Thanks for the update - I'm about to pull the trigger on these in 35x12.50x17 since they're actually coming in a tad cheaper than the Duratracs in a similar size!

 

[profro]

Update:

Took a buddy of mine back to Windrock. Since he's new to wheeling we stuck to the "easier" trails. I usually avoid those because of the ATVs, but holy smokes, what used to be easy trails had turned into rutted, nasty mud trails. Again, I was incredibly impressed with these tires in the mud. The mud was drying and very sticky, so that may have helped. But this was the worst mud I have ever run through at Windrock and on ATs no less. I tried to enter sections locked to avoid getting stuck but the tires just always hooked up. A few times I had to unlock to avoid slide hill sliding and the tires just kept on gripping. The worst they got packed was going down hill where there wasn't enough tire spin to clean out.

As a comparison my buddy was on 35" Dunlop MTs

The KO2 after the same downhill was more packed but some wheel spin and they cleaned out.

 

[GOLDY]

Just finished a run which consisted of a variety of conditions :

315/75/16 KO2's on a 96 80 series 36psi on road - 15psi off road

Hwy - Ride was smooth and quiet, Handling excellent wet and dry, tracked well - not as susceptable to road imperfections, less steering more aiming
Rocks - Great grip, no slip wet and dry - in low range (center diff only) no need for fr/Rr diff locks on this trail
Mud - It's not a mud terrain, but held it's own. Cleaned itself well. Definitely huge step up from KO's. Not deep mud but bullsnot slippery
Washboard - smoothest ride I've have ever had
Snow - saw it, but not enough to play in

This initial review is of course in my opinion. However, in all fairness it should be known I have been a fan of BFG for many years. They really got it right with this long overdue update of their iconic all-terrain. It has the characteristics of a mud terrain with a smoother ride. It's also some good lookin rubber.

More reviews to come on wear and tear and how the miles affect my initial review.View attachment 1068442

 

[atomsk]

Maybe you guys could talk some sense into me - I was originally planning on getting the KO's in 295/75R16 on my 100 before I found the KO2's (been planning my truck build for a while). Well, now I'm set on the KO2's, but they don't have them in 295 yet. I emailed BFG back in March about availability, and they told me they were going to start production on them at the end of March. Since then Tire Rack and some others have added them as "Back Ordered". I emailed BFG for an update, and now they say there is nothing saying that BFG will be making them in that size. I told them to check again, and got the same response. I don't really believe them. Tire Rack says they are expected to be in stock in October. Way too far out for me.

So I guess my question is, am I going to notice a difference in 285 KO2's? I know it's minimal, but I'm already wishing I could go 315 (don't have the cash to re-gear and have other items on my wishlist right now), so going backwards seems rather annoying to me.

Someone tell me I'm crazy and I should just get the 285's.

Or maybe I should just go 315's... (not this again!)

 

[BMThiker]

The math between 295s and 285s is only .59 inches, so you'll sit 1/3" lower than you are now. Can you live with that?
285/75/16 = 32.83"
295/75/16 = 33.42"
315/75/16 = 34.60"

 

[atomsk]

And there is the sense I was looking for!

285's it is.

 

[BMThiker]

for future reference: https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc

 

[studawg]

I may have missed it in this thread, but are they not making these in any 15" sizes besides the 30x9.50?

 

[BMThiker]

All current sizes (pulled from BFG site)...not one 15 size listed...but lower on the page they do show the 30x9.5/15" with no price next to it [#64055 30x9.50R15/C 104 S].

 

[studawg]

Yeah that chart is what prompted the question; they really should at least make a 33x10.50/15 for the old school guys. The tall skinny tire has gotten a lot more popular in recent years and you would think they could figure out a way to make it profitable.

 

[GreyCruiser]

Here's some food for thought. Its a screen shot of the appropriate section of BFG's Australian web page. Apparently, there are going to be 15" versions. I hope so, because I'm waiting for them!

 

[GreyCruiser]

Excuse the stupidity. I should have just given the URL. Here it is.

http://www.bfgoodrich.com.au/product-range/4x4-tyres/4x4-suv-tyres/all-terrain-ta-ko2/

 

[studawg]

Awesome, Thanks Grey! According to that it looks like they will be available 3rd Quarter of 2015 I guess. You just made my day!

 

[mcgaskins]

I was going to update here when I installed the 35x12.50x17 KO2s, but after a pretty ridiculous exchange with Discount Tire where they wouldn't install it on my 7.5" wide rim I ended up getting 315/70/17 Duratracs instead for the time being. The lamest part was that according to the "book" the DT requires the same rim width as the KO2, but (I'm guessing) since they have more experience with the DT they were willing to do it. Although I love the DT, I was looking forward to trying something new. Oh well I could see myself moving up to the 37" KO2 later this year anyways

 

[bodywhomper]

We will be testing two snowflake rated sets of tires this winter...315-75/16 BFG AT KO2's on my FZJ80 (replacing BFG KO's) and 285-70/17 Cooper A/TW's on @Pearl470 Heather's GX470 (replacing Cooper A/T3's). Watch for ongoing updates on both - our first trip with the GX470 will be over Thanksgiving weekend from WI to MN and back...and given how our Wisconsin winter has started, there should be plenty of snow/ice

I just need to escape this miserable Baja peninsula and the boredom of the Baja 1000

Any update on the comparison? snow/ice performance, warmer weather wear, off road traction? comparison to dedicated snows? i'm looking to use them all year long in the sierra foothills and mountains. typically, I switch out to snows on other vehicles for the winter, but....

cheers

 

[woody]

We never ended up with a set of the Cooper A/TW tires to compare, but I am completely and thoroughly impressed with my KO2's. Winter performance was excellent, and I can't see a need for a winter set of tires after running the KO2's. Thus far, street/summer and offroad has been impressive as well. Mud traction in TX was good (not perfect) but I did need to switch on 4WD to get around in the slop that was at Overland Expo (my FZJ80 has the part-time kit installed)...2WD just wasn't cutting it in the muddy lakebottom soup down there.

My wife is now begging for a set on her GX470

I'm needing new tires on my Ram tow rig as well, and am unsure yet if I'll run another set of BFG Rugged Terrains (which have served me very well on that rig) or if I'll switch to the All Terrain KO2's. Maybe I can pull off a deal at Discount Tire for 10

 

[bjowett]

A/TW Coopers are awesome, a very nice tire that is extremely capable on and off the snow. It does well where dedicated snows fail... and as I write that I have a set of KO2's I'm about to try. 34x10.5R17 (measure 33.1 installed).

 

[woody]

A 4Runner at Overland Expo had the 34/17 KO2's installed, they looked sharp

 

[intense1]

A 4Runner at Overland Expo had the 34/17 KO2's installed, they looked sharp

Pictures? I need tires for my 4Runner