Tire Review - BFG MT/KM2's 315's

[UCBerzerkeley]

Sooo where exactly did it rub? On the fenders? Inside the wheel well? Did it only rub in the rear?

 

[Pathfinder]

Sooo where exactly did it rub? On the fenders? Inside the wheel well? Did it only rub in the rear?

It only seamed to rub in the rear. The tires caught where the mud flap bolts on the inside of the fender. Every where else seamed clean. It just tried to pull top part of the mud flag a little. You can see where it is grabbing in the photo of the rear wheel. Its to the left of the "M" on mudterrain and where the seam meets the fender flair.

 

[Farr off road]

I cannot wait to take them wheeling up in TN on some real trails.

Let me know when you're ready to go that way I can pull you out if you get stuck!

 

[Natty]

nice truck sir

 

[Natty]

should've put the white lettering to the inside though!

 

[BirfMark]

What's the verdict on these in hard packed snow and/or ice? The tread blocks look too large with too few biting edges to be effective in slippery conditions, but maybe siping would be an option?

 

[Pathfinder]

should've put the white lettering to the inside though!

Nope thats how us rednecks roll!

 

[ravencr]

I'm looking at this exact tire or the cooper stt's in the same size. Any experience from anyone that has run both? The KM2's are about $70/tire more than the Cooper STT.

Chris

 

[Pathfinder]

Just had the tires rotated after 9,000 miles. They are still smooth. The tires are still great. Offroad is where they come alive. On road the whine of the KM2's can get tiresome however pull offroad and its all worth it. They were re balanced with the same weight as before per the tire tech (however do not know how much weight they put on)

Still happy after 9k miles.

 

[lyrikz]

Just had the tires rotated after 9,000 miles. They are still smooth. The tires are still great. Offroad is where they come alive. On road the whine of the KM2's can get tiresome however pull offroad and its all worth it. They were re balanced with the same weight as before per the tire tech (however do not know how much weight they put on)

Still happy after 9k miles.

Beautiful rig. You have PM.

 

[Theycallmenica]

Wanted to warn you guys on the KM2 MT and BFG KM1, I have both and they are horrible on rocks or sage brush, think Cali Desert, Nevada desert, they are way too soft and have had 4 side wall failures in the easiest terrain, friend of mine octavio62 two side wall failures, from easy stuff. My bro and other club members that wheel way harder than me and have other brands have had no failure after much rock crawling. Even a heep with these ripped the side wall in the climb to gold mountain Big Bear. My latest failure happened in some lime stone here are the pics. Buyer beware!

Thursday's failure

On this rock notice no sharp edges more like round edges not that hard either.

 

[Brunt Force Trauma]

So Pathfinder.
Just to clarify, you replaced the stock tires with these with NO regear, and you cant tell the difference in steering/braking/acceleration/highway performance at all?

 

[Pathfinder]

I just purchased a set (5) of 315/75/16's of my LX450. I went from a set of stock LTX M/S (31's)

Impressions (first 5 miles)
Acceleration: cannot tell much difference truck feels virtually the same.
Braking: Can tell a little difference here however my upgraded brake system has helped to compensate.
Handling: feels about the same around town. Steering feels the same. Not any heavier.
Ride: at very slow speeds (1-2 mph) I can feel the tires
audible noise: can tell they are there and the sound has picked up however not like your average redneck f250 with super swampers howling down the road.
Spare Tire: Does not fit in stock location b/c of panard bar. I may be able to remove the stock hitch and stuff it under there however I will most likely be ordering a stripper pole from Slee till I can afford an IPOR rear bumper and tire carrier. (This was not a surprise)
Spedo: I have a slee spedo gear that I will also be installing this weekend so I will post pre & post measurements of actual speed compared to GPS measurements.
Price: From Discount Tire (Alot) out the door. The was not very happy.....

Would I buy again??? HECK YES These bad boys look great and really take my cruiser from mild to full blown trail rig!!!

IMHO my rig now looks the part!!!



I will be going out this weekend to try out in the mud and off road. I will be posting a review later then.

Here are a couple of pictures.

So Pathfinder.
Just to clarify, you replaced the stock tires with these with NO regear, and you cant tell the difference in steering/braking/acceleration/highway performance at all?

Info from my first post:

Now 10K later
Acceleration I can tell a slight difference. braking it feels the same however I did upgrade my brakes at the same time.

Handling - same (to me no way to quantify)
steering - same (to me no way to quantify)

Remember Florida is pretty flat so re-gearing has not made sense yet for me. When I go up to North Georgia to visit family I've not noticed a need there either.

I can however see the benefit when crawling. A re-gear is in the future, just not near!

I like the KM2's alot, next year I plan to go to moab so that will be the real test. so till then....

 

[Fireguy]

Wanted to warn you guys on the KM2 MT and BFG KM1, I have both and they are horrible on rocks or sage brush, think Cali Desert, Nevada desert, they are way too soft and have had 4 side wall failures in the easiest terrain, friend of mine octavio62 two side wall failures, from easy stuff. My bro and other club members that wheel way harder than me and have other brands have had no failure after much rock crawling. Even a heep with these ripped the side wall in the climb to gold mountain Big Bear. My latest failure happened in some lime stone here are the pics. Buyer beware!

Thursday's failure

On this rock notice no sharp edges more like round edges not that hard either.

I have had the exact opposite experience with both the older KM1's and the new KM2. I have wheeled them extensively in the SW, mainly out of Vegas. It has been my experience that they are one of the few MT tires that actually holds up well against sidewall punctures.

 

[Nottajeep]

What kind of rims are those? Seems like that might be some of the problem. I love my OEM Al's!

 

[yOHda]

ive had both km's and km2s on my 4runner. the original km's i heard had issues with the sidewall though i never experienced any failures. i run 8 psi on non beadlocked wheels. i have had km2s for the last year and half and they are a noticeably softer tire than the original km but the sidewall is definitely way thicker. the kms wore like iron but the km2s have been an awesome tire for me offroad. there is a lot of mud to get to the few rocks we have and the km2s dig through the mud very well for a tire that doesnt really look like its designed for that. i have about 10K on them and they show little wear. the km2 is an excellent DD/weekend wheeler type tire imo.

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

How is the highway noise with the KM2's?

My KM1's have over 100k miles on them with plenty of tread left, but they seem to be getting louder as they wear

 

[Pathfinder]

noise is not an issue yet with me. Sounds the same. I got some initial sound reading on interior noise, it you have an iphone you can do the same and let us know.

100k on tires! Good for you.