Author Topic: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review  (Read 43327 times)

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H8PVMNT

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BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« on: Mar 21, 2016, 08:58:11 AM »
35x12.50 15 BF Goodrich All Terrain KO2. These will be going on my '89 4Runner, which is a very typical basic build with a very stock 22r, SAS, 5.29 gears, welded rear/aussie locked front.  It does a bunch of tractor duty at the homestead, snow wheeling, overland on endless miles of chunky gravel, a few trail rides a year if I'm lucky and these days I am commuting 40 miles a day with it on pavement.

Ordered up 5 of these so I can rotate in the spare.  I find this makes up for my welded rear dragging and scuffing tires.  I was considering some light mud terrains this time, but since my main concern off road is deep snow wheeling and I commute in the 4runner I decided a good all terrain would serve my use better.

These came off a semi at the end of what you could call my driveway.  Diver couldn't make it down to the house but he did admit it is a step up from the 3 foot deep ruts we had last year. Same guy delivered our solar power setup and generator a while back. 

First impressions off the truck are the side walls look like a familiar BFG race tire.  A few new tread elements and shapes are clearly borrowed from that tire too.

The voids at the side lugs have a bit more space as well as being staggered like a mud terrain.  This gives the tires a knobby look they never really had in previous incarnations. I would expect these to be better in mud and wet snow than the old style. With the stagger on the side lugs and the sidewall treatment turning out of a muddy rut should be more possible.

Sipes go nearly all the way to the bottom of the tread depth, which I like. They should remain sticky for the life of the tire. Not sure about the "interlocking sipes" they talk about.  They look straight to me but maybe the squiggly zig zag interlocking elements are more in the middle of the lugs.  I'll look at that more later.  Maybe that is something on the more standard sizes...

They seem a bit lighter than my last set of tires which were the Falkens.  Side walls feel thick and beefy but flexible when you grab them.

I was thrilled to see that they did away with the lame "rim protector" lip that the previous style KOs had.  Side wall thickens a bit after the bead bundle but no sharp lip is there on these tires.  That lip on the old ones was clearly a mall crawler feature to protect bling rims from curbs and occasional poser shot off road use.  Those things would scoop dirt and gravel in between your bead and rim if you gave them the chance, which I did a lot because I like to put my rigs over on the side walls down in the notch dirt wheeling.  Then you had a slow leak until you could break it down and clean off the rim seat.  Anyway, this should not be a problem on these tires.


Here they are stacked up by the house.  I Hope to get them on rims next week.  As you can see in the photo, side walls must be pretty sticky because they are sticking right to the side of the earth all hanging off that one tire...  ;)

« Last Edit: Mar 21, 2016, 09:04:52 AM by H8PVMNT »
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blackdiamond

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #1 on: Mar 21, 2016, 11:39:46 AM »
Are they going on an 8 or 10 inch wheel?  I'd be interested in how tall they are mounted.

My first impression of the KO2 is that the main tread looks less aggressive than the KO, but the sidewall is more aggressive.  It seemed like an odd combination.  I definitely preferred the look of the KO, but I'm sure these will perform extremely well.
1989 4Runner: Dual Ultimate (Inchworm front & Marlin 4.70 rear), Marlin Twin Stick, 1200-lb clutch, 4.88 R&P, Aussie Front, Detroit rear, 30-spline Longs, Long hub gears, ARP hub and knuckle studs & 35x12.50 Cooper STT PRO tires.  Marlin rear bumper & sliders.  FROR front bumper.  SAS with Alcan springs & Rancho 9000XL shocks.  Budbuilt Bolt-on traction bar.  Custom Interior Cage by Those Guys Rod and Customs.

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H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #2 on: Mar 21, 2016, 12:16:42 PM »
Are they going on an 8 or 10 inch wheel?  I'd be interested in how tall they are mounted.

My first impression of the KO2 is that the main tread looks less aggressive than the KO, but the sidewall is more aggressive.  It seemed like an odd combination.  I definitely preferred the look of the KO, but I'm sure these will perform extremely well.

I would agree with that for the most part.  I think there are a bit less sipes, but the sipes look deeper.  Thee is a bit more going on with the grooves in the side lugs and the long sweeping grooves that were carried over from the race tire tread.  I have some worn KOs, maybe I will put them side by side.

I will be putting these on some 8" steelies.
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Slabzilla

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #3 on: Mar 21, 2016, 03:08:55 PM »
When you do place them side by side you'll see the difference in the tread. The voids are greater on the KO2's, the outer lugs are more straight out instead of angled like the old KO's which give them that whirring that the old KO's did not have.  They were silent compared to the KO2's.  The wife hates the extra noise but loves the traction.  Looking forward to your winter report on daily use on these. :driving:
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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #4 on: Mar 22, 2016, 10:37:23 PM »
I can try to get a pic of them side by side, though I remember seeing pics like that on google a while back
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H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #5 on: Mar 23, 2016, 01:24:59 PM »
Here is a blast from the past.  I have 3 incarnations of this tire available to look at.

The old AT and the KO were pretty similar except for the sidewall treatment and a few more sipes in the KO.  The biggest departure with the KO2 as far as I can see other than the staggered side lugs and angle of the side lugs is that the voids vary quite a bit in size, with some of the intersections creating pockets as large as an inch or so.  I would guess this would help shed mud a lot better but probably make more noise.

Other than that there are some new long angled slashes which I assume are for cornering in loose stuff and some perpendicular cuts in the side lugs which should add forward paddling in anything gooey and maybe good sticky on wet logs.  Sipes seem a bit less than the old KOs, but the shape of the inner tread blocks is more busy, with lots of small changes in angle.

Going up to a buddy's place to mount these up tonight!
« Last Edit: Mar 23, 2016, 02:12:58 PM by H8PVMNT »
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
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H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #6 on: Mar 23, 2016, 03:20:11 PM »
My buddy with the tire machine hurt his knee.  Look like Friday to mount and balance.  I did manage to cram all 5 tires with 5 loose wheels into the back of my 4runner though!
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
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"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

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blackdiamond

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #7 on: Mar 23, 2016, 04:09:53 PM »
My buddy with the tire machine hurt his knee.  Look like Friday to mount and balance.  I did manage to cram all 5 tires with 5 loose wheels into the back of my 4runner though!

I plan to put four tires in mine so this is great news.
1989 4Runner: Dual Ultimate (Inchworm front & Marlin 4.70 rear), Marlin Twin Stick, 1200-lb clutch, 4.88 R&P, Aussie Front, Detroit rear, 30-spline Longs, Long hub gears, ARP hub and knuckle studs & 35x12.50 Cooper STT PRO tires.  Marlin rear bumper & sliders.  FROR front bumper.  SAS with Alcan springs & Rancho 9000XL shocks.  Budbuilt Bolt-on traction bar.  Custom Interior Cage by Those Guys Rod and Customs.

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H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #8 on: Mar 28, 2016, 08:36:59 AM »
Finally got up to my buddy's house and mounted these up! 

I put these on some old black 15x8 steel wheels I had.  I think they are the pro-comps.  They had most of the paint worn off so I scuffed and primed them and put a few coats of "Rustoleum Metallic Matte Nickel". I wanted a coating that looked like an old stock silver painted Toyota steel wheel from the 90s.

They were fairly tight on the bead.  Not as snug as the Goodyears I ran a while back on these rims, (which were super tight) but they took a good seat.  I don't expect them to loose a bead easy.

Mounted on the 15x8 the inflated height is about 34 1/2".  Carcass width on these rims is about 11 3/8".







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H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #9 on: Mar 28, 2016, 08:50:01 AM »
I have had several sets of older BGF All Terrains in the past in various sizes from 31" to 33".  They have never taken hardly any weight to balance.  I don't know if the size was the issue of the more aggressive tire in general, but these took a bit more weight than I am used to for what they are.  The best one took about 4 ounces and the worst of them took about 12 ounces and looked kind of eggy on the balancer like you would expect from a swamper.

I put the nasty one up in my spare position and still had an audible hop from 55 to 65 on the way home from one of the rears.  The next day I broke the bead on the spare, the worst of them, with the hi-lift, pried off the wheel weights and put 14 ounces of number 4 lead shot in the bad one and took a spin down the highway.  The hop was mostly gone.

After success with the eggy one I broke the rest down and put about 12 ounces per tire.  I still don't get why it works but they all spin nice and smooth down the road now.

I know air soft pellets are cleaner but it would have taken about $40 worth of air soft pellets to do a set of tires.  A 25 lb bag of shot for the same price will last many sets of tires.  I've always worried about the shot being hard on the inside of the tire but I've never had a problem with it and no wear inside the carcass, just a bunch of nasty lead dust when you break them down.

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"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #10 on: Mar 28, 2016, 08:55:38 AM »
Tread profile mounted up is a bit rounder than I would have expected.  I do have them on an 8" rim, but I've had 12.50 width BFGs on 7" rims before and still had a fairly flat profile.  I really think they are shooting for a more "off roady" tire design here, at least in this size.  The carcasses are clearly more aggressive and more what we would expect of a mud tire than the road baby all terrain than these have been in the past.  Your intended use for the tire will determine weather this is good or bad.  I don't mind myself as I have a hard time not buying mud tires by default.

“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
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"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #11 on: Mar 28, 2016, 09:05:54 AM »
As it happens we are loading up for a 2,500 mile road trip to take my boy over to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to try to figure out what's going on with him.  We are supposed to get caught in a snow storm on the way over so between the miles and the weather I will be able to give the snowflake severe weather rating a try.

If I am really lucky I might get to run a trail in the Black Hills on the way back for my birthday.

So in summary, so far these are way more aggressive than I expected, not as round as I thought they would be.  After the shot balance they run real nice down the highway.  Road noise is maybe a bit more than older versions but not much.  Still pretty quiet in my perception. Ride is very smooth and just like what I remember from BFG All Terrains in the past.

They look good and the sidewall and side lug treatment add a bit of aggression to the appearance that was lacking in previous incarnations.  So far I am satisfied overall.

For the record mileage on my odometer was about 198,800 when I mounted these up.  I will be doing a 5 tire rotation and I am running a welded rear.

I will update after our road trip...
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
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"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

OVRAROK

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #12 on: Mar 28, 2016, 09:10:04 AM »
As it happens we are loading up for a 2,500 mile road trip to take my boy over to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to try to figure out what's going on with him.  We are supposed to get caught in a snow storm on the way over so between the miles and the weather I will be able to give the snowflake severe weather rating a try.

If I am really lucky I might get to run a trail in the Black Hills on the way back for my birthday.

So in summary, so far these are way more aggressive than I expected, not as round as I thought they would be.  After the shot balance they run real nice down the highway.  Road noise is maybe a bit more than older versions but not much.  Still pretty quiet in my perception. Ride is very smooth and just like what I remember from BFG All Terrains in the past.

They look good and the sidewall and side lug treatment add a bit of aggression to the appearance that was lacking in previous incarnations.  So far I am satisfied overall.

For the record mileage on my odometer was about 198,800 when I mounted these up.  I will be doing a 5 tire rotation and I am running a welded rear.

I will update after our road trip...

good luck on the road trip, hope they figured out the issue with the boy, and happy birthday
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blackdiamond

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #13 on: Mar 28, 2016, 11:25:08 AM »
Mounted on the 15x8 the inflated height is about 34 1/2".  Carcass width on these rims is about 11 3/8".

BF Goodrich rates them to be 34.5 on a 10 inch rim so I would expect it to be fairly accurate at max psi.  The BFG KM2 is rated for 34.8 on a 10 inch rim so it would be very interesting to see how my Cooper STT PROs would really measure up side by side on identical wheels since they are measuring an even 34 inches on the 4Runner.  I don't know how much height I lose from the weight of the 4Runner at 32 psi.
1989 4Runner: Dual Ultimate (Inchworm front & Marlin 4.70 rear), Marlin Twin Stick, 1200-lb clutch, 4.88 R&P, Aussie Front, Detroit rear, 30-spline Longs, Long hub gears, ARP hub and knuckle studs & 35x12.50 Cooper STT PRO tires.  Marlin rear bumper & sliders.  FROR front bumper.  SAS with Alcan springs & Rancho 9000XL shocks.  Budbuilt Bolt-on traction bar.  Custom Interior Cage by Those Guys Rod and Customs.

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H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #14 on: Apr 11, 2016, 08:30:01 AM »
After over 2,000 miles I am pretty happy with these overall.  I will admit these are less than ideal with the welded rear in Seattle.  They are sticky so you notice the welded rear with these more than you would a mud tire.  Not a bad driving experience, just clearly hard on the leading edges of the tread.  All ready flattening out from the trip home though.  Glad to be back in Montana where it either long highway or dirt.

Ride is nice and handling is good.  I will add some pics and hope to wheel something with these soon.
« Last Edit: Apr 11, 2016, 10:46:39 AM by H8PVMNT »
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
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"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #15 on: Apr 15, 2016, 08:55:31 AM »
Woke up to the typical heavy "springtime in the rockies" slush this morning.  This is the wet heavy snow we only get in spring.  It has a layer of ice under it.  Good opportunity to call the bluff on the groovy snowflake severe snow emblem.

While I tend to prefer a skinny mud tire in these conditions, these things hook pretty good.  With the wideness you still feel the push and pull of the heavy slush but they hold a line well.  Better than the Falkens did.  Not as good as "parting the waters" as a 9" wide swamper but you don't feel the slush at all with that tire.  Best way I can describe they way these felt was "installed" in the slushy road surface.  So much so that even in 2WD you felt kind of loaded, like you were pulling something heavy.  They were almost too hooked up if that makes any sense.

What did impress me is that in the slush with the welded rear I can typically get the rear end out pretty easy, like real easy.  Not a problem if you know what to expect but you can usually get all kinds of sideways if you try.  This tread design is so invested in the surface that you can hardly spin the tires in it at all, much less get sideways.  Braking was the same.  I could gun the brakes like a moron and they hook up hard and stop like they were on hard packed dirt.

I think the new tread design is stickier in this kind of condition than previous generations of the tire.  I don't know why exactly, because they seem to have slightly less sipes.  Maybe it's where the sipes are or some of the new tread elements.

I think a skinny size would be completely incredible in the road snow.  The wideness of this particular size clearly makes it so you can't haul azz in these conditions, but I suspect these will reign supreme in deep snow, if I can find some before it all melts.

So in summary, I give the BGF KO2 two big thumbs up for crummy road slush.  In fact if you like drifty, spinny nonsense, like many of us do, you might want to pick a less sticky tire.

« Last Edit: Apr 15, 2016, 10:04:54 AM by H8PVMNT »
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
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"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #16 on: Apr 15, 2016, 10:11:29 AM »
Another note:  We put these on our 1 ton chevy in a 235/85 r16 and the smaller size is WAY louder than the 35s.  They almost hum like a mud tire. The 35s on the 4Runner are pretty quiet though. Weird.

They look pretty neat on the big old dually.

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"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #17 on: Apr 18, 2016, 11:09:36 AM »
I did a dumb guy mud test Friday evening.  We have this road called Dunbar Hill near our house.  It's a county road, but it is made of a gumbo/bentonite substance and they never put gravel on it. 

When it's tacky or dry it gets hard like adobe, but when it's wet at all it is something like a cross between potter's clay and grease.  The other unique thing is that you won't get any penetration in this substance like typical mud, so any side lugs will not help.  You are left only with the effectiveness of the tread design on the tread face.  To make matters worse, Dunbar Hill was covered with about 2" of melting slush on top of the mud.

I have ran up this hill in similar conditions with 34x9.50 15 Swamper TSLs, 35x12.50 15 Goodyear MTRw/Kevlar, 35x12.50 15 Falken Rocky Mountain ATS, 33x9.50 15 BFG AT KO, 31x10.50 15 Treadwright Guard Dogs.

The test is this:  Run up Dunbar Hill Road in 2nd gear high 2WD at full road pressure.  Truck always has a spooled rear so we have 2 tires spinning. See how far you make it before you spin out.  That's it.

The only tires that ever made it all the way up were the Swampers and the Treadwrights.  MTRw/Kevlar did pretty good, mabe 3/4 to the top followed closely by the Falkens, which were oddly good in the mud.  The 33xskinny AT KO made it about half way.

These KO2s made it just the same, about half way, then spun out.  Tread design is clearly made to capture, not eject and clean out.  Clearly a snow tire if anything.

I have no doubt if we were aired down using the side lugs in 4WD we would do better, but as a baseline mud test, looking only at the effectiveness of the tread design, not driver knowledge, I think this is a good comparison.


To be fair, I horsed around in other typical dirt mud and they worked just fine.  Any mud with a smidge of sand or gravely stuff they are really good, on par with any light mud terrain. We did some tractor work pulling posts and yanking a widow maker tree in the mud and they hook up nicely.

So in summary, these still aren't a mudder's mud tire
« Last Edit: Apr 18, 2016, 11:19:41 AM by H8PVMNT »
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
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"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #18 on: Apr 18, 2016, 11:12:14 AM »
In mud they can penetrate, the side lugs and side wall treatment come into play and they work a lot better.  This is Caleb crawling through some of our flooded, goop bottomed front pasture...
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"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

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H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #19 on: Apr 18, 2016, 11:13:48 AM »
Gravelly bottomed soup holes they are right in their element...
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"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #20 on: Apr 18, 2016, 11:15:07 AM »
They seem to hook up really really well on wet, slippery wood.  If you crawl through a bunch of slick, wet, snowy wind falls all the time or play around on old clear cuts these are your tire.   These things hook up great on wet wood even at full street pressure.  Superior to a mud tire in this regard.  Wet grass, mucky cow manure with straw is just fine too...
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
– Steve McQueen

"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

helipilot77

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #21 on: Apr 18, 2016, 01:26:37 PM »
I can't believe you guys still have some snow!  :o
-1987 SR5 4runner, 1KZ-t turbo diesel with mech. pump
 & custom 3" S.S. dump pipe, R-151f transmission, marlin dual ultimate transfer cases w/ triple shifter, SAS, 35's https://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=98969.0
-1984 SR5 Tercel 4wd wagon bone stock - given to my nephew https://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=100547.0
-1:10 scale RC 4wd crawler w/yota axles, R2 2 speed enclosed dig tranny and 1st gen 4Runner body by BigBird
-My front axle service write-up http://board.marlincrawler.com/i

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #22 on: Apr 18, 2016, 01:42:28 PM »
That was nothing.  About an hour away from us closer to the front a place got something like 22"!  We occasionally get pounded in late May even.  It always melts in a day or two and makes a big mess.
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
– Steve McQueen

"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #23 on: May 09, 2016, 03:12:04 PM »
I rotated the nasty one into the front passenger position after our last trip.  It was fine for daily driving but on the long highway all day from MT to Seattle it had a pretty audible hop at 70 mph so I rotated it back into the spare position.  That tire was just fine on the back, just noticeable on the front for 8 hours.  I will put it back on the front after I get done scuffing my other 4 with the welded rear.

After a little noise reduction on my exhaust and interior I can truly say these things are nice and quiet in this size.  Ran a bit of steep dirt 2 track in 2WD low range and as would be expected they are sticky sticky sticky on the dirt.  Anyone who has ran previous BFG All Terrains would expect this to be so.

So again, nice quiet tires, sticky in dirt and snow, great on wet logs, tolerable in typical mud, handle pretty well, but not really as round as you would think for an all terrain.





« Last Edit: May 09, 2016, 03:29:18 PM by H8PVMNT »
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
– Steve McQueen

"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

kneedownnate

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #24 on: May 10, 2016, 10:19:24 PM »
Hmmm...  since this hasn't been the case for us, and I always wonder about these types of issues with mail order places where returns are a major pita, I am curious if they get some not so great tires.  Have you checked to see if they'd exchange the bad tire for you?
RIP KYOTA

You can go through life being scared of the possible, or you can have a little fun and tease the inevitable.

Give a man venison, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to hunt Blacktail, he'll be frustrated for life!

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #25 on: May 11, 2016, 07:18:53 AM »
Yeah I often wonder that myself.  I have thought about giving them a call.
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
– Steve McQueen

"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

SqWADoosh

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #26 on: May 11, 2016, 01:19:03 PM »
I think there is definitely some truth to that. One of the 5 pitbulls I got is out of round. Only a problem when I get above 70 mph but still sucks.

kneedownnate

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #27 on: May 11, 2016, 09:22:43 PM »
I can only recall one issue we've had with these.  We recently put them on a ram 2500 in 315/70-17.  He came right back and said his truck vibrated, so we rebalanced and he returned shortly after and said it still vibrated.  We tried once more on a different balancer, road-forced them and said give it one more shot.  He came almost right back and said they were no better.  Done.  We ordered him 4 more and swapped them out last night.  I was off today so I do not know if it was fixed, but it's super easy (and is my job) to return them to bfg due to ride issues.
RIP KYOTA

You can go through life being scared of the possible, or you can have a little fun and tease the inevitable.

Give a man venison, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to hunt Blacktail, he'll be frustrated for life!

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #28 on: Jul 29, 2016, 10:21:08 AM »
10K update:

At this time my ODO reads 209,627.  We mounted these at 198,800 so I have 10,827 miles on these tires.  We have had a TON of around town on these compared to what I would normally expect.

I ran a little long on my rotation so tread depths vary from 46% to 72%, with and average of 63% for all five tires.  They are wearing nice and even front to rear with no funky wear of the side lugs in front. My front end is a little heavy on the inside as far as camber and that does not appear to be effecting these tires which is impressive.  I measured the center of the tread where the most wear is.  I am running these on 8" wheels which is clearly making them round out a little at typical road pressure. I would say these tires want to be on a 10" wheel for perfect health.

Based on the average I should get right around 30,000 miles on these if I run them out.  I would expect a little more.  The less worn tires suggest about 38,000 miles, I would expect they will be pretty well done in the center treads somewhere between these numbers.  I know I am running a welded read and all but there is NO WAY these KO2s are going to get the 60,000+ mile tread life we've come to expect from the previous incarnations of the tire.  I believe the tread compound is quite a bit different than the KOs.  Probably stickier and softer.



I am getting the most wear in the driver's side rear position with the welded rear.  I guess I make more left turns.

I still like these tires.  They are quiet, ride fairly smooth and look good.  Really good in snow, excellent in dirt wheeling, rocks, wood and perfectly acceptable in light or gravely mud. Not at all good in slick clay nasty mud.  The sissy Falken Rocky Mountains I ran were better in mud by far.  These handle really well on pavement wet or dry.  They do absolutely carve in high speed gravel.  Not totally impressed with them for balance and roundness.  Might as well be a mud tire as far as that is concerned.  I expect a rounder carcass when I buy an all terrain.  Maybe this is an anomaly and I just got a couple eggy tires, maybe not.

So in summary do I like them?  Yes.  Would I buy them again?  I'm not sure.  If they impress me enough in deep snow this winter, maybe.  If I am goin off of tread wear and all around usefulness so far, probably not.  I have been happier in general with light mud terrains as an all around do it all tire.

I will update again when I have something interesting to say or at 20K, whichever comes first :).



“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
– Steve McQueen

"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

H8PVMNT [OP]

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Re: BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 35x12.50 15 Review
« Reply #29 on: Jul 29, 2016, 10:31:49 AM »
I will add a little more since we got to wheel just a bit on "Wild Bill/Blacktail ORV Trail this weekend.  This is a fairly mild trail system of typical mountain 2 track with some man made obstacles on the side every now an then.  I didn't know what to expect and I dropped pressure to about 7psi.  This was probably lower than I needed for the dirt and rock trail we were on.  12 psi would have been fine and made steering easier.

At 7psi these things get about a 15" long tread patch.  Pretty compliant carcasses.  These things definitely flex and ooze around rocks very well.  In the second photo below you can see the side wall contorting around a small boulder pretty well.  I'm expecting great things from these tires in deep snow based on this.

Anyway the whole family traded off driving a leg of the trail and we picked about a quart of huckleberries.  These are a good tire for this type of trail where you get rocks, dirt and loose gravel substance.
“I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.”
– Steve McQueen

"Except for maybe Seattle."  -H8PVMNT

"I plan to hit 300k in this truck"  :)bestgen4runner

 "I'm jealous of your shop. It has concrete and doesn't smell like pickles like the old shop  "  300K

 
 
 
 
 

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