BFG KO2 Thoughts

[bdk]

I'm ordering new tires for my 2012 Powerwagon tomorrow and want to get some last minute opinions.
I have read a lot of reviews and have pretty well decided on a set of 315/70R17 BFG KO2's but I would like to hear any opinions before I order them. I do very little off-roading in my truck, mostly just use it as a family vehicle and a tow vehicle for my Polaris RZR. Gravel roads, sandy parking areas and the occasional snow/ ice storm here in Oklahoma. I currently have an almost new set of 285/70r17 KO2's and I am very pleased with them but I would like a taller tire to fill out the fenders a little better and hopefully bring my 75 mph hwy cruising rpm down a little. Are there any other tires I should consider? Also, are they're any advantage to getting 35x12.5r17? They are a little more expensive and I plan to replace my spare with a used tire and the 315's seem easier to find since they are stock size on the Raptor and the H2. Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

[shacke]

The Duratracs on my truck were replaced at 5,100 miles with the KO2s. The tires could not be road force balanced, so I took the opportunity to switch to 35x12.5x17. Ninety (90) percent of my driving is on paved roads and half of that is on interstates in the Atlanta area. The ten (10) percent of my travel that is off road is mostly on forest trail roads and a few that are not maintained driving to camping or fishing sites. My observations of the KO2s versus the Duratracs are,

- Much quieter
- Much better dry and wet performance on paved roads
- Very good performance on gravel roads
- Same or slightly poorer performance off-road on Georgia clay
- 35x12.5x17 do not rub at full turn and/or full stuff
- No discernible difference in fuel mileage
- Braking performance difference unknown as I changed to EBC off-road rotors and brakes

Before I changed tires, I had a very predictable and worsening vibration between 68-77mph. The KO2s ride very smooth at high interstate speeds.

Regards,

[bdk]

The Duratracs on my truck were replaced at 5,100 miles with the KO2s. The tires could not be road force balanced, so I took the opportunity to switch to 35x12.5x17. Ninety (90) percent of my driving is on paved roads and half of that is on interstates in the Atlanta area. The ten (10) percent of my travel that is off road is mostly on forest trail roads and a few that are not maintained driving to camping or fishing sites. My observations of the KO2s versus the Duratracs are,

- Much quieter
- Much better dry and wet performance on paved roads
- Very good performance on gravel roads
- Same or slightly poorer performance off-road on Georgia clay
- 35x12.5x17 do not rub at full turn and/or full stuff
- No discernible difference in fuel mileage
- Braking performance difference unknown as I changed to EBC off-road rotors and brakes

Before I changed tires, I had a very predictable and worsening vibration between 68-77mph. The KO2s ride very smooth at high interstate speeds.

Regards,

Thank you for the info, the Duratracs would be my 2nd choice but it sounds like the KO2's are the better tire for my purposes. Any reason you chose the 35/12.5r17 over the 315/70r17? They are virtually the same size, I'm just wondering if there are any advantages to one or the other. Also, how are you liking the EBC brakes? I tow often and hate how much dust my brakes throw. My front wheels will be almost black after a couple of trips. I'm thinking the EBC will give me better braking and less dust.

[RamGentry]

had 35" KO2s and now 37" KO2s. 35s over 315s because they were cheaper at my time of purchase. They are a great tire. I get four seasons in MN and they have held up well to all of them

[shacke]

Went with the 35s over the 315s because I was limited by what the dealer had in stock since it was a swap out. The EBC rotors and brakes have been a welcome addition for Atlanta traffic. I went with the Extra Duty brake pads, but if I towed more often the Truck Yellowstuff Sport pads would probably be a better choice. EBC customer service helped me understand the myriad choices available, so I would recommend giving them a call.

[Ducky's Dad]

I won't buy any more BFG ATs for my trucks because I have have too many problems with them. Used to be my favorite truck tire, but two sets (35s and 33s) went bad on my GMC long before the tread was worn out. Probably a tread separation, but both sets caused serious front end shimmy on that truck, even with a freshly rebuilt front end. A good tire shop finally decided it was the tires, put on a different set, problem solved. I now have Toyo AT-IIs on the PW and the Tundra, and Nitto Grapplers on the GMC. Both are good tires for my use, all are Load Range E, which would be prudent for a PW.

[Will]

Gravel roads, sandy parking areas and the occasional snow/ ice storm here in Oklahoma. Are there any other tires I should consider? Also, are they're any advantage to getting 35x12.5r17?

Yokohama Geolandar AT/S https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/deta ... ndar_a_t_s

Best all terrain tire I've ever ran. They really shine in sand and have excellent wet traction all the way to the end due to deep siping. A 35" tire will help on the hwy with the gearing and will help a lot more in sand with the extra flotation. The Yoko's are light in weight and ride superb. I highly recommend them. I put 54k miles on a 37" set (could have pushed them to 70k) in everything the Southeast has to offer and never had a reason to complain about them.

I don't know about the new KO2's but the old ones sucked so bad, you couldn't give me a BFG tire of any kind, I wouldn't risk the chance to try them.

[04Ram2500Hemi]

I think I got around 28,000 miles out of the stock BFG's that came on my 2012, and they were ok. That being said, I've always been more of a Toyo guy. I really like the Toyo A/T II's on my truck. I run the same tire on my wife's Honda Pilot, my dad runs them on his Ram 1500, and my brother runs them on his Jeep Patriot and his GMC 2500.

[bdk]

Thanks for all the input guys, unfortunately all my posts are requiring approval from the admin before they show up so by the time my 2nd reply posted I had already ordered the 315/70R17 KO2's. I had already done a lot of research and was pretty set on getting them anyway so hopefully I won't regret it. I know the original BFG KO's had some serious short comings when compared to other modern tires. I think the new KO2's are much better and after putting around 20k (15k on an F150 and about 5k on the PW) miles on them they seem to suit my needs exceptionally well. I guess I was just looking for confirmation. The Geolanders are without a doubt great tires perform much better than their milder appearance suggests but I prefer the looks of the KO2 (I admit that's a dumb reason to pick 1 tire over another but these are still a lot more practical than the 37" Toyo MT's I really want LOL).
Shacke, thanks for the feedback on the brakes, I'm going to call EBC and see what they recommend for my driving style. I didn't even think about being able to ask them directly.
I'll post up some pics when I get the tires mounted in case someone has the same questions I did.

[flattire]

Measure the tire height after mounting. My KO2's came up well short of advertised height.

[MSCH2112]

i've heard good things on the new ko2's.

i had 3 sets of the old ko's between my 05'pw and 12'pw. they sucked. tread would fall apart and i'ld get the death wobble. never again.

duratrak's were a big improvement over the old ko's.

mike

[hammer40]

I replaced my stock Duratrac's with KO2's and couldn't be happier. Much quieter on road and good grip in the dirt/mud. I do agree that they measure out much smaller than the stated size. I have 35/12.5/17's on stock rims.

[pdavey]

My Nitto Trail Grapplers 35x12.5x17 lasted me 50,000 miles. Yes, 50K. Go with those. You get a great ride and great value.

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[bdk]

Discount tire delivered my tires in less than 24 hours so I got them mounted up tonight. I am very pleased with the service discount tire provides and highly recommend them to anyone shopping for tires. They also sponsor the UTV Rally on the Rocks in Moab and have some pretty awesome offroad builds so I like supporting a company that gives back to the offroad community.

Anyway, here are the pics. I have not measured them yet but I'm guessing they're around 34". I'll post up the measured height soon.


285/70r17 w/ approx 5000 miles 60psi

305/70r17 60psi

285

305

Both tires mounted at 60psi

Tires unmounted

I have more pics comparing the 2 if anyone wants to see them but I think this pretty well shows the difference

[bdk]

Discount tire delivered my tires in less than 24 hours so I got them mounted up tonight. I am very pleased with the service discount tire provides and highly recommend them to anyone shopping for tires. They also sponsor the UTV Rally on the Rocks in Moab and have some pretty awesome offroad builds so I like supporting a company that gives back to the offroad community.

Anyway, here are the pics. I have not measured them yet but I'm guessing they're around 34". I'll post up the measured height soon.


285/70r17 w/ approx 5000 miles 60psi

305/70r17 60psi

285

305

[bdk]

Both tires mounted at 60psi

Tires unmounted

I have more pics comparing the 2 if anyone wants to see them but I think this pretty well shows the difference

[bdk]

Both tires mounted at 60psi

Tires unmounted

I have more pics comparing the 2 if anyone wants to see them but I think this pretty well shows the difference

[bdk]

Speedometer isn't off by as much as I thought. Before it was dead on, now when it reads 70 on the speedo I am running 74 according to the same speedo app on my phone

[pdavey]

At 60 psi you must be bouncing all over the road.

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[bdk]

At 60 psi you must be bouncing all over the road.

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60 psi is the recommended tire pressure for my truck on the 285/70r17's and max psi for that size is 80. The max psi for the 315/70r17's is only 65 so I may drop it with these. Ill just have to see how it rides. The truck would ride better at a lower psi but that increases rolling resistance and can cause poor wear so I think it just depends on your priorities. My truck spends a lot of time hooked to a trailer so the higher psi is probably a good thing for me

[bdk]

At 60 psi you must be bouncing all over the road.

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60 psi is the recommended tire pressure for my truck on the 285/70r17's and max psi for that size is 80. The max psi for the 315/70r17's is only 65 so I may drop it with these. Ill just have to see how it rides. The truck would ride better at a lower psi but that increases rolling resistance and can cause poor wear so I think it just depends on your priorities. My truck spends a lot of time hooked to a trailer so the higher psi is probably a good thing for me.

In theory since both tires have the same max load at different psi ~49 psi in the 315's would be the same load rating as 60 psi in the 285's assuming (not certain) that load rating is directly proportional to tire pressure.
60/80=.75 x 65= 48.75

[pdavey]

Makes sense. I don't tow a lot. Hope the KO2's stand up well. The T/A KO's were crap.

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[hammer40]

I run mine at 47 front, 42 rear. My goal is to get the most even contact across the tire. I think you will find with the narrow, stock rim that 60 psi will have the center of the tire making contact and the edges not so much.

[bdk]

I run mine at 47 front, 42 rear. My goal is to get the most even contact across the tire. I think you will find with the narrow, stock rim that 60 psi will have the center of the tire making contact and the edges not so much.

Yeah, I'm thinking I'll run about 48 but I'll run it in all 4 since I regularly tow. I would like to get an on-board air compressor system so it would be easy to adjust pressure according to load, and so I air down for the little bit of off-roading I do.

[14PowerWaggy]

The Duratracs on my truck were replaced at 5,100 miles with the KO2s. The tires could not be road force balanced, so I took the opportunity to switch to 35x12.5x17. Ninety (90) percent of my driving is on paved roads and half of that is on interstates in the Atlanta area. The ten (10) percent of my travel that is off road is mostly on forest trail roads and a few that are not maintained driving to camping or fishing sites. My observations of the KO2s versus the Duratracs are,

- Much quieter
- Much better dry and wet performance on paved roads
- Very good performance on gravel roads
- Same or slightly poorer performance off-road on Georgia clay
- 35x12.5x17 do not rub at full turn and/or full stuff
- No discernible difference in fuel mileage
- Braking performance difference unknown as I changed to EBC off-road rotors and brakes

Before I changed tires, I had a very predictable and worsening vibration between 68-77mph. The KO2s ride very smooth at high interstate speeds.

Regards,

Unrelated to this post but what part of GA are you in shacke? I'm in Lilburn and rarely see any other wagons around...