Tyre Topic: BFG All Terrain KO2

[nj swb]

This Tyre Topic is for members to post about BFG All Terrain KO2. Post your thoughts on grip, noise, wear, airing down, or anything else you consider of interest to other members.

BFG All Terrain KO2.



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[cruisn06]

The review of reviews... 22000kms through Africa without a single puncture, flat, or blow out. plus bulk kms in Australia with only 1 flat, which was 100% my fault, 130kmh on dirt roads with sharp rocks..



Grip: tons, air down to suit the terrain and vehicle weight and carry on. I honestly avoid mud, but they do alright, obviously not as good as mud terrains but they do now have the sidewall bites that help out.

Tyre issues: I get pretty heavy wear, but then again I am 80% of my driving below 20psi so accelerated wear was to be expected.

Wear: Always even, never had any issues with odd wear patterns or quick wear that was not due to my own abuse. I have 3 wagons all with same tyres. my old shorty seems mainly 95% tarmac and with about 50k on the set they still look newish.

Noise: none that I ever notice.... all vehicle are straight piped though

Airing down: A lot of roads here are such soft sand I frequently end up down at 8psi with the wagon weighing in at 3 tons I have no issues at all. no heat issues or side wall failures.

Overall view: Worth every damn penny.

[geopaj]

I’ve run 2 sets of the previous KOs and 1 set of the current KO2s.

I found them faultless off-road and on high speed dirt, and that they have great puncture resistance.

The negatives are they don’t have the best on road grip (especially in the wet compared to my current Cooper AT3s) and I found them noisy on monocoque chassis gen 4 (but not on my previous NL which had a separate chassis). I also found they had great puncture resistance.

To compare the BFG AT KO2s to the new Cooper AT3s - BFGs have a more aggressive tread so have better dirt grip, less tarmac grip, and are noticeably noisier. Like everything, life is a compromise and it depends on what you want/need out of a tire

[pronvit]

cruisn06, what size are you running?

[old Jack]

I ran 2 sets of BFG KO AT 245/75R16 8ply, through my LWB Jackaroo, GVM2500 but regularly around 2700kg when full loaded. I got about 70,000kms out of each set on a 4 & 1/2 tyre rotation but I do change tyre's once they are down to 3mm tread depth.

2/3's of the kms are highway/city and 1/3 off the bitumen, Simpson Crossing, Central Austalia, Limestone Coast and Flinders Ranges regular trips all without tyre problems.

Only had two complaints;
1. They were easily to pop the bead at low pressures, I put this down to 8ply rating.
2. They would aqua plane and get twitchy above 80kph in the wet if there was standing water on the road.
They were a great impovement compared to the previous 2 sets of tyre's fitted, Yokohama 826 and Bridgestone 604 in 205/80R16 6ply rated.

The BFG were replaced with Cooper ST 215/80R16 and I ran 2 sets before the Jackaroo was sold with 330,000km on the clock after 16 years of faithful service. The Cooper ST outperformed the BFG in every area especially mud, but they were slightly noisier.

OJ.

[Ian H]

Mine have done 13,000 and at least half has been towing a caravan (2200kg) with a 200kg ball weight. I've had them over sharp rocks, loose gravel, dirt roads with pot holes and steep dirt tracks. I reckon they are a great tyre all round and haven't noticed any more noise than my previous set which were Toyo Open Country ATs.

I think the tread wrapped around the top of the side wall is great and gives me a lot of confidence out on the tracks. They are bloody hard to damage and I'm very happy I got them.

As for longevity, we'll see but I hope to get more than the 48k I got out of the Toyos, although I did ditch them when they still had some life left.

[mrbitchi]

Recently put a set of these on my Cruiser after running Toyo Ats for a few years. Got sick of staking sidewalls on the Toyos so needed something a bit stronger. Only had them for a couple of weeks but did a few Medium trips for the Clubs Xmas party and so far they are the goods off road. Slightly noisier than the Toyos on the road but not much.

Time will tell

Size is 285/70/17 LT

[cruisn06]

cruisn06, what size are you running?

265/65/r18 at the moment

[Peterng]

I am at the moment running BFG KO2's 265x65x17 and have got to 70K plus there is still some more to go. They have been rotated every 10K service I get the Paj done.
I had the left rear tyre go over an exhaust bracket that came off the Paj when I was doing about 110kph..that tyre blew about 10 seconds after I heard the noise of bracket hit the road and see the bracket shoot out from under the left rear.
Mea Culpa on that one...
I have had the BFG's on hot East Arnhemland beaches for hours at a time..driven through sharp narly bauxite escarpments, through very tight tracks where sharp gidgy tree roots stuck out...no beed problems and not one bit of stacking..
The early model BFG's KO's had a reputation of being "shite" in the wet when It came to grip...but these KO2's are quiet good I must admit.
I'll buy them again...

[Xjas]

Put a set of 265/65R18 KO2s on my NW last week, we're planning to do the Cape in late July so replacing the worn out Dueler HTs with something a little more suitable was a necessity.
Running them at 38-40PSI on sealed roads.
First impressions are;
Wet performance on sealed roads is fine, something I was a bit concerned about before buying, the wife took the car from Newcastle to Canberra and back last weekend in pretty much the worst conditions we'd usually see and she said they were good.
Certainly a lot noisier than the HTs as to be expected, mostly noticeable when coasting with the engine under little to no load but is drowned out any time the engine is pulling, I will get used to it but I can see how it would annoy some people.
On the trip to Canberra the fuel economy seemed to be roughly 3% worse after taking into account the difference in tyre diameter and its effect on the speedo. Although one trip is not really enough to make a final conclusion on this, we a doing other mods soon that will effect economy so I may never really get a good idea as to the change in economy from these tyres.
There is also a very slight decrease in acceleration and the need to push the brakes a little harder to pull it to a stop, I assume this would be from the increased weight of the tyres, its only very slight and to be expected but it is noticeable.
Looking forward to seeing how they go in the dirt!

[Pickle]

62,000 klms on mine and going tomorrow. Great tyre up to about 50k then deteriorated in performance. Very harsh ride now and damn near dangerous in the wet. Admittedly mine have copped a bit of a flogging with quite a few High Country trips and the y performed well in the bush with only a tyre rolled off the rim to speak about (and probably my fault for too low pressure) Would I buy them again.....no. I think there are other tyres that the Paj (and my butt ) might find more comfortable on road.

My choices for the new tyres are
Nitto Ridge Grappler 265/65/18
Nitto Terra Grappler 265/60/18
Dick Cepek Trail Country 265/65/18

[Mundy55]

I've had KO2s on my Nov 2015 NX since new and use a 5 tyre rotation every 5,000km. To date I've done 105,000km and still have 10,000 or so in them. At least half distance travelled pulling 1400kg trailer and some, but not a lot, of off road (eg High Country) use.

No problems with them at all, other than they have been a bit noisy and it seems worse now towards end of life.

[nj swb]

62,000 klms on mine and going tomorrow. Great tyre up to about 50k then deteriorated in performance. Very harsh ride now and damn near dangerous in the wet. Admittedly mine have copped a bit of a flogging with quite a few High Country trips and the y performed well in the bush with only a tyre rolled off the rim to speak about (and probably my fault for too low pressure) Would I buy them again.....no. I think there are other tyres that the Paj (and my butt ) might find more comfortable on road.

My choices for the new tyres are
Nitto Ridge Grappler 265/65/18
Nitto Terra Grappler 265/60/18
Dick Cepek Trail Country 265/65/18

Have you looked at the Yokohama X-AT? https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/geolandar-x-at

After disappointing performance of some more aggressive tyres in the High Country back in January, twisted32 had these fitted. So far, they're performing very well off-road, and standing up to our rocky terrain much better.

[Pickle]

Yep looked at the Yokahamas, Coopers ,Radar, Falken….. and heaps more. The more you look the more you confuse yourself with what you like.
I ended up going with the Dick Cepek Trail Country .Will be fitted this arvo...I had the Dick Cepek Fun Country on the old Challenger for a while and was happy how they performed.
Will see hoW the TRAIL Country goes
Dave

[old Jack]

The Dick Cepek Trail Country comes in 3 versions so you need to be careful what version is fitted.

P265/60R18 load index 110 Passenger Construction light duty AT.
P265/65R18 load index 114 extra load Passenger Construction light/medium duty AT.
LT265/60R18 EXP range load index 122, Light Truck Construction, heavy duty AT/MT.

OJ.