I have run all different brands of Mud Terrain tires and I have found that I like BFG the best but they were the old style BFG mud terrains. This is the first set of the new KM2's I have run and I have nothing but bad things to say about them.
They are horrible in rain and on any slick roads. Not that impressive in the mud or anything off road but the biggest problem I have with them is that I can't balance them. I have had 4 wheel parts try to balance them, 2 different Tires Plus shops, and an alignment place without any luck.
They are a 315 75 16 and between 60 and 70 you almost need a mouth piece. I was just curious if any one has experienced the same issues. I am not sure what to buy next.
Had the same size on my old f150. They rode smooth for me. As far as rain or mud I have no idea. Had them for a few months then my truck was totaled. My only complaint back then was the price.
How are they balanced? This is the first i have heard of them being rough, as far as being a little slippery that's normal for any mud terrain in rain, you just drive a little more carefully.
They are balanced with the weights on the inside of the rim - that is the way I have balanced all of my tires. As far as running them in the rain - these are by far the worst MT's I have ever owned. I have run wrangler MTR, Mud Kings, Yokohama MT, Pro Comp MT, Super Swamper Trxs, and the list goes on and on. Over the years I have found good and bad but the KM2 takes the cake for the worst!
The only reason I wouldn't think it is a bent rim is that all other tires on this truck have balanced out properly and when these KM2's were new they balanced out and rode smooth.
ive had 2 sets, so has my dad. no complaints. i love them in the mud, snow, ice, and rain. ride smooth, quite, and mile well. Ive had bfg at, 1st gen m/t, and now these in a 315/75/16 and now a 35/12.5/18........
Balance beads are the ONLY way to balance these bigger tires. The happiest I've ever been with an MT was the Hankook DynaPro MT in the same size you're running.
How many miles are on the tires so far? If there new maybe they were stored wrong, or maybe you just a bad tire or two. I've run into that a few times during the explorer tire recall. Beads or BB's seem to balence out these bigger tires. Check out this site http://www.innovativebalancing.com/chart.htm
My front tires have zero, and I mean ZERO weight on them, they mounted up perfectly and I was standing talking to the guy while he was doing it, and got the comment "wow, I have never seen something like this, throw these two on the front end for sure" I believe the other two that I threw on the back had minimal weight as well, stick on weights inside the wheel...
Rain, thats a given, slippery is slippery in that case...
snow mud sleet.. I think they tend to cut through and get traction very well for the stepped/widely seperated treadpattern..
A buddy of mine has a set of the KM2's and he also hates them, complains that they are loud and that they wonder alot. I personally have driven his truck and it feels like your driving on top of a waterbed as much as they wonder.
Ok, you have two things that can happen. #1 the rim you have will not alow you to properly balance them 100% since there is no lip on the outside. #2 the radial force of the tire can be way out of spec, you will need to take it to a dealer and spend $150 to have the tires force matched to your rim( High spot in tire meets low spot in rim = more perfect circle ). Or you can simpley rotate the tire on the rim 180* and that should help. No tire is perfect and you can buy a bad tire.
For instance my tires road like a log wagon at 70 on the interstate and I roadforced them. I have LT235/85R16 load E and they roadforced at 80 pounds and up. After turning the tires I was able to get around 20 to 40 pounds of roadforce.
i have NEVER seen a complaint about the KM2s. Very great tire. Superior offroad performance compared to many tires. It was taken from an offroad only tire comp tire design which many offroaders RAVE about.
I have run all different brands of Mud Terrain tires and I have found that I like BFG the best but they were the old style BFG mud terrains. This is the first set of the new KM2's I have run and I have nothing but bad things to say about them.
They are horrible in rain and on any slick roads. Not that impressive in the mud or anything off road but the biggest problem I have with them is that I can't balance them. I have had 4 wheel parts try to balance them, 2 different Tires Plus shops, and an alignment place without any luck.
They are a 315 75 16 and between 60 and 70 you almost need a mouth piece. I was just curious if any one has experienced the same issues. I am not sure what to buy next.
Thanks[/QUOTE]
If they are that bad in the rain you might want to consider adding some Siping to the tread blocks on the edges to help grip the road better.
You can get manual or heated sipers. They are basically a large soldering iron with razor blades attached. They are different from a Groover which removes material.
The siper merely cuts lines in the tread. Look at any good A/T tire and you'll see they have alot of Siping.
YOu can do it yourself with one of these: TIRE SIPER
Sell em and get Dick Cepek Fun County II's.....sipe them too and you will find they will last way longer....and they are long wearing tires as is....
Ran BFG AT's for a number of years and finally got tired...heh heh...of then not staying balanced....beads or powder is what I ended up doing until I switched to FC II's.
Really like the rims you have what are they and what size, offset etc? Are they polished or chrome?
I had the same issues with my old BF M/T's, they never balanced right even from new and with only about 25,000 miles on them I had to get new ones because they wouldnt balance and shook the steering wheel violently. The tread also started chunking on one of them.
I finally got rid of my BFG's with a tone of tread left but I couldn't be happier to throw those things in the garbage. I bought Good Year Wrangler Dura Tracs - 315 75 16 E
These things are amazing. They are quiet, you can get them in a large size & in a load range E, they are great off road, and most importantly they out perform every mud terrain I have ever owned on slick streets. I have never seen this aggressive of a tire do so well in rainy conditions.
I have taken them out into swampy areas and they really do a great job. So far the only negative thing I can say is that they do not self clean very well. They hang onto rocks ect. and you end up slinging them off once you get back onto pavement.
I have put approx. 6500 miles on them so far and I am happy. I would recommend them to anyone who is tire shopping.
Really nice looking truck....love the white, my fav colour, looks very clean. What rims are those TxAG'97 and are they chrome or polished with clear coat on them, or polished only?
Thats a fine lookin truck. I have a set of Kelly Safary TSRs on my truck which are the off-brand of Goodyear DuraTracs and they are AWESOME. Yes they do pick up rocks quite a bit which scares the sh!t out of me when I'm driving and they decide to come loose and ricochet off the truck.
i got a set of 255/85/16's and i think they are a good tire. i do notice that they wander a bit but i have never been stuck in them and theres alot of snow from where i'm from haha. just got the nitto trail graps tho in 35x12.5x18 so we'll see how those compare
BFG A/T's were rock Grabbers for Me ( it seems like we have 3/4 minus gravel at all lakes and storage unit's ) my last ProcompExtremes were awesome for 45k as are my new Toyo A/T's
I avoided the Dura Grapplers because of Many Wander comments
any issues there? they look great on your OBS !!!
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