Guys with BFG KO2s. Check your tires.

Hm interesting. I think you gotta look on the other side of the tire. The actual date is only on 1 side.

 

Nothing on the other side at all that has any indication of date or date coding. I honestly believe these to be from 89. They ride and sound like shit so I wouldn’t be surprised.

 

Strange. Yeah could be 89, never know how long they sit on the shelf. My tires have DOT on both sides but only 1 side has the date after the DOT.

 

They’re actually in pretty darn good condition but I don’t know if I’m flirting with disaster. I don’t want to push my luck. I had been thinking about going to 33” anyway (these are 32”).

 

Older tires had a different method for telling the year of manufacturing. Can’t remember what it was though.

 

Pre 2000 it was a 3 digit code; first two being the week of year, the last being the last number of the year.
So the tire in question was built 38th week of '89.

 

That makes sense as 1 tire says 369 and another is 389 so they were made 2 weeks apart. Thanks for the info guys

 

What don’t you like about ko2’s?
I’m running 285/75/16’s and have no complaints.
Just curious, I don’t know a hell of a lot about the pros and cons of specific tires.

 

Thank you, I was wondering what was going on.

 

I ran them for a while, they didn't balance well, gripped poorly on anything but snow and dry pavement, and were generally way too hard even aired down, they only really flexed out and gripped at about 8psi.

 

You're an idiot!

 

I was just wondering but what would differentiate the date coding between 1989 and 1999? It seems more realistic that these are from 1999 but 1989 is always possible too. Sorry OP don’t mean for this to be a thread jack

 

Good point...
The owner says it's off a '93.
I assumed he's had ownership of both the tires and vehicle since '93.

Either way, seems the old code wanted tires changed at 10 years and they're at least 20 years old...

 

I just got it from my uncle this past fall and he got it somewhere in the early 2000’s I’m guessing. I can’t remember if it had the wheels and tires on it when he got it but they’ve been on it for as long as I can remember. And that’s not saying a lot. . I’m going to get some prices on tires this week so I’ll ask the tire guy if he’s got an idea just to satisfy my curiosity.

 

I had to go back to re balance them twice in 2 years but otherwise my experience has been the opposite of yours. Snow traction was just ok. Traction is great in dry, wet or offroad. The best thing, they are silent on the hwy.

 

These were excellent tires for me in regards to traction. I did have a hard time keeping them balanced on my previous 4Runner though. I decided to go with Duratracs on my Tacoma as I couldn't get the KO2's in 4 ply.

 

Same.

 

I had four 285/75/17 BFG KO2's, ran for two years, 18k miles, was never able to balance properly. Dealer determined bad sidewalls - manufacturer gave me back 80% to buy 4 new tires. Switched to Nitto Ridge Grapplers, same size. Done with KO2's, but do appreciate the good customer service.