BFG AT KO2 in the snow

So we all mentioned KO2, duratrac, wildpeak, Cooper's and Michelin ms2. But has anyone on here tried the Michelin AT2?

 

What width are you running?

Skinnier tires work better in snow and ice. A 245 or 255 width mud terrain is something to behold

 

I live in a ski town, tons of snow and ko2s suck. Figures since they were designed in what, the 80s! I have Wildpeaks for summer. They're snow flake rated but I want the best traction available and that only comes with dedicated winter tires. You need those thousands of sipes and winter rubber compound to really grab. I run the pictured General Altimax Artics and they're absolutely amazing on plowed roads and snow up to the bumpers. On ice, they're very good. Studs would be better but I drive it down to the flatlands for holidays and the studs are noisy AF. Our other car does have studs though.

 

I didn't have much issue in snow with my old KOs, at least when they were new, but I always found their cold, wet weather traction to be lacking in that it was quite easy to trip the ABS on my 2G. I ended up with dedicated snows (Hankook i-Pike RW11's) and they have worked well enough.

So far the KO2 on my 3G don't seem to have quite the same damp / wet weather ABS engagement issue, but we will see how they wear. That being said, I'm still running my Hankooks for likely one final season as they're coming up on 6 years old, although they have sufficient tread remaining. The Cooper AT3 4S are appealing for replacements although I'll need to do some reading comparing those to dedicated snows.

 

Surprising this get regurgitated so much. Simply not true on all accounts.

 

OK...a lot of snow and ice here in Oregon.

Surprising that 285’s get consistently desired when in fact they hinder the engine performance and power of these small trucks...I guess it’s a “looks” thing

 

That's what I would go with for a winter tire. Our suburu has had them since 2013 (short commute) during winters. They are amazing on ice, deep snow, and the dreaded end of driveway burm from the plow. The car version (general altimax arctic) might not be apples to apples compound, load, etc., but the tread looks very similar. They have wore very well considering I forgot to take them off one summer. Maybe not as soft as a blizzak, not sure, but the open tread design really allowed that suburu to blast thru drifts. Also performed great during break up when road very wet and pooling h20.

 

They do make Altimax Artics in truck sizes. I have them in 265/75r16. Maybe they discontinued them though. I have Grabber Artics studded on my work truck and they rip as well.

 

By MT Hood, Oregon?

 

Yes this was on Mt. Hood a few miles away from the White River/NF48.

I would like to see a few stock Tacoma's, or of similar design, with all different tires do a real world tire comparison test. Each truck climb the same hill, take a sharp corner, perform a hard break going 20mph. Usually these tests are done with different rigs. I want to see the real results.

 

Yeah but you are assuming people care about performance. As far as I can tell they just want monster truck tires because they look cool. Who cares if they rub anytime the truck isn't going straight on a flat surface.

 

I agree completely and thanks for the fine review. I'm an archaeologist and have had 8 4WD vehicles since 1967, including 6 Toyota trucks and used them in Oregon, California, including the Colorado Desert, Arizona, New Mexico, Baja California (Norte and Sur), and Chihuahua. I've used many brands and types of tires on those vehicles, and while you are correct about a P or C rated tire that may be more appropriate for Tacomas, I've lost too many tire sidewalls on the P and C rated tires in rocky conditions, not to mention nail flats. So, while my E rated KO2s are stiff, I've never blown a sidewall on them or the earlier KOs, nor had them fail in any other manner. So, I'll take the rougher ride for not having to change a tire on a 4WD low range road on a grade. That is the decision I've made.

 

I looked at those for the Pro, but they only have 17s, and I didn't want to change out the stock Pro wheels. Discount said they were easy to balance and they get few returns.

 

The chalk test unloaded on my 18 Pro indicated that 30 lbs on both front and rear wore evenly. I put 33 in them when I'm loaded for camping.

 

Exactly This. For off road use, the E rated are absolutely the ticket, especially in desert flora. While living in AZ it was my choice as well and would not have even considered anything else. In fact, the original vision and testing of the BFG AT's was to produce a "Baja Proven" tire. They succeeded for sure. The reason I actually quantified "usage" as a consideration was an attempt to enlighten folks that most all tires excel at their designed purpose...winter specific use tires vary in design from all terrain tires, and although most all terrains will suffice in performance as a winter use medium (and have been redesigned and upgraded to meet greater multi use purposes over the years), they are still not the optimum choice for that specific usage. Nor would a winter snow specific tire be the optimum choice for traversing rocky canyon, boulder strewn, trails. Life is full of compromises, making an educated choice based on "majority of ones needs" is obviously the reasonable alternative to constantly changing tires in accordance with the activities at hand. As long as our expectations are adjusted accordingly and we don't assume we can pound nails with a screwdriver.

 

ok
when did u buy the arctics for truck?

 

I ran them exclusively for years living at 9200 feet in Colorado and they were perfectly fine. I have also ran Michelin LTX AT2s and were great as well, we average 186" of snow each year

Winter Tire experience is heavily subjective since we have no idea how a similar tire would perform in the EXACT same situation. some people have bad experiences and others have good, it all comes down to driving styles, road conditions etc. There are too many variables to determine if X tire is better than Y. Only closed courses and official comparisons give us some idea.

 

KO2 is a fantastic tire for the snow we get in BC. From the wet snow on the coast, to the dry snow in the interior, the KO2s have never left me down. I've done 100kph through fresh snow on the Coquihalla while all other traffic was barely doing 30, I've plowed knee-deep snow on trails, and have driven up&down a million slick hills - never any issues.

 

How are the AT3W's so far in daily driving and in cold wet conditions? I'm curious how they hold up in snow too. Really conflicted with KO2's vs AT3W's at this point.