BFG KM2 vs. GoodYear MT/R Kevlar

BFGs hands down! They grip mud and rocks like mad. They do hum on the road, but its what you expect when you get a mud tire.

 

I.......WANT.........

 

I ran the old MT/Rs and loved them, very good street manners and good in the mud and rocks making them perfect for the northeast. I recently attended the offroad expo in SoCal and spoke with GY and asked why for the redesign. I stated "to me it looks like having less space between lugs on the new tire would cause it to be lousy in the mud". He stated that "the MT/R was redesigned in a different dirrection and not as a mud tire but more for rock crawling and baja conditions. The Kevlar was added to reinforce the sidewall by 50% for harsh rocky conditions" IMHO the KM2s are deffinatly a mud tire that is good at everything however i saw some on a jeep and they were chunked to helllll!!!!from the terrain out here(desert/rocks) I wanted KM2s but its really rocky here and they look like they dont resist chunking too good. Being a mud terrain they have much softer rubber. soft rubber is good on rocks but they are toooo soft. So... go buy a set of KM2s for mud and when you go out crawling get a set of MT/Rs.

 

We are all people who love our tacomas...lets try to get along...

Back to topic...I think if you do alot of desert offroading the MT/R would be a good choice. the concenrtration of lugs on the MT/R gives really good directional stability especially in sand however, the same lugs causes issues in mud. The MT/Rs wear like no other tire and resist cupping so they are extremely streetable with low wear and low noise. The KM2s are also AWESOME tires designed for mud but do excellent in rocky conditions the reason they are so good on rocks is the softness, chunking is an issue on the KM2s but not on smooth rocks. The softness (way softer than MT/Rs) make them wear faster. Even though they wear faster they still wear very well from what i have been told. They both have great benefits and i believe they are worthy to be compared. This is my 2cents but its really hard to vote for one or the other without knowing what they are going to be used for. Good luck in the decision making

PS. I have used both original KMs and original MT/Rs both really good tires. I still have the KMs on my 79 K25 monster truck.

 

If you read his next post is Nevermind, NITTO GRAPPS are sick

 

Lack of whitewall draws me away from the Nittos. The tread patterns are awesome though. Dinosaur tires!!!

 

I'll never own a set of of Nittos again! EVER!!! As alot of you may have read in previous threads i've commented on, I'm running Terra Crapplers right now in a 265/75/16. They've got 28k on em and there frickin slicks!!! Very disappointed and surprised with the quality for sure especially since many of you have had better luck with em

 

I know right

 

You guys who had issues with the BFGs: did you take them in to have them rebalanced? If they are still under warranty (mileage) you can take your claim to Michelin as a ride/handeling issue and they will likely replace them.

 

KMs were not checked for uniformity (out of round conditions, radial, lateral forces), so I can see ride and handeling issues getting out, but they will replace tires if you are within the warranty period and report ride / handeling issues. Do all the issues you've seen come from the KMs? Any with ATs or others?

 

Great to see this thread moving along here. This Info you guys are posting is good stuff.

Krazie sj, not saying were amending anything, but to get back on topic I will answer your question. I Live in AZ and see mud occasionally, however most of my wheeling will be in desert conditions. I know you will say i should get the MT/R now, and i usnerstand your logic.

So lets be bigger men here and stop our bickering, both you and I. is that cool with you dude?

And im intrigued by the last few statements on the BFG experiences.

 

Yup, I can agree with that. As you said, I would then recommend the MT/R specially cause if you're in a hot climate that's going to make the soft rubber even more prone to chunking. Even more so if you mostly do rocks.

That being said, I love my BFG's A/Ts. They're new to me but they've been used before, and have over 10,000kms on them. No balancing issues when they got put on.

There's a chance too with the MT/Rs having the kevlar you could get a less ply tire, with less weight, but the same protection as a BFG tire with the extra plys. ( I don't know this for certain, but I'm hypothesising)

 

I'm actually running the MTR Kevlars on my '07 Tacoma. So far they've been a great all around tire. Really quiet on the highway for a tire with such an aggressive tread. Performs well for the type of wheeling I have done with them. Also, according to 4 Wheel & Off-Road they performed really well on all the vehicles that participated in this years Ultimate Adventure and they're planning on doing a long term evaluation of the tire. Only bad thing is that depending on tire size, they only offer white lettering if you're not into that.