BFG KO2 Sidewall Failure

I agree it looks like a bad tire with the cracking the way it is in so many places.

 

Say what? I have had mine down to 7-10 psi in the sand and regularly run 50 in the rear (towing) and mid 30s up front. Why would 35 in a load range E be an issue?

 

Not an issue. See a few comments back.

I use mine on the other end of the spectrum.

 

That's a defective tire. Let BFG know about it, replace the tires, move on

 

They actually have two flavors, one is 3PMS rated and made with much softer rubber.

Lol good luck with that..

OP, thats a new one. I had some issues with one of my BFG in the past doing something similar, but mine were more in a circular pattern after thousands of miles aired down on dirt roads. Unfortunately cant find the pictures, but the cracks made a circular pattern on the sidewall roughly where the lugs began. Unlike yours which are more perpendicular. Eventually one of mine did fail on the road, though it was not catastrophic. I had enough to time to pull off.

All that said, I do see some dry rot / cracks in your pictures. How old are those tires?

 

Pretty sure the first 2 digits are the month, and the last 2 digits are the year of production

 

Check the date codes for us -- that would be interesting to know.

The BFG All-Terrain T/A KOs (not KO2s) on my Gen 1 Tacoma have that same circumferential cracking, @SR-71A. I flagged them doing inspections on all my vehicles a few weeks ago. These have 63k miles on them, and mid-February 2012 production (0412). They're on the list for replacement. I can't say they owe me any more than they've given already!

(I gotta get a better photo -- or at least one in focus!)

No, the date code is in the format NNNN where the first two digits are the week of production and the last two are the year. The sequence you have circled is BFG internal information. Note that if the tires have raised white letters, the date code will be on that side.

 

No it should be 2 digits for the week and 2 digits for the year. I think its just out of frame in that pic.

https://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/aut...T insignia is,year the tire was manufactured.

 

My brother-in-law had that same exact failure on his BFGs. Went to Goodyear as a result. Glad to see you caught it before it left you stranded or worse.

 

This was on a Tundra, I think this is the proper door jam PSI for P rated tires. Based on the calculator, LT tires should be at 45 PSI cold. If he was running at 35psi, that's quite a bit lower (by 22.22%!) than what it should be...

And we are all assuming the tire may not have been 100% right (factory defect?), therefore, the low tire pressure absolutely could have been a contributing factor....

There is a substantial PSI difference betwen P rated and LT tires that I don't think people fully realize.

OEM Tire Size P275/65R18 (SL 114) with load capacity of 2421 lbs. @ 30 psi.
When a P-metric or Metric tire is installed on a pickup truck, SUV or van, you must discount the replacement tire’s load by the 1.10 factor to ensure that the replacement tire has sufficient load capacity by inflation to support the load of the originally installed tires based on the expectation that passenger type tires may experience more severe loading and usage conditions when applied to light trucks. That brings the effective tire load capacity down to 2201 lbs.

New Tire Size LT275/65R18 (E 123/120) with load capacity of 2310 lbs. @ 45 psi.
New tire LT275/65R18 has sufficient load capacity at its specified inflation level and can be used to replace P275/65R18 tire.

https://tirepressure.com/tire-pressure-calculator

 

I am on my third set. This set may make me switch as I am no longer a fanboy. The tires dry rotted before tread depth was an issue, and cupped severely despite rotation and proper inflation. Looking at alternatives such as Falken and Goodyear.
Bummed really as I have always sworn by the BFG KO2s.

 

I'm still faithful as this is the only issue we've ever had with them. I'd look into the Toyo ATIII's. That's a slick looking tire

 

The cracks are in the outer layer of rubber and haven't gone through all the plies.

My Subaru's 6 year-old Cooper street tires have similar cracks on all four, still driving with them daily with no issues.