I've had several BF T/A KO2 sets, on two different vehicles. Love them. Thinking about changing. I think I've boiled it down to & have seen some good reviews on Mickey Thompson Baja Boss A/T's & TOYO Open Country R/T Trail's. Having trouble deciding. My main question is the weight of the tire. I've seen different opinions. Some say weight matters, others say not that much in fuel economy. Also, anyone have good or bad reviews in these two tires or maybe one they like better?
Looking into tires
- Thread starter daronjh
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Had KO2s on last 4Runner…worked well for me except for wet roads. Was going to try KO3s, but size wasn’t out yet.
Went with the new Falken AT4Ws a few months ago. Seem fine so far, but were difficult to balance…took three trips. Will know better after our trip to SW Colorado (Alpine Loop) in a few weeks
1100 Remington Man
Member
I will be looking at KO3 but I have not heard if it is snowflake rated as that is a must for Me.
///AIRDAM
New member
Grabber A/TX | General Tire
>3-Peak Mountain Snowflake + studdable capability
i have had a set on everything i own since 2014
i currently own 3 vehicles with these on them
my daily driver 4runner has a set with about 103,000 miles on them with more miles to go
these are the best tires on the market and super under rated and overlooked in my opinion.
Hot weather, road temps in excess of 160 degrees, and flash flooding rains, they do both no problem
Cold weather, sleet, snow, ice, been thru it all and they pass with flying colors.
>3-Peak Mountain Snowflake + studdable capability
i have had a set on everything i own since 2014
i currently own 3 vehicles with these on them
my daily driver 4runner has a set with about 103,000 miles on them with more miles to go
these are the best tires on the market and super under rated and overlooked in my opinion.
Hot weather, road temps in excess of 160 degrees, and flash flooding rains, they do both no problem
Cold weather, sleet, snow, ice, been thru it all and they pass with flying colors.
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How are they in wet weather ? Or more specifically wet asphalt ? And last how about noise ?
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DAW89446
Member
As per Tire Rack, the KO3 is Severe Snow Service Rated. Goodrich's site doesn't state availability yet for the 5th gen.
///AIRDAM
New member
We averaged 92inches of rain in 2019
we averaged 78 inches of rain in 2020
we typically average 60+ inches per year and our rains are typically short floods. This is this evening, the red dots are usually about 2-3" per hour rains, basically flash floods that hit hard and fast and put water standing on the roads. I have in all my 450,000+ miles combined driving on these tires across 8 or 9 vehicles, only hydroplaned once and it was a short burst that quickly fixed itself. I normally laugh when hitting standing water on the road because i have become so comfortable with these tires being basically glued to the road that i never have to worry. I hit a few patches in the road just a bit ago that splashes water over the roof of the truck. I literally have no problem hitting standing water at pretty much any speed even in my daily driver with "wore out" tires pictured above. Those tires in the picture were when i hit 102,000 miles on them and i took a pic and sent a few buddies. I drive it daily and hit water without worry.
They are "practically" silent when they are new, and i have spent so many quiet miles with them that i never knew they would make any noise until i got around 90,000 on my current set and they started getting a little louder. Not mud tire loud but definitely a growl that they didnt have when they were younger. I had them rebalanced and rotated for the second time at like 90,000-91,000 and asked the tire guy who owns the tire shop about them getting a little louder and he said
"ah man those tires are so old, they are getting hard, thats why they get louder and you may never wear them out"
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honda250xtitan
New member
Heavy_GD
New member
Ripper238
Senior Member
I needed the best wet and snow performance with good off road capabilities and the Goodyear Duratracs were the best hands down. However the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss may be the closest contender and even better if they are quieter. Reports so far are promising, but the key is how they are at higher mileage and they are just too new for the data.
The Baja's may be my next tire if all the reports are true!
srsrogerissrs
Member
The last set of tires I ran on my 4runner were the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss AT. Probably my favorite tire to date. Durability was excellent, ran Top of the World in Moab right after installing the tires and you would have never known they had been on a trail. I've ran some tires that have chunked quite a bit after one hard trail. No complaints in snow or wet conditions here in Colorado with the Mickeys. After 20k miles on the tire, they still were quiet, tons of tread left, and no weird tire wear. My only gripe with the Mickeys is that balancing can be hit or miss. I had some tires take close to 0 weights and some that took a lot.
I currently have Toyo RT Trails on my Raptor and I've liked them so far. Obviously not an apples to apples comparison because of tire size and vehicle. They are surprisingly good in the snow for not being a 3pmsf tire and the lack of siping. No issues in wet conditions either. I have already punctured a sidewall on the Toyos when I was out in Utah so not too thrilled about that. Definitely went back to Discount to buy the certs after that experience.
Obviously choice of tire is going to vary based on the conditions of where you live. If you don't see a lot of snow than 3pmsf is not going to mean much to you but generally speaking the more siping on a tire, the more water gets displaced and therefore you get better wet traction. However if you're typically in more muddy conditions then a hybrid tire is probably going to do better. I would never put MT tires on something that I have to drive everyday but that's just my personal preference.
I currently have Toyo RT Trails on my Raptor and I've liked them so far. Obviously not an apples to apples comparison because of tire size and vehicle. They are surprisingly good in the snow for not being a 3pmsf tire and the lack of siping. No issues in wet conditions either. I have already punctured a sidewall on the Toyos when I was out in Utah so not too thrilled about that. Definitely went back to Discount to buy the certs after that experience.
Obviously choice of tire is going to vary based on the conditions of where you live. If you don't see a lot of snow than 3pmsf is not going to mean much to you but generally speaking the more siping on a tire, the more water gets displaced and therefore you get better wet traction. However if you're typically in more muddy conditions then a hybrid tire is probably going to do better. I would never put MT tires on something that I have to drive everyday but that's just my personal preference.
It's nice to see another Goodyear DuraTrac fan. They don't seem to get much love here. I 100% concur with your assessment.
honda250xtitan
New member
Theyre still my favorite looking tire. Ran them on my f250 and they did not last long. terrible chipping and chunking. YMMV obviously, a truck with 1000ft lbs is a bit harder on tires than our "minivans"
Lexington
Member
Don’t get them. When I bought my 4Runner the tires came with it. The first time I drove them after a good down pour they slipped on me several times in a turn, one almost got me into an accident. Tires were half worn. I got rid of them after that and bought some KO2s. I’ve been using the KO &KO2 the last 20 years and never had a problem. However, several people on this forum said they performed poorly in wet weather. I never had a problem with them in the rain. The new KO3 have bigger gaps in the tread to help improve driving on wet roads.
Lexington
Member
Don’t get them. They are horrible in wet weather. When I bought my 4Runner these were the tires that came with it. The first time I drove after a big down pour the tire slid on me several times, always when turning, one almost got me in an accident. Tires were about half worn. I quickly got rid of them and replaced them with the KO2. I’ve been running KO & KO2 for the last 20 years and never had a problem. However, some forum members said they experienced poor performance in wet weather. I personally never experienced this even in heavy rain. Anyway, the new KO3 have a wider tread to improve wet road performance.
