My First Mod! BFG KO2's with Initial Impressions

T

tinman831

New member
Hey everyone. I just got back from Discount Tire and purchased a set of KO2's in 265/70/17 in C rating for my 2016 Limited and had them installed on TRD PRO wheels. I am very impressed with the ride quality so far. Reading through all the reviews online, everyone had nothing but positive things to say. I felt as though most of the reviews were biased as they were coming from those who had lots of experience with crazy off road tires or mudders.

People say KO2's are "relatively" quiet, but it's relative to other aggressive tires or mud tires. I have no experience with off roading (yet) nor do I have experience riding in trucks with off road tires. I've ridden in cars that were fast and loud so I'm no stranger to noise or harsh stiff rides. But I'm over that scene. As I got older (I'm now 35) I find myself putting up with less BS. I want something nice and cushy to get myself to work every day. I notice every little noise and rattle a car makes, and I am easily annoyed. I know that I probably should have gotten a Lexus if I wanted a nice cushy quiet ride, but the 4runner is more utilitarian in my eyes. Call me a btch or a wussy, but I'm just trying to tell you where I'm coming from. I have high standards for my cars.

First of all, kudos to Discount tire for price matching 4wheelparts.com and getting me in the last hour before closing. They did an awesome job. Now some people have said they've had a hard time getting these tires to balance properly. Every single wheel I have has a row of about 8 wheel weights and a second set stacked up on top of those. I do notice a slight wobble or vibration while driving but I'll wait a couple hundred miles and get an alignment to see if it goes away, otherwise I'll take it back to DT to have them check it out. Now for my initial impressions...

Ride Quality: slightly firm, but tolerable.

I had stock 20's with Yokohama Geolanders prior to getting the KO2's. The Geolanders soaked up bumps in the road very well for being 20inch tires. My KO2's are currently aired up to 35psi. Riding down the road, I can feel the road imperfections more. Little bumps or jolts but it's not overly harsh like a sports car with high spring rate coilovers. If I had to find a negative about these tires, it'd probably be the ride is just a hair stiffer than stock. But it's not even bad but it's to be expected given the C rating.

Road noise: darn good

driving from 0-20mph, and the windows down, I can hear a slight sticky sound as the tires roll across the pavement. It sounds like you're peeling a sticker off something or maybe the sound of water sprinklers spraying water on concrete. It's not obnoxious, just something funny I noticed while driving with the windows down. Driving with the windows up the sound is imperceptible.

20-40mph - this is where I noticed the biggest change in noise. The old geolanders had a slight hum driving down the road. The KO2's have the same hum but just a tad louder. Both wheels you can hear the hum with the windows up.

40-80mph - the wind noise increases to the point to where I really can't tell the difference between tire noise and wind noise. If I pay close attention to the sound as I'm accelerating, I can distinguish the tire noise, but if I'm listening to the radio, I can't switch back and pick up the humming of the tires. This is all with the windows up mind you. With the windows down, you hear nothing but WIND.

Supposedly these tires get louder over time with wear. I'll chime in later after putting some more miles on the tires.

Traction: We haven't had any rain here in Dallas yet and I don't anticipate any snow here (if we get any at all). Dry traction and braking is very good for a knobby tire like this in my eyes.

I can honestly say, I'd recommend these tires to most people similar to myself who have very little experience in this arena, who are very picky, and easily disappointed. I originally had a set of Michelin LTX AT/2s on order at Costco. I knew those were the safe bet since they were rated very highly for being comfortable and quiet. Just not very aggressive as far as tread. The KO2's were on my wish list but I was afraid they'd be too noisy for a daily driver. Thanks' to [MENTION=110041]CoolMax[/MENTION] here on the forums for giving me a ride in your truck and showing me your KO2's. Even though I was still hesitant on purchasing these after the ride, it gave me the courage to give these a try. I'm glad I did. :hatsoff:
 
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tinman831 said:
Every single wheel I have has a row of about 8 wheel weights and a second set stacked up on top of those.
Click to expand...

This is not an acceptable balancing job! You either need the tires rotated on rims until less weights are required or another new set of tires to be installed.
 
Each stick on weight is 1/4 ounce, I learned 4-6 ounces max and tire rack tells me the standard is no more than 1% of the assembly weight (which should be even higher). 16 stick on weights would be 4 ounces which is fine, if your wheels don't vibrate you don't have a problem. I have about the same amount of weight but no vibrations.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
 
I had a ton of balancing issues with the stock pressure. I finally found that at 45 psi, it was finally Happy. Previous to that, they would be road force balanced but would seem to get out of balance in about a week or two of driving.

You have to add more pressure because it's a C-Class Tire.

Good luck!!
 
[MENTION=131151]burnurass[/MENTION] Keep an eye on wear or chalk your tires. If you look at the inflation charts if you are running stock weight you should be about 35-36 psi to match the load rating of the oem tires, so make sure you aren't overinflated.
 
Funny. I had C rated 265 KO2s put on my T4R at Discount Tire yesterday and I am going to the dealer today because after THREE attempts to balance at DT and getting significant steering wheel wobbles I decided to go back to the dealer who I know uses the proper adapter and can fix the issue.

DT took care of me and I would shop there again for another vehicle but they did not do well balancing out my wheels. One of them has two rows of 10 1/4oz weights side-by-side in the middle plus another row of 10 on the outside. That's almost 1/2 a pound of weights. :heh:
 
ToyoDriver said:
Funny. I had C rated 265 KO2s put on my T4R at Discount Tire yesterday and I am going to the dealer today because after THREE attempts to balance at DT and getting significant steering wheel wobbles I decided to go back to the dealer who I know uses the proper adapter and can fix the issue.

DT took care of me and I would shop there again for another vehicle but they did not do well balancing out my wheels. One of them has two rows of 10 1/4oz weights side-by-side in the middle plus another row of 10 on the outside. That's almost 1/2 a pound of weights. :heh:
Click to expand...

Did the dealer get it balanced?

I would get the same symptoms but after 1 week of driving.

Also interested in your tire pressure.
 
This must be a shop thing. I just had mine installed at 4WP and they are smooth as silk at all speeds. I agree with the rest of the review on noise and feel. They even got the alignment correct after the lift. I'm easily impressed but worth noting they removed the front mud flaps and adjusted the inner fender wells. No rub at full lock forward or reverse. I paid under $400 for install and diff drop. $125 alignment. I've had good experience with 4WP both in Colorado and Las Vegas. (Not so much in Oakland but that was back in the stone age)
 
One of my Trail rims came from the factory with a load of weights on it. No vibration, no issue. Pretty sure I can't go to the service department and ask for a new wheel because the one I have required that much weight to balance.

In all the vehicles I have owned there is always one wheel that might require more weight than the others but I've not had issues with them once balanced. If unable to balance though then that's an issue.

IggyB said:
This is not an acceptable balancing job! You either need the tires rotated on rims until less weights are required or another new set of tires to be installed.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Aurora85 said:
Any rubbing issue? Notice any more sluggishness with the excess weight? I love the look of the 275s but I'm worried about having heavier tires put on.
Click to expand...

I have a '16 SR5. I put 275 KO2s on it with 4203 miles and replaced them with 265 KO2s with 4356. I live 120 miles from Discount Tire so do the math...

I think I am in a unique position because most go straight from street tires to 275 KO2s or to 265 KO2s. I am not aware of very many folks who go from brand new 275 KO2s to 265 KO2s. My thoughts are as follows:

Hell yes it slows the truck down. A lot. Interstate passing, accelerating on to the interstate, and getting started from a stop were both noticeably inhibited.

It rubbed badly at full lock in reverse (think backing into a parking space) You can mentally keep this in check but then you lose turning radius.

It rode like a dump truck. Very very bouncy. This was from 33-50 psi. Just a very harsh ride.

Literally not a single person could tell the difference in size. We had 275s on one side and 265s on the other and we asked random people waiting to see which had bigger tires and people would either get it wrong or say they were the same.

For me there is absolutely no benefit to going 275 KO2s. If it has a lift you should be getting 285s. Otherwise on a stock T4R you are turning your comfortable, nice, new Toyota SUV into a diesel pickup truck-feeling bag of ass for 0.6" of increased tire diameter.

But let's have the internet warriors tell me otherwise. :lalala:
 
ToyoDriver said:
I have a '16 SR5. I put 275 KO2s on it with 4203 miles and replaced them with 265 KO2s with 4356. I live 120 miles from Discount Tire so do the math...

I think I am in a unique position because most go straight from street tires to 275 KO2s or to 265 KO2s. I am not aware of very many folks who go from brand new 275 KO2s to 265 KO2s. My thoughts are as follows:

Hell yes it slows the truck down. A lot. Interstate passing, accelerating on to the interstate, and getting started from a stop were both noticeably inhibited.

It rubbed badly at full lock in reverse (think backing into a parking space) You can mentally keep this in check but then you lose turning radius.

It rode like a dump truck. Very very bouncy. This was from 33-50 psi. Just a very harsh ride.

Literally not a single person could tell the difference in size. We had 275s on one side and 265s on the other and we asked random people waiting to see which had bigger tires and people would either get it wrong or say they were the same.

For me there is absolutely no benefit to going 275 KO2s. If it has a lift you should be getting 285s. Otherwise on a stock T4R you are turning your comfortable, nice, new Toyota SUV into a diesel pickup truck-feeling bag of ass for 0.6" of increased tire diameter.

But let's have the internet warriors tell me otherwise. :lalala:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! Do the 265s still seem heavy while driving?
 
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