BF Goodrich KM2

[wamjam]

Gday Has anyone got these lastest mud terrain tyres ?. If so are they any good as far as road wear , road noise and full on rocky country like the Kimberley ?. What I am after is some fair dinkum info about these tyres . I would like to know if the BF km2's will do a reasonable amount of miles on the road and still have a usable tread depth for off road use. What I'm getting at is , if I do 45 to 50 thousand km's on and off road will these things still have enough tread to confidently head off on a trip for instance from Cairns to Cape York and back to Cairns , this is approx 2000 2500 km trip depending on how much looking about you do . I currently have three desert duelers that have done 26000kms and one has done 21000kms (as the result a sidewall tear on a gravel road) . Each of these tyres have all had a puncture . These tyres had 12.5mm tread when new and now the best one has 6mm which I would call usable tread but I don't trust the the buggers with the fact that I seem to get a puncture every time I go on a gravel road . What I'm after is a set of tyres that I can do big miles with and still head out into the rough country with confidence and a decent amount of usable tread. If you take any notice of advertising the BF km2's will do what I'm after but I would like to hear some real life stories . If anyone has anyother tyre brand stories I'm keen to hear them.
Thanks wamjam

[BenDover]

Km2's the best tyres allround by far!!!! They are in a league of their own. Ive had bfg, cooper, maxxis and alot of other name brand muds all my life. And bfg all terrains.

But, serious the km2's are in a league of their own. Im soo happy with them. The tread pattern is inspired by the bfg krawler tyres. At 100kph you get a bit of wind noise but not the frequency vibrations and howl as the old muds used to have. Your duellers are only a 2 ply sidewall anyway, the old bfg's are 3 ply + the new ones are 33% stronger (tread area aswell). They are absoutely awsome on road, wet roads, sand, mud and rocks. Anything ive thrown at them. The old muds used to slip and slide on the road... And chew the hell out of sandy tracks.

As for k's, I cant help you there. I havent done enough to make any claims yet. But, Id say it would do it easy.

They have been available in the states for nearly 2 years now. Look on us forums and youll find all you need to know.

You cant compair duellers to km2's.......

[BenDover]

Here's a rough idea of miles from another forum.

"i have two sets of the KM2's 305/55/20 and 305/65/17. the ones on the 20's i have about 20-22,000 miles on them with no problems, and it look like i will be able to get at least another 20,000 out of them. compared to the other tires i have had terra gapplers, bfg at's, tsl truxs i wouldn't go back to them again."

80 - 90 000k's before throw away. Still usable offroad until 5mm (when deflaited)

[FNQCairns]

Love the sidewall protection, was initially wondering why I didn't choose these a year ago when i put 2 new tyres on my rig but they are very new!...looks like I found my next 2 tyres when the time comes, which is good because it's hard work researching these things properly, hope the price is competitive.

cheers fnq

[BenDover]

15's are competetive FNQ, 16's are just a giant rip.
35x12.5 15's cost me $380 per tyre. Cheap

[wamjam]

Thanks BD & fng . I'll give you the full story , my family and I are doing an around Aus working holiday with my old rodeo duelcab and 18' van .I started off with a set of 3/4 worn chinese tyres ! , being mostly tar road from Inverell to darwin I thought I'd get the last few k's out of them . No worries done all Kakadu and a few dirt roads around darwin with out any probs. Time to splash out and treat the ute with a set of new shoes . Being a tight ass I was going for set of cheapies again and my mate advised my to get some name brand tyres and get some decent milage so I went for the duelers . 26000 k's later mostly tar they're rooted and I'm sick getting punctures repaired , not happy . Next part of our trip is to go from Port Augusta up to Kununarra on to Derby and then through the Gibb and up to Kalumburu then back to Kununarra , so I think its time for set of tyres that will cut the mustard . When we get past all this it would good if these next tyres would get me up to Cape york and back !. I don't want to have to buy a new set of tyres everytime we go into the sticks .
wamjam

[BenDover]

You get what you pay for wamjam. I dont know how many k's you will get out of the km2's towing a caravan on the bitumen. But, you will have peice of mind they wont puncture or warp and grip to anything.

When I got my first set of bfg muds, I was scared of punturing them even though at the time they where the only road/mud tyre with 3 ply sidewalls (as a mate had puntured his on a steel spike straight through the sidewall). But, after a while I got confident with them and was even trying to see how much they would take before they puncture. I am still yet to punture 1 (maybe just lucky). And the new ones are even stronger.

Big difference between the new and old ones as per the pictures. The new ones are 50% better on the road due to different size and shape lugs and tread pattern, sidewall air deflecters. Grip WAY better offroad with hardly any slip aswell. The only down side is they did away with the rim protector lips.
Although they are still the best allrounder IMO. If they still had the rim protector, they would be perfect.

[Chooksy]

Iv'e got a set fitted to my TD 100 series and have done 35000km plus on them to date. This km have been done in about one year, and it has been a varity of terrians. Two trips from weipa to Brisbane and a couple to cairns, as well as the usual travels around the cape camping and fishing. I i can honestly say the are the best tryes I've brought so far.

I am sure that I will get another 15000 - 20000 plus out of them before I even start looking at replacing them .

I have only had one punture, one very long roof screw found its way into the tyre, plugged it up and still going strong.

In my opinon you couldn't find a better tyre. I have had other brands (coopers, Maxxis, etc) before and have never gotten the wear, or felt safer driving all differnt terrains with them.

Marcus

[jimbamb]

mate ,
mickey thompson put out some good lookin tyres too.could be worth a look
jim

[wamjam]

Thanks Chooksy thats the info i was chasing, Driving around close to home and rooting a tyre is not that big of an issue but when you are miles from the people you know it can turn into an ordeal.
wamjam