BFG KO2 vs General Grabber ATX

[Punkn89]

Another thing to keep in mind, these JLs, especially the 4 door, are among the heaviest jeeps built. I believe I read that the GVWR of a 4 door Rubicon is 5800 lbs and off-roaders routinely exceed that with all the steel armor, bumpers, winches, lights, roof racks, fuel cans, tire carriers and huge tires.

I have the 2019 2.0 with etorque. I do plan on a front steel bumper in the future. i do have a deezee toolbox in the back. No hardtop, done with those forever, hated not being able to take that off myself.

I had a jkur with 35 nitto trail grapplers, it wasn’t a Cadillac by any means but I felt planted on the ground which is a good thing if that makes sense. MPG not so great, but that wasn’t my goal, ha.

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[Punkn89]

$60 per tire is $300 for the whole 5 tire set, not insignificant IMO. Personally, I'd suggest looking at the Falken Wildpeak AT3 or the Toyo Open Country AT3 or the Goodyear Duratrac. The KO2s ride great on the road, but I find them lacking in off road traction. The other 3 tires I've run personally with good results or wheeling buddies have run with good results.

I may look into the Falkens more. Hard to find them in C ratings. I hear duratracs run a little small but have heard good things about those too.

 

[Jim1964]

Duratrac tend to be noisy, getting worse with age.

 

[Remorseless]

I may look into the Falkens more. Hard to find them in C ratings. I hear duratracs run a little small but have heard good things about those too.

BFGs run small too - very few tires run true to size. You're going to have a harder time finding load range C stuff these days, for whatever reason. I'd just aim for D over E, personally. E's a bit stiff.

 

[CarbonSteel]

its not a huge price difference, $300 vs $360 per tire. Either way, I’ve got time to do more research with all of this backorder still happening. If anyone else has experience with other C rated tires in that size, please let me know.

Just Falken Wildpeak M/T in 285/70/17 in LRC. They rode OK, but they were noisy (as expected with a M/T), but they grew noisier as they wore.

I think you will find (by and large) that LRC will always ride softer/better than LRE.

 

[Punkn89]

BFGs run small too - very few tires run true to size. You're going to have a harder time finding load range C stuff these days, for whatever reason. I'd just aim for D over E, personally. E's a bit stiff.

for sure, when I mounted them on my JKUR, the measured out to be 33.6 or 33.8 If I remember correctly.

Just Falken Wildpeak M/T in 285/70/17 in LRC. They rode OK, but they were noisy (as expected with a M/T), but they grew noisier as they wore.

I think you will find (by and large) that LRC will always ride softer/better than LRE.

do you feel as though you are more planted on the ground (if that makes sense) with LRE vs C? On another upside, I would assume braking isn’t as harsh with LRC. I’m probably going to go with the KO2, was just hoping there would be more competition out there, but it seems maybe not so much.

 

[CarbonSteel]

do you feel as though you are more planted on the ground (if that makes sense) with LRE vs C? On another upside, I would assume braking isn’t as harsh with LRC. I’m probably going to go with the KO2, was just hoping there would be more competition out there, but it seems maybe not so much.

I actually felt less "planted" with LRE, but that may not be a fair comparison due to the LRE's being 35's and the LRC's being either 33's or 37's.

With that said, I would opine the reason that I felt less planted is the stiffness of LRE versus LRC. You can only air down so far to make the LRE's feel "softer".

 

[roaniecowpony]

This is what I don't like about BFG tires. These are 3 1/2 years old and the rubber has dried out enough that they are chunking out. BFG has had this characteristic since as far back as I recall, decades before the new and improved KO2. The Cooper/mickey Thompson tires on my truck are older and have been in more severe use and have zero chunking and have more tread left.

 

[srt20]

I just wanted to reply about the Falken AT3W tires.
I have them on my f150. And I know lots of people really like them. I personally think they suck in snow, even though they are 3 peak rated. They also are very picky about being rotated. They will start getting choppy and noisy if you dont keep up on them.
I think they were a decent option 4 years ago when they were really cheap. Now that they are getting more inline with other tires prices, I dont think they are all that great anymore. I wont be buying them again.

I have a JLUR so it came with the OEM KO2 and I bought some used 35”x12.5”x17 KO2 (very little use, under 5k miles) with wheels for the Jeep. I really really like these tires. I dont know about snow, I store the Jeep in winter, and in mud they aren’t very good, but every thing else they excel at. Really excel.
I have some Michelin Defender tires on my AWD Durango (BFG is owned by Michelin) and they are absolutely the best on road tire I have every had.

I have no experience with the General tires so I can’t comment.

 

[CarbonSteel]

I really really like these tires. I dont know about snow, I store the Jeep in winter, and in mud they aren’t very good, but every thing else they excel at. Really excel.

They work pretty well in the snow. COS does not have snow that "hangs around" in the winter, it comes and goes, but we did have a few heavy snows and the BFG's did fine in that. I off-roaded in 12" snow and they cut right through that too. No experience with any other 3Peak tires on the Jeep so my feedback is limited.

 

[srt20]

They work pretty well in the snow. COS does not have snow that "hangs around" in the winter, it comes and goes, but we did have a few heavy snows and the BFG's did fine in that. I off-roaded in 12" snow and they cut right through that too. No experience with any other 3Peak tires on the Jeep so my feedback is limited.

I drove around in the Sierra Madres in WY with OEM BFG KM on a JK Willys a few years back and they were incredible. Of course they were fairly narrow and dug down easy.

 

[GrayWolf.Overland]

There is always a scale of compromise with any tire selection, and you should decide for yourself what aspects of the tire you don't want to compromise and also rank them on priority to make a decision.

If you are going to rock crawl a lot and need a pliable grippy tire that hugs slick surfaces - the tires that do well there don't necessarily have the kind of compounds that are more attuned to cornering stability and longevity.

When I made the decision to change my Stock Sahara AT tires, I narrowed them down to general Grabber ATx and KO2s - they are very similar and literally like a clone. Similar to KO2, I will say that ATx wears out very fast if you do a lot of off-road driving. In BC, Canada the back roads are literally like a shredder with sharp wedge-like rocks and corrugated roads beaten down by constant rain. While I like the ride quality and performance of ATX, these are things I didn't like
- Fast wearing tread (if you drive on rough terrain a lot)
- Cornering confidence - esp when you air down a bit for comfort.
- Hydroplaning and ability to clear mud
- Keeping rocks lodged - to a point that they act like studs and messes up the ride.

I am going up a size (35s), and the only two tires that I was looking to buy were - Falken AT3W and Toyo OC AT3. For the type of terrain I drive, the winter/rain performance expected in PNW, and the cornering stability I expect - these two were the choices I narrowed down to.

 

[Punkn89]

There is always a scale of compromise with any tire selection, and you should decide for yourself what aspects of the tire you don't want to compromise and also rank them on priority to make a decision.

If you are going to rock crawl a lot and need a pliable grippy tire that hugs slick surfaces - the tires that do well there don't necessarily have the kind of compounds that are more attuned to cornering stability and longevity.

When I made the decision to change my Stock Sahara AT tires, I narrowed them down to general Grabber ATx and KO2s - they are very similar and literally like a clone. Similar to KO2, I will say that ATx wears out very fast if you do a lot of off-road driving. In BC, Canada the back roads are literally like a shredder with sharp wedge-like rocks and corrugated roads beaten down by constant rain. While I like the ride quality and performance of ATX, these are things I didn't like
- Fast wearing tread (if you drive on rough terrain a lot)
- Cornering confidence - esp when you air down a bit for comfort.
- Hydroplaning and ability to clear mud
- Keeping rocks lodged - to a point that they act like studs and messes up the ride.

I am going up a size (35s), and the only two tires that I was looking to buy were - Falken AT3W and Toyo OC AT3. For the type of terrain I drive, the winter/rain performance expected in PNW, and the cornering stability I expect - these two were the choices I narrowed down to.

This actually does help a lot, thank you.

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