How are you liking the Ko2 tires

[McBeeve]

I liked every single thing about them but the rock chucking. This weekend my wife and I were out cruising around with the top and doors off. I was headed down a dead end road, so I decided to turn around in a gravel drive. Shortly after turning around, my wife was hit in the forehead with a rock that left a noticeable welt! It was then and there I decided they had to go, so I placed an order for new tires this morning. I can't remember very owning a set of tires that picked up the amount of stone that these do.

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[ATXMTB]

I have a Sport S and the KO2's. I also have RC 2.5 lift and they both work wonderfully in parallel with each other

Did you do the RC spacers or go for the suspension lift? Glad to hear it’s workig out well for you.

 

[JeepJL18]

Did you do the RC spacers or go for the suspension lift? Glad to hear it’s workig out well for you.

Spacers without shocks....cant tell the difference. 169 bucks delivered.

 

[Dubeau9005]

To me the ko2s are massively overrated. They are so weak in rainy conditions and they wear out pretty fast. I think the General Grabber AT3 is the best AT in the market. Goodyear Wrangler AT Adventure is 2nd and Yokohama Geolandar G015 3rd.
I don't get the hype about the ko2.
Just my honest opinion.

I agree with you 100% about the general grabbers. I had them on my pickup and absolutely loved them. They lasted forever and never had any traction issue with them when other people would be getting stuck.
General just came out with the ATX as a step up from their AT2 I believe. Waiting to find out a bit more about them but think those may be the tires I purchase for our Sport S when the time comes. I find the ko2 extremely over rated

 

[FranklinFlyer]

I agree with you 100% about the general grabbers. I had them on my pickup and absolutely loved them. They lasted forever and never had any traction issue with them when other people would be getting stuck.
General just came out with the ATX as a step up from their AT2 I believe. Waiting to find out a bit more about them but think those may be the tires I purchase for our Sport S when the time comes. I find the ko2 extremely over rated

Yes. The AT2 is also great. The AT3 that I have on my Jeeps at the moment is even a bit better, but is almost only available in European markets. I absolutely don't know why.
With the ATX it's the other way around, that's only available in North America. I would love to have them next. They look great.


AT2

AT3

ATX

 

[Dubeau9005]

Yes. The AT2 is also great. The AT3 that I have on my Jeeps at the moment is even a bit better, but is almost only available in European markets. I absolutely don't know why.
With the ATX it's the other way around, that's only available in North America. I would love to have them next. They look great.


AT2

AT3

ATX

Probably why I thought you were talking about the AT2 then. Hadn’t even heard of the AT3. Will definitely be checking out reviews of the ATX but so far from what I have read, they are great tires. Here in Canada, we get quite a bit of snow so want to make sure it is as good as the AT2 was as it is my wife’s daily driver.

 

[DanW]

Send me your KO2s if you don't like them. I need another set for my Ford F150. I love them, so far.

 

[ATXMTB]

For those KO2 detractors out there...how do you feel about the Nitto Ridge Grappler?

 

[Dubeau9005]

For those KO2 detractors out there...how do you feel about the Nitto Ridge Grappler?

I have a friend with them and swears by them but I personally haven’t run them to take that with a grain of salt. I am by no means saying the KO2s are a bad tire. They are great, just feel like they are overrated and prefer the general grabbers. That is my personal experience though and every one can have different results. For the record, my experiences were all on a half ton pickup, not a Jeep as this is our first jeep. One thing to be careful about is the load index on the tire. While the higher letters indicate stiffer sidewalls which are less prone to punctures, they also create a stiffer ride. If you daily the Jeep, you may want to factor that in as well during your shopping.

 

[Carolina88]

I measured my 245/75-17 Sport tires at exactly 32.0" while on the Jeep, using a level and a tape measure.

I measured a buddy's 285/70-17 Rubicon tires at 32.2" tall while on the Jeep, using the same method.

That's why I bought 285/75-17 KO2s when I installed my lift kit. It's pointless to do a Rubicon tire swap in my opinion, because of how little you get for the money.

Were your Sport tires the All Terrains or All Weathers?

I'm a little stumped on what tires to get when I finally get my Sport S. I'll be honest, the tire size I like best is the ones on JK Rubicons, and I believe those are 255/75/17. But maybe the size difference would be so tiny between those and the stock JL Sport's that I wouldn't even notice the difference. I had been looking at KO2s in the 255 size as well a Duratracs.

 

[Mkz567]

I'm picking up 5 ko2 35/12.5/17 tomorrow since tire shop have them in stock. Fortunately I'm not a picky man so I'm happy with ko2.

 

[Hip2u77]

I'm going to give the KO2s a good flogging in Moab in October, so I'll post up then.

I'm curious to see how you like them.

I've ran the factory BFG KMs on our '07, '12 and '14 JKURs in Moab 15+ times. Last month we took the JLUR there with the factory KO2's and I could not believe how much WORSE they were on the slickrock. I squealed up tons of hills on Hell's Revenge and Poison Spider that I crawled up silently with the KMs. On Hells Revenge there's a steep 'shortcut' where the trail makes a left. I've climbed it in our '07 and '12 with KMs, '14 with 35" Kelly Safari's, RZR1K with stock 29s and could not make it with the KO2s fully locked. No surprise, but a friend that went first had no problems with 37" Cooper STT pros on his JLUR. (A CJ on 35 or 37" MTRs also couldn't make it. He was climbing but would start hopping.)

I was running around 17-18 PSI, which is what I ran in the KMs, but maybe my friend was right when he suggested dropping the PSI down. They definitely didn't instill much confidence. I was struggling to climb everything and bottoming out enough to where I said the hell with it and turned around on Poison Spider, parked it and rented a RZR. . . . which sucked because not only did it break, but I already own a '14 RZR1000 but left it at home. I will not go back without at least a 2 1/2" lift.

On a positive note. . . they are definitely nicer to daily drive compared to the KMs.

 

[Steveo]

On my first day of ownership I got lost in southern Idaho and had to drive a 100 miles of dirt road to get unlost. My rear fenders didn't fair very well. Glad I didn't get the painted ones.

 

[DanW]

I'm curious to see how you like them.

I've ran the factory BFG KMs on our '07, '12 and '14 JKURs in Moab 15+ times. Last month we took the JLUR there with the factory KO2's and I could not believe how much WORSE they were on the slickrock. I squealed up tons of hills on Hell's Revenge and Poison Spider that I crawled up silently with the KMs. On Hells Revenge there's a steep 'shortcut' where the trail makes a left. I've climbed it in our '07 and '12 with KMs, '14 with 35" Kelly Safari's, RZR1K with stock 29s and could not make it with the KO2s fully locked. No surprise, but a friend that went first had no problems with 37" Cooper STT pros on his JLUR. (A CJ on 35 or 37" MTRs also couldn't make it. He was climbing but would start hopping.)

I was running around 17-18 PSI, which is what I ran in the KMs, but maybe my friend was right when he suggested dropping the PSI down. They definitely didn't instill much confidence. I was struggling to climb everything and bottoming out enough to where I said the hell with it and turned around on Poison Spider, parked it and rented a RZR. . . . which sucked because not only did it break, but I already own a '14 RZR1000 but left it at home. I will not go back without at least a 2 1/2" lift.

On a positive note. . . they're are definitely nicer to daily drive compared to the KMs.

We will see. I've run them on some rocks (not slick rock) sand dunes, mud, and in torrential rains. I also took a trip up to Michigan and went through some various types of snow and some ice. So far, in every condition where I've run them all, except mud, they have outperformed the KM2's, KM's, KO's, and they compared favorably with my buddy's Duratracs on his JK in sand, mud, and rocks. I feel like they are the best all-around tire I've had, so far.

I've got a spare set of the factory optional Rubi wheels, so if I wind up not liking them in Moab, I'll put a dedicated set of off road tires on those other rims and will run them next time. For daily driving, and the off-roading I typically do around Indiana, they've impressed me enough not to spend the money on another set of tires. (I'm saving those other rims for a decade from now, when off-roading and road salt have taken their toll on the current rims. I plan for them to be like a mid-life refresh.)

People have to realize, though, that tires are all a compromise. You have to find the sweet spot for the way you drive in the conditions you typically encounter. This stuff is VERY subjective, unless you do some track tests with instrumentation, back to back, on the same vehicle. Who's going to do that?

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

People have to realize, though, that tires are all a compromise. You have to find the sweet spot for the way you drive in the conditions you typically encounter. This stuff is VERY subjective, unless you do some track tests with instrumentation, back to back, on the same vehicle. Who's going to do that?

<kicks dirt, blushing> Did I mention I have 3 different sets of wheels and tires for my Corvette? I could easily see myself having a "road" set of wheels and tires and an offroad set as well for the Jeep. Please don't ask me about how many shoes I own, or whether I obsessively brush them clean when I come home before putting in the trees, bagging them and putting them back in their original boxes. Don't hate!

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