KO2 Wet Traction

[Carolina Jeeper]

My 2019 JLUR came factory with 285/70R17 KO2s. Never liked them in wet weather from the first month of driving on them. They hydroplane too easily. Basically never had any confidence in them while driving in the rain.

I kept them up until ~30K miles when I went to some Mickey Thompson Baja Boss M/T tires. Recently drove is some heavy downpours and never had any hydroplaning or even a hint of slipping with the Mickey Thompsons. Best choice I've made in tires.

Sponsored

 

[OnlyOne]

Mud tires generally do a better job in the rain due to the large voids between the lugs. That said, I don’t ever remember the KO2s having any issue in the wet. Of course, living in Eagle, Co and New Mexico we didn’t see much rain, just snow everyday in Colorado. I won’t buy another AT.

 

[Squibbles]

Personally I remember when I went from KOs to MTRs the great improvement in not only wet but icy roads. BFG tires are pretty overrated in my humble opinion. I don’t think I’ll be keeping the KO2s on the wrangler too long, probably go to MTRs or Territory MTs again since Goodyears are 25% off for me.

 

[LCW]

Has anyone experienced a significant drop off in wet traction while still having serviceable tread on their KO2s? I'm right at 40k miles.

Probably going to pull the trigger on a new set this week. Just curious if others have experienced this.

Did you measure thread depth on them? Just want to have an idea before it gets to that point. I have stock KO2s. (285/70R17)

 

[LCW]

I've heard KO2s can be a bit slippery when wet, and mine were just OK until they went precipitously downhill.

Brand new they seem fine to me. I was expecting them to be squirrely but they are as good anything I've had in the rain. Of course i'm only at 3500 miles.

 

[JLUandCJ-7]

Did you measure thread depth on them? Just want to have an idea before it gets to that point. I have stock KO2s. (285/70R17)

I'll get a measurement when I get them replaced tomorrow morning. That tire is the worst of the bunch, but they are all fairly closely worn.

 

[JLUandCJ-7]

Brand new they seem fine to me. I was expecting them to be squirrely but they are as good anything I've had in the rain. Of course i'm only at 3500 miles.

I get the feeling, based on my experience and other posters, that the wet traction decreases noticeably as you approach 30-35K miles with these. I still like them the best, so I'll be getting another set of K02s tomorrow.

 

[skorch52]

As a JK owner i replaced the factory KM tires at 25k miles with KO2, and got over 75k miles rotating 5 tires, with still 25% of the tread left when i replaced them with another set of KO2. I do agree that the wet performance isn't great, but i never had hydroplane issues - then again, i pay attention and avoid those scenarios. My reason for posting is based on tread wear. It is pretty common for auto manufacturers to have slightly different tire compound on OEM tires compared with the same tire brand/model that the car owner would purchase aftermarket. Slightly softer compound results in a cheaper (for the manufacturer) quieter tire. I've seen this numerous times over the years with different car models - replace an OEM tire worn out at 25-30k miles with the same tire aftermarket and get 40-50k out of that set. Size makes a difference too, how much air pressure are you running, as does where the tires are made - you rarely find a make of tire where all the sizes are made in the same plant or country. All that said I love the KO2 - no tire is perfect.

 

[JLUandCJ-7]

As a JK owner i replaced the factory KM tires at 25k miles with KO2, and got over 75k miles rotating 5 tires, with still 25% of the tread left when i replaced them with another set of KO2. I do agree that the wet performance isn't great, but i never had hydroplane issues - then again, i pay attention and avoid those scenarios. My reason for posting is based on tread wear. It is pretty common for auto manufacturers to have slightly different tire compound on OEM tires compared with the same tire brand/model that the car owner would purchase aftermarket. Slightly softer compound results in a cheaper (for the manufacturer) quieter tire. I've seen this numerous times over the years with different car models - replace an OEM tire worn out at 25-30k miles with the same tire aftermarket and get 40-50k out of that set. Size makes a difference too, how much air pressure are you running, as does where the tires are made - you rarely find a make of tire where all the sizes are made in the same plant or country. All that said I love the KO2 - no tire is perfect.

This wouldn't surprise me one bit.

 

[Strommen95]

Were these factory takeoffs you installed? If so, I’m not surprised they wore faster. OEM tires are manufactured to be softer for better ride quality. Increased or faster wear is a result. I’ll never buy takeoffs personally unless the deal is stupid.

 

[JLUandCJ-7]

Were these factory takeoffs you installed? If so, I’m not surprised they wore faster. OEM tires are manufactured to be softer for better ride quality. Increased or faster wear is a result. I’ll never buy takeoffs personally unless the deal is stupid.

Yeah. I mentioned in one of the prior posts that they were takeoffs. Thankfully it was a very good deal. I'm pretty sure them being OEM has played into this.

 

[sigsegv]

The OEM 285/70R17 KO2s on my JLUR were downright scary on wet 35 degree concrete roadways. We have loads of them in the area. They seemed great in basically every other condition, but unfortunately we spend 5 months of the year in that state here. My jeep had nokian hakkapeliittas on it when it was killed by a terrible driver. They gripped significantly better on cold wet roadways.

 

[Toycrusher]

The original siping is mostly all gone. If you found a tire shop that would cut new sipes in that tread, you would probably get up to another 10k before seeing the cords poke through.

I'm a big KO2 fan. They don't have the looks, but aired down they perform near as good as anything while still having very well behaved road manners

 

[Gripster]

I posted in 4Runner.org how scary my KO2 were at 20k and that I would never buy them again. When my wife’s Rubicon came with KO2 from the factory the first thing I did was sell those before she had to experience it.

 

[dshark1]

I posted in 4Runner.org how scary my KO2 were at 20k and that I would never buy them again. When my wife’s Rubicon came with KO2 from the factory the first thing I did was sell those before she had to experience it.

Do you mind elaborating a bit more , please. Climate, conditions etc … thx.

Sponsored