BFGoodrich’s All-Terrain T/A KO2 Will Go to Hell and Back
BFGoodrich pulled out all the stops when it came to it’s new All-Terrain T/A KO2. For the launch, they flew a bunch of automotive writers down to Baja California to spend two solid days beating the living crap out of them.
I was on that trip—you can read all about it here—and I came away seriously impressed with the new rubber.
After nearly 300 miles over sections of the the Baja 500 and 1000 course, it was impossible not to come away impressed. As I said in that piece, I think if you mounted these on your daily driver, I think you could safely toss your spare.
Seriously, I live in Los Angeles, and while the weather is generally picture perfect SoCal—it hasn’t rained in something like two years—and there isn’t any snow, ice, or even real chill to speak of, the local government has still managed to sections of its thoroughfares degrade to near Soviet Union levels of disrepair. It’s almost impressive, in a “wow, the city I live in sure is broke” kind of way. In the five years I’ve lived in the City of Angeles, I’ve experienced more flats than I’ve had in any other place I’ve ever lived—combined.
But after watching them perform in the desert, I simply can’t imagine what I would have to do to make them fail. Normally, this is the part where I’d say something stupid like “short off throwing them off a cliff.”
But BFGoodrich already threw them out of a plane, and even a 20,000 foot plunge proved no match for the KO2.
BFG invented the all-terrain tire back in the ’70s, and the company set some brutal goals for its latest product. What resulted was a sidewall that’s 20 percent tougher, and a tire that lasts twice as long on gravel as the previous T/A, and 15 percent longer on asphalt. But given that its an all-terrain tire, you’d expect it to be better in the snow, and it does, providing almost 20 percent more grip than its predecessor. BFG also says the tire also improves on its mudding abilities by ten percent.
Now, I haven’t driven on any of the company’s dedicated mud tires, but some of the folks I met South of the Border seemed to think the KO2 was even better at handling the sloppy stuff than the mud focused rubber, which seems pretty extraordinary.
While it’s easy to glaze over when statistics start getting thrown around, the most impressive fact about the KO2 might just be the easiest to qualify. Because long before BFG brought all the journalists down to Baja, they ran the tire—the consumer, not race version—in the Baja 1000. Over the course of the race, none of them failed, and the team took home a class victory.
If that’s not enough? Those tires have covered another 1000-odd miles since the race, and they’re still tackling Baja’s brutal country.
Personally? I think that’s straight bonkers.
And while handling the rough stuff is obviously important in an all-terrain tire, the limited amount of time I spent on the smooth, wet highways confirmed that BFG managed to preserve their on-road manners as well, so consumers looking to balance work and play won’t find their ears ringing from road noise or dealing with the sketchiness knobby tires can sometimes demonstrate on pavement.
The new KO2 is available now, and if you’re looking to upgrade your the rubber on your truck, these new tires are more than worth a look.
Head to the official site for all the info you can handle on BFG’s latest tire! >>
