Both the BFGoodrich® Tires All-Terrain T/A® KO2 and BFGoodrich® Tires Mud-Terrain T/A® KM3 tires have hard-earned reputations as the go-to choices for the most seasoned off-roader.
When comparing these two Baja champions head-to-head, which one comes out on top?
To figure out which tire is the right tire for you, Brandon Sturgis, Global Product Manager at BFGoodrich® Tires, walks us through the history, testing, and personality of these two titans of off-roading. With ten years of experience as a test driver and a veteran of the off-road industry, Brandon is uniquely suited to the task.
BUT FIRST, A HISTORY OF FIRSTS
Way back in 1976, BFGoodrich® Tires created a category with the launch of the radial All-Terrain T/A, the great, great grandfather to the famed BFGoodrich® Tires All-Terrain T/A® KO2 tire. Then, in 1980, they launched the first radial mud tire with the radial Mud-Terrain T/A, the predecessor to the BFGoodrich® Tires Mud-Terrain T/A® KM3 tire.
Over the years, each tire has gone through evolutions, pushing the envelope in off-road tire design and performance.
Each step of this evolution wasn’t random—every innovation along the way was a purposeful step to improve the off-roading experience.
"We didn't go out and say ‘hey we need to build a tire to make it look cool.’ No. There's actually a legitimate need for people with heavy duty trucks that are going off-road and up and down gravel." – Brandon Sturgis, Global Product Manager at BFGoodrich® Tires
And so, two iconic tires were born.
KO2: THE DO-EVERYTHING TIRE
Since its launch in 2014, the KO2 has become one of the world’s most iconic tires because it does so many things, so well.
“[It’s] got really tough sidewalls that can actually go off-roading, that you can air down, you need to go through snow, and relatively quiet on the road. I mean it's just that do-it-all kind of tire.”
If KO2 was a person, who would it be?
“The KO2 is your dad. Your dad does everything. Your parents make things happen. They do everything for everybody. And they do it without complaint.”
KM3: THE SPECIALIST
It’s not difficult to figure out what the Mud-Terrain T/A® KM3 is designed for — it’s right there in the name.
But this purpose-built tire isn’t just a mud tire.
“It is good in the mud, but we didn't just focus on mud, we focused on slow-speed rock crawling as well. People like to do all sorts of crazy off-road stuff with this tire, but they drive it onroad a little bit as well. It needed to be capable of all of that “
If KM3 was a person, who would it be?
A pro wrestler. He's a badass. He's all ripped and muscular. And just like you can see that the KM3 is purpose built for mud and rock, you can see that he's purpose built for wrestling.”
TWO TOUGH TIRES
These tires didn’t earn their reputation easily. They’ve proven over the years to be some of the toughest tires on the road.
“We're a little bit different in the all-terrain space because we really focus on sidewall durability and toughness.”
In fact, they were so focused on sidewall durability and toughness, they had to invent new technology just to test it. The way most companies test their tires is with a machine that pushes a plunger into the tread. Then, to test the sidewalls, they just turn the tire sideways. But that’s not how punctures happen in the wild.
"Tires are moving, then they hit something on the side and that's what rips the sidewall, so it's a different mechanism for how the sidewall gets damaged.”
The team at BFGoodrich Tires knew they couldn’t put their name on a tire without knowing that the tire was as tough as people needed it to be. Not in a testing lab. But out in the real world.
“We were so hell-bent on improving the KO2 and really making it legit that we came up with our own sidewall durability splitting test."
When it came time to develop the KM3, though, they had to step it up even more. “We built the KO2 to have tough sidewalls. But the KM3 has even tougher sidewalls.”
Brandon recalls a moment in Baja when the KM3’s toughness was put to the ultimate real-world test. A tire designer was testing a prototype of the KM3 out in Baja, when they hit a massive hole.
“Boom! It ripped the wheel off the car. It was that big and they were going that fast."
“They went and found the wheel and brought it back, looking at the tire and they're like, ‘we think the tire's fine.’ So they put it on another wheel…and kept going."
After that, the tire wasn’t a prototype anymore.
WHICH TIRE IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
When it comes to choosing the tire for your truck, do you go with the KO2 or KM3? The parent who can do it all, or purpose-built pro wrestler? According to Brandon, “it really gets down to what you plan on doing with your vehicle day in and day out.”
The KO2 offers excellent traction in mud, snow, and gravel, while maintaining good “road manners”—a quiet ride and more steering precision than its mud-loving sibling. The KM3’s design offers better traction in mud and rock than the KO2, but when it comes to on-road performance, “you're gonna have to sacrifice that a little bit with KM3 to get that off-road performance.”
Said another way, the KO2 is the everyday, do-everything parent that will take care of you. The KM3 is the purpose-built pro wrestler, who can kick but off-road, but will be a bit rougher around the edges to live with as an everyday driver.
Which brings us back to the question: Which tire wins in a head-to-head battle? Well, it turns out the answer is up to you and what you’re building for.
If you’re spending a lot of time in mud or in low-pressure rock climbing, you might opt for the KM3. But if you plan on driving through snow, need good on-road manners, or just need a tire that excels in most any condition, KO2 is likely your winner.
So, what are you building for?