Mud TIRES: BFGoodrich KM2, Goodyear MTR Kevlar, or Swamper SSR

[alexrex20]

BFGoodrich KM2, Goodyear MTR Kevlar, or Swamper SSR


these tires are going on my daily driven Nissan Pathfinder. i currently run a smaller size Interco Super Swamper SSR and they ride great. they wear like steel and though they're noisy, they're not too bad. with 10oz of copper BBs, they also balance very well.

i'm pretty much set on the 3 tires listed above. i don't want an all-terrain, nor do i want Cooper STTs, Toyo MTs, or Nitto Mud Grapplers.

of the 3 tires, which would you pick and why?

Interco Super Swamper SSR:

BFGoodrich Mud Terrain KM2:

Goodyear MTR with Kevlar:

 

[leman]

im probably gonna put the Km2s on my jeep when i need new tires.

 

[barlowrs]

KM2 on my daily driver...they are actually very quiet on road..considering they are mud terrains. I am very happy with them.

 

[off-roader]

35x12.5x15 BFG MT KM2's on my Montero. Been fine for the past year. Taken on several 4x4 trips now but unfortunately none on the rocks yet as I haven't added enough protection to feel comfortable for that. Fine on all the other trails though.

Haven't compared cost or directly compared them to the tires you mention but for my use, BFG's (Original MT, KM, & KM2's) have all held up well over time and I'm currently running a set of 33x12.5x15 MT KM's that are much older on my 89 Montero and they came off my old 90 Montero.

I will say that compared to the original Yokohama Geolander MT's the YGMT's were better off road but wore down within a year of use. I no longer run them as you can tell. Can't afford new MT's every year. LOL.

HTH.

 

[njjeepthing]

I've had both the KM2's and the MTR Kevlars, both are great tires. Both performed equally as well on road as off. Can't really say I have any complaints on either. My experience with Interco's is they take a lot of weight to balance, get soft spots if left parked for a little while, and have thinner sidewalls than the others.

 

[Maximus Ram]

KM2's here, also. Run them on my Dodge.
Haven't ever had anything wrong with the BFG's I have owned.

 

[alexrex20]

thanks for all the replies everyone, keep 'em coming!

i have a single KM2 in my garage and its 3-ply sidewall actually measures to be thinner than the 2-ply sidewall on my Interco SSR.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Just because you didn't mention them, have you looked at the Mickey Thompson MTs? Here

I chose the Mickey Thompson, but of the ones you posted, I like the KM2 the best.

-

 

[zjsheller]

Super happy with my GY MT/R's with Kevlar. Lots of gravel, mud, rock and highway and they seem to perform well in all.

 

[brianjwilson]

I have been very happy with the KM2s on my F150, they are 35x12.50R18s. I have over 20k miles on them, they have 60-75% tread left, they are quiet and smooth. They work well in snow and ice, rain and of course mud. They did take a fair amount of weight to balance, and I have had to re-balance them once so far. Because of the use of my truck and where I live right now, I haven't had them in any rocky situations. I have heard a few stories about the KM2s getting pinch flats and shredded sidewalls when aired down offroad. There is also no "rim protector" on the KM2s that stick out past the wheel. They are great tires on a daily driver with off road tasks, but I'm not sure I would feel as comfortable airing them down and playing on rocks.
My next tires will probably be the new MT/Rs because of the stronger sidewall.

 

[4Rescue]

I think my next tires, (and I may buy them now and run them off-road only while mt AT's keep me on the road) will be KM2's... I've heard and seen nothing but great reviews and they aeem to work espescialy well here in the NW's unique mixture of terrain and soil types. For what it;s worth I couldn't be happier with my 33x10.50 BFG AT's either. They're wearing like Iron and I hear the same thing about the KM2's...Clearly BFG have fiugured it out eh .

I do like the SS's and having run 34/10.50 LTB's in the past I can say that the TSL patern is amazing if you're in loose to wet/nasty terrain. They are what they are though and they were NEVER intended (even the Radial SSR wich does come in an oh-so-perfect to me 35x10.50 :drool: ) to be a street tire. My LTB 's were loud, rough and worst of all a pain to balance. I eventualy just ran some golf-balls in the tires and it got much better, but still... not a street tire.

The GY MTR's look to be a HUGE improvement over the old MTR's and I can't say I haven't been eyeing them as well, but...

I think the KM2's big lugs with all that clean-out space adn the "blank canvas" of the lugs will lead to some experimental sisping... From what I've seen and experienced, the KM2's with some intelegent sisping go PHENOMENALY in the snow [and it helps alot in the rocks too w/o "chunking" the tread if done properly and more shallowly then is typical. Yes you have to do it more, but the tires hold up better and still have all the advantages of more gripping edges] and still ride amazingly on-road. They're a pretty clear winner in my book. - although I gotta admit that since I need to re-gear anyway the 35x10.50 SSR's are looking awfully tempting as I said... that is the PERFECT tire size in my book. I only wish I could get the BFG's in both AT nand KM2 Flavor in that size...then I'd REALLY be set.

DEAR BFGOODRICH: PLEASE MAKE US SOME a 35x10.50 SIZE OPTION in all of your tire styles!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 I'd love to have a set of al three of their great types of tires: AT, KM2 AND Baja T/A's (I'm kind of intreagued with this tire... it reminds me of the Nokian Rallye tires I had on my VW Fox: nice square solid lugs and a nice square profile, good for road-feel. Yet I never see anybody run them)

-sidebar: Funny enough, I was just out running an errand and I saw a SFA'd, low-lift, 3rd-gen 4wd Toyota p/u on the 35/10.50 SSR radials and it looked amazing ( Upon further inspection of it, I'd SWEAR he either started with a custom frame or had swaped in a complete 85 frame and drivetrain cause the frame had a hump for the axle and he was running about 3" of lift (not an easy task w/o said frame mods/an 83-85 Frame) IT LOOKED PERFECT!!!!!! The Tall skinny tires on that compact little truck (it had a perfectly matched canopy on it that kind of made it lok like a 2dr 2nd Gen 4Runner) made fro an awesome stance and he'd moved tha xle forward so the approach angle was damn near 90degrees. Anyway sorry for the OT rambling, but it did involve one of the listed tires so

Cheers

Dave

 

[brianjwilson]

If I were still in Oregon (hopefully will get back soon) I would have siped the center blocks on the KM2s. I siped most of my mud terrains in Oregon with awesome results.
Even without having the KM2s siped, they have worked very well in the limited snow here, as well as lots of rain. I may still sipe these as I start wearing into the harder compound.

 

[juicebox]

... 35x10.50 :drool:
DEAR BFGOODRICH: PLEASE MAKE US SOME a 35x10.50 SIZE OPTION in all of your tire styles!!!!!!!!!!!!!

times a billion... :smiley_drive:

 

[Mr. Leary]

Sorry to be a latecomer to this thread, Alex. I have been very impressed with my KM2s off road. As you saw in January, they just hook right up. Durability has been a litt bit different story, but I'm pretty sure I just had a bad tire, and it was replaced free under warranty (Shredded a sidewall the week after I wheeled with you guys). The other tires have held up well to abuse.

On the road, the extreme quiet has gone away now after the first 5k miles. They are relatively quiet on the highway now, but are noisy at lower speeds. They are wearing well. I expect to get at least 30k out of them, we shall see. I have never had a MT before, so I really have little to compare these to, so take my review with a grain of salt.

Overall, I am happy with the purchase, but sometimes long for a more streetable tire again.

Hope this helps.

 

[The Adam Blaster]

Out of the 3 options, I'd be going for the BFG's.
The Interco's really aren't meant to be run on a DD, you might have funny wear issues, they are heavy as well, so you'll be using more fuel because of that. Interco has had quality control problems for years, and they really haven't tried to address the issue. And they won't last you that long, especially if you do a lot of highway.
The MT/R's are a good tire, but not great. They perform very well offroad, but we've had lots of reports that in gravel, they chunk out, losing tread blocks. Some fleet customers in the oil patch have been asking to get the old MT/R's back because they lasted longer.
These are guys in 1-ton trucks with 1000 lb welders in the bed running 10% pavement, 80% gravel and 10% mud. And they get 20-30,000 km out of a set of tires.

I keep hearing great things about the KM2's, both online and from real world customers. Excellent performance offroad, great road manners and a lot quieter than they would appear to be by looking at the tread. Decent life, again, longer than you would think for an MT.
I got over 80,000 km out of my set of 31" KM's, the previous model to these KM2's. Whatever compound BFG is using, they seem to have found a really good balance between soft rubber with good grip offroad, and a harder compound for longer tire life onroad.

EDIT: I've sold all of these tires in the past, currently work for a company that sells primarily Goodyear brand. And I have TSL's on my offroad only buggy.