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KM2's Real World Experience

the pit bull tires ive seen my buddies run are a great off road tires for nearly any condition they can be a little wishy washy on the ice but what mud tire isnt? as far as towing with them all my buddies say that is a no-go. the will wear fast due to higher temps on the tire. if anyone has any different results let me know because im stuck between MTR's/truxs MT and Pitbull Rockers.
 
the pit bull tires ive seen my buddies run are a great off road tires for nearly any condition they can be a little wishy washy on the ice but what mud tire isnt? as far as towing with them all my buddies say that is a no-go. the will wear fast due to higher temps on the tire. if anyone has any different results let me know because im stuck between MTR's/truxs MT and Pitbull Rockers.

I am putting growlers on my tow rig I will let ya know.
 
For a tow rig I go with the mtr's they have a great load rating in 16 inch rim size tires but they are alittle spendy. I have a set of 305x75x16 but there not for sale:fawkdancesmiley:
 
He is looking for a 35" diameter, 15" wheel tire anyhow.

Funny that this came up though, just went wheeling with my buddy two days ago who had them installed that day on his 3rd gen Toyota. They seemed to do okay, but could tell they would do a LOT betterif he was locked up. He just couldn't spin them enough to keep them cleaned out.
 
i have a set of 35 12.5 new style mtrs and my brother has the km2s in the same size. we've wheeled every different kind terrain together and the mtrs are waaaaay better. my favorite wheelin is snow wheelin and the mtrs work super good, at least 2x as good. mtrs clean out better in clay and mud, and they work a little better on wet rock. the only thing that the km2s are better at is road wear, but i like making my tires howl every day, so all my tires burn up fast,
Go Mtrs !:cheer:
by the way i used to have the old km's and loved them, until i got the mtrs. and the old style mtrs suck pretty bad so dont get those
 
Ive been doing a ton research on the new tires out there.Basicly what im reading here is what I came up with.The km2's leave a bit to be desired as a true hard core offroad tire.The new mtr's are getting great reviews on all the differant terrains.Ive concidered the pit bull rockers they look to perform very well,but I kinda prefer a more narrow tire.I can get the new mtr in a 40x12.50x17 big narrow tire.Big dollars but I dont want tire purchase regret so im going with the new mtr's.

The 39.5 iroks dont have bigg enough lugs it seems.The 42" Iroks are just to big for the toy diffs imo.
 
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Ya, I'm thinking 35x12.5x15 or 35x12.5x17 new style MTR's now, the difference in price though is enough to cover wheels for the 15" version.....so unless i see a DRASTIC performance difference i think 15's will be the way to go...:corn:
 
Ya, I'm thinking 35x12.5x15 or 35x12.5x17 new style MTR's now, the difference in price though is enough to cover wheels for the 15" version.....so unless i see a DRASTIC performance difference i think 15's will be the way to go...:corn:

Ya I dont think you would need a 17" wheel for 35's.That extra sidewall would help you imo.
 
I thought this was pretty interesting regarding the KM2 vs MTR debate.

KM2's get my vote.

Might also want to take a look at Toyo Open Country M/T's and Cooper STT's?

I absolutely hated my MT/R's w/ Kevlar.

My current 40" KM2's are smooth up to 80 MPH and have never had balancing weights on the wheels. They do great in the rain, snow, mud, rock, etc. My only complaint is I wish the sidewalls were a little tougher. I've ran a lot of different tires on my rig and for a daily driver the KM2's are the best compromise for me.

They took a lot of weight to balance, some upwards of 20 ozs., on the same wheels I just removed the exact same size KM2 (37"x12.50"x17") off that had been running smooth as silk with no weight for almost a year.

Even with weight they shook.

On the road, they started out as quiet as the KM2's, but after about 2k miles they started getting really load.

Off road they packed up with mud and would not clear.

Off road in muddy conditions they had terrible lateral support on rocks, the entire truck would slide sideways off rocks at once, where as with KM2's they will stick to the muddy rocks. And yes....the 4.7-L has amble power to spin them and clean them out, but unfortunately it took a stick and manual labor to clean them.

The minute I put them on, the truck immediately started pulling to the passenger side fairly hard. The day after we arrived back home I took the turds off and threw my KM2's back on and they truck quit pulling to the passenger side and was back to riding smooth with no balancing......The "pull" was in the same direction that all four had their long tread bars angled toward....go figure!

A few months later I installed a set of 40" KM2's, no weight, smooth as silk, still no pull to the passenger side.

After an extended period at around 70 MPH on the interstate we started smelling a burning rubber smell, pulled over and all four tires were hot and sticky - thanks to the lovely tread pattern I guess the tires were trying to destroy themselves.

During our trip, I spoke to everyone there (running the same tire on various vehicles and various sizes) and they all had experienced some of the same characteristics.

Even though I didn't cut a sidewall during our trip, I witnessed five in a row cut on one obstacle, and two sets of Irok radials walk right up it.

They did not work for me and will never be on any vehicle I own ever again.

Don't get me wrong, KM2's aren't perfect either, none are. But the only gripe I have about the KM2 is that in extremely aggressive rocks the sidewalls are not strong enough.

Even when the KM2's pack up with mud, they continue to keep biting and moving my truck in the right direction........

All that being said, that's just my experiences on my truck, you may try them and love them.....who knows. I've talked with friends out West that love the MT/R's.....me.....not so much. I didn't like my old style MT/R's either, cut a side wall the 1st trip out years ago, but I can say the originals were a helluva lot better than these new ones with their "confused" tread pattern.


They tended to pack up with mud and keep it with them, hence no lateral traction -


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They did "OK" in the complete dry though -


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Call me partial, but for my rig, KM2's just work better -


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Even though I've heard people comment that BFG's suck in the snow, mine flat get it in the snow, this year was the 1st time I got to experience them in the snow and I was extremely happy, may be my rig's weight....dunno -


SW1.jpg

There could be something to that.........:)

The only person I've heard bad mouth KM2's is me, and that's strictly because I wish they had a stronger sidewall.......but of all the tires out there I have to choose from, they're still hands down the best choice for my truck......


Here's how my past three sets of tires have gone if it's any indication -

37" KM2's - Brand new set given to me free and ran for over a year, even though I swore I would put my Toyo Open Country M/T's back on immediately after the trip because yes....they are that good, but so are the KM2's, so the Toyo's got sold when we got home.

37" MT/R's w/ Kevlar - Brand new set given to me, taken off the day after our 7-day trip and put the worn KM2's back on. Sold the set of five MT/R's a few days later for $800 with 2,500 miles on them just to get them out of my garage and out of my sight.

40" KM2's - Purchased a used set of five for $2k out of my pocket and still rocking them to date.

Next set - Who knows, if nothing else emerges in the market, another set of 40" KM2's, even though $605 each is absolutely ridiculous (I will take this moment to say SCREW YOU BFG for making an awesome tire and then abusing the fact by overpricing the hell out of them :mad:!)

You might want to look into a set of the new Pitbull Rocker Radials. I just bought a set of them in 37x12.5x16.5 variety and going to mount them up next week to my Tacoma. They come in a 41.5x13.50x17 that would probably look pretty good on that Tundra.

I also second the opinion on MTR's w/Kevlar I have a set of 315/70/17's on my Power Wagon and HATE them. Loud, rough, caused a deathwobble under 50 PSI, uneven tread wear, and pull to one side. As soon as I can get them off I am going to.
 
I read that on pirate awhile ago. Lots of guys on the ultimate adventure chimmed in and he was the only one that disliked the new MTR's. You also have to think about the terrain, slop, rocks this guys wheeling. Looks like its not even close to what the PNW has to offer.

just my 2 cents
 
Next set - Who knows, if nothing else emerges in the market, another set of 40" KM2's, even though $605 each is absolutely ridiculous (I will take this moment to say SCREW YOU BFG for making an awesome tire and then abusing the fact by overpricing the hell out of them !)

says the douche that got two sets of FREE tires before. God forbid he have to buy his own ****in tires. Sissy.
 
says the douche that got two sets of FREE tires before. God forbid he have to buy his own ****in tires. Sissy.

But that almost validates his point. Why would he rag on free tires...?

IMO, I love my 32x11.5 BFG KM2's. Super quiet compared to my last set of KM1's and equally impressive in mud and rocks. The one and only downfall I have seen has been in snow. So if you snow wheel a lot and don't want to sipe your tires... Buy some iroks... :beer:
 
Yesterday I got a chance to try out the new KM2's in mud. My initial opinion was that they suck. After a fun afternoon of pulling cable, my opinion didn't change. They don't seem to self clean, and for a mud terrain that's an automatic fail. They are a lot quieter on the road than the old KM's so that is a plus. I'm sure they will be fine in Moab, but I could run street tires in Moab so it's not really a compliment for the tires. Bottom line is I would NOT buy these tires again, even with as good a deal as I got on these.

 
Yesterday I got a chance to try out the new KM2's in mud. My initial opinion was that they suck. After a fun afternoon of pulling cable, my opinion didn't change. They don't seem to self clean, and for a mud terrain that's an automatic fail. They are a lot quieter on the road than the old KM's so that is a plus. I'm sure they will be fine in Moab, but I could run street tires in Moab so it's not really a compliment for the tires. Bottom line is I would NOT buy these tires again, even with as good a deal as I got on these.


amen! they are the worst tire I have own. The old style MTR's were better in the mud
 
Aaron~ 2 psi no Beadlocks, not a burp. 35x12.5x15 Kevlar MT/R after eating snow for a bit. I already showed you this, but its so small on my phone. :redneck:
 

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Yesterday I got a chance to try out the new KM2's in mud. My initial opinion was that they suck. After a fun afternoon of pulling cable, my opinion didn't change. They don't seem to self clean, and for a mud terrain that's an automatic fail. They are a lot quieter on the road than the old KM's so that is a plus. I'm sure they will be fine in Moab, but I could run street tires in Moab so it's not really a compliment for the tires. Bottom line is I would NOT buy these tires again, even with as good a deal as I got on these.


haha, that what i was thinking too. but they are better in mud than the AT. You just have to spin them fast. KM1s are better tire IMO.
Id probably trade mine for some ATs for the snow. f**k mud.
 
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