Im helping a friend get new tires and hes leaning to the BFG ATs. Im telling him go KM2 (like me and many others).

I put forward that the ATs have an older tread design (at least 15 years, I had them on a 96 TJ) and that the KM2s are designed to be quiet for a mud tire. He test drove my jeep but its a diesel and louder than his petrol anyway.

So how old are the BFG ATs?

 

the friend in question is me...

the question is not how old is how loud compared to the KM2s?

cheers,
dan

 

the AT's will be quiter due to they are an all terrain. the KM2's are pretty damn quiet for a MT though. it depends on what you want to do...if you do more road then trails, go the AT's. If you do more trails than road, go the MT. It also depends on how rough of terrain you go on as well.

 

I had a set of BFG AT's in 1975 and they were not a new design at that time. They are at least a 35 to 40 year old design.

 

You got me beat. My first set was in 1980.

The tread design is the same or extremely similar, but the rubber compound and the ply design has changed over time. One of the off road publications wrote an article on them about 10 years ago updating an article that was about 10 years old at that time.

Either way the KOs are still one of the best all around longest treadlife ATs out there and they still suffer from one of its original weaknesses: hydroplaning. The KM2s are very different beast.

 

Wow that an old design then. Any word if BFG is doing a new one? They must have an old comadore 64 they could use to design a new tread pattern

 

I had them on my LJ. I thought they were great.

They're a compromise tire. Good in most any conditions. They'll get you through some off road stuff and still be great on pavement.

 

That's a sharp TJ. Very nice.

 

Actually, the only thing that changed about BFG AT's was the new sidewall design with the aggressive look. That happened back in 2002 I think. My buddy bought a set of BFG AT for his Explorer brand new and they did not have the sidewall tread that I had with my BFG AT in 2005.

Great tire and it will get you through anything, except soupy mud.

 

The tread design has changed slightly over the years, but the changes are very minute and hard to see unless you put the tires next to each other. Most of the changes have been with the rubber compounds and the carcass as someone else mentioned. Remember, the BFG AT is the 1st of the AT category of tires so it's been around for a long time.

I've run both and I firmly believe that the KM2s are quieter on the road (for me) than the AT KOs were. Now, that is on two different vehicles so the comparison isn't prefect. The KM2s are on my Jeep and the AT KOs are on my Blazer. If you get the air pressure right, the KM2s are almost silent on the road.

Either is a good tire. The KM2 might be a tad bit more susceptible to cupping if lack of rotation and vehicle alignment is not watched carefully, but any off-road style tire is susceptible to that.