Problems with K02s?

[Sardine]

I have KO2 35" and my only issue is they don't grip well when it rains on pavement. I like the look... but I may try something different next time.

Just got our non squatch badlands 2 door a few weeks ago and I knew I had to swap out the K02s the first day I drove it. In the rain, even with barely aggressive throttle use, the back tires would slip during a uturn.

Ordered some 35" Falken Wildpeak AT3Ws as I heard they were far better in the rain. I wanted to go 35's anyways so figured I'd try another brand.

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[SoDak1623]

I'm not understanding all of these comments about poor rain performance. I've used KO2s for almost the last 10 years between my truck and now Bronco and never had any grip issues in rain. I think people have them over inflated. I run them at 35 on both the truck and bronco. Ford's factory 39 is way too high for proper grip and it wears the middle too much.

 

[4avor8ntfair]

I'm not understanding all of these comments about poor rain performance. I've used KO2s for almost the last 10 years between my truck and now Bronco and never had any grip issues in rain. I think people have them over inflated. I run them at 35 on both the truck and bronco. Ford's factory 39 is way too high for proper grip and it wears the middle too much.

I also have never had issues with mine during my 30k+ miles

 

[Snowdogyyz]

My 315 KO2’s will get slippery on wet roads. I keep them around 35-36 psi and they have about 20k on them now. I’ve noticed (with less than 10k on them) a few times when hitting an entrance/exit ramp that I had to really, really go light on the throttle as I’ve nearly turned a slide trying to get on the highway. I didn’t have this issue using Cooper AT’s on my Gladiator. I love the KO2’s for everything else, but rain driving is a bit sketchy from my experience.

 

[BossMann]

don't discount rim balance affecting tire balancing. Many rims are cast which are not consistent in nature.

 

[rblume73]

I'm not understanding all of these comments about poor rain performance. I've used KO2s for almost the last 10 years between my truck and now Bronco and never had any grip issues in rain. I think people have them over inflated. I run them at 35 on both the truck and bronco. Ford's factory 39 is way too high for proper grip and it wears the middle too much.

I've been running them on my F-150 for the past 100k miles. with out any problems. They will spin out on a wet surface if you get on the gas hard enough, but so will every other tire on a truck with no weight in the rear.

 

[kodiakisland]

Yeah, BFGs can have balancing issues, but did the shop index the tires correctly to begin with? Drives me crazy when a tire shop doesn’t mount the tires based on the balancing marks on the tire.

 

[Gassyjack]

A lot can depend on who’s mounting the tire and balancing it. Also not unusual for tires to be rebalanced after being run for awhile, especially bigger tires. Some folks don’t balance their tires until they’ve been run awhile.

 

[555-RGNE]

I bought KO2s a couple of months ago and my local Discount had the same balancing issues as you describe. They got it "good enough" without ever telling me that they were having problems and sent me on my way. 30 miles down the road, I was shaking so bad that I could see my hood vibrating. It felt like one of the rear tires was way out of balance. Went back the next morning and told them about it. They said "does it feel like the left rear?" "We had problems balancing that one." I was about to leave to go on a road trip the next morning, so I just had them move that to the spare and put the spare as my left rear. I still have at least one tire that isn't 100% right because I can feel a shimmy on smooth roads, but I can at least live with it. I have a ridiculous amount of weights on two of my other wheels, just like the picture above.

I'll still have to fight with Discount when I go back in for my 5 tire rotation because it's not going to magically get better.

After digging, I found some threads on Tacomaworld where they were saying the same thing about not being able to get KO2s balanced, so it's not isolated and not just a Bronco issue. I'm disappointed - I ran BFG AT/KOs and MTs on a ton of different vehicles dating back to the mid 1990s, but this will be my last set, for sure.

 

[Ozbronco]

Balancing marks? There are balancing marks? What do they index to?

The shop I used has been around a long time. I assume they know about them.

 

[555-RGNE]

don't discount rim balance affecting tire balancing. Many rims are cast which are not consistent in nature.

I can see that to a point, but my stock Goodyears didn't require a metric crap ton of weights to get the balance right and they were smooth as glass. As soon as I saw the amount needed for my KO2s I was shocked.

 

[BossMann]

If a rim is off balance in the same area a tire is and they align it could cause an exacerbated balancing issue.

I've never balanced a tire before so really just thinking of contributing factors.

 

[rizion]

Running 35” on my JL. Can’t get them balanced in the traditional way. Going to road force next I guess. Won’t buy them again for sure.

 

[BigFootie]

It's a fairly well known issue. I know it sounds weird as other have said but it is a fact and not something from 10 years ago. My son finally got his to quit changing on his FJ but it took a lot of miles.

 

[555-RGNE]

Balancing marks? There are balancing marks? What do they index to?

The shop I used has been around a long time. I assume they know about them.

The colored dots on the outside of a tire denote light areas and they're usually lined up with the valve stem because of the extra weight in that part of the rim.

My Discount said they tried indexing the tire a couple of different times and still couldn't get it any better than they did.

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