Check this tire

[Robertmangrum.rm]

It's so rocky up here it's intense. It's not uncommon to need to drill 500+ feet before your well fills up with water. The well at my parents is "only" 450' deep.. but took the company most of 3 days to get through that much ledge.. they were about ready to start over in a different part of the yard right before they hit water. Apparently.. once they finally found success the water shot out of the well Like a fountain for a few more days, my father was getting excited that he was gonna end up with a little pond he could stock with fish.. but the topsoil drains so good his pond dried up pretty quickly.


It's all caused by glaciers way back in the day.

Here where I live everything sits on a limestone bed. Makes all the water stay. Ponds are common and self made by natural springs and stuff. That makes everything like a big bowl of soupy mud that never dries out. There are mud holes that stay that way trough droughts. The springs also run down the rocks and the warm springs and summers help the algae grow so they stay green and slick.

 

[sgtsandman]

I have several riding buddies that run the KM3s. They all love them. I've never asked on tread life but no news is usually good news haha. I had the KO2s in the past and they lasted great and were quiet for a AT on highway. They did how ever struggle a little in deep mud. Did they get me stuck? No but had to use a lot more skinny pedal than others on MTs. Which just ruts out things worse for the next person. Some of the newer ATs have been running a deeper tread with larger style lugs on them for more mud grip. The group I ride with are big fans of the Maxxis RZR tires. The AT has really large deep tread and I've seen them perform really well in all conditions. Now the MTs did seem to do a little better through the soupy stuff bit neither seemed to struggle. I'm building my truck as more of a overland build than them so I will probably go with a AT with my next tire. I've found the capabilities of the Grey Squirrel so now I'll give it a break from the rougher stuff haha before it gives me a break that I have to pay for haha.

The plan is to have the KM3s on a separate set of rims. I’ve seen enough people have things go sideways running MTs in the snow and ice. I just need to get some replacement rims for of the steelies I have in the shed. Three of the five are so severely rusted, they don’t hold air properly and were catching on the hardware of the front brakes. Steel rims are better for off road anyway.

A steel rim gets damaged, it’s cheaper to replace and you can beat a steel rim back into usable condition to limp home. Aluminum, you are S.O.L. You try to beat those back into shape and they will crack or break a chunk off.

 

[00t444e]

Here in Tennessee you need a mud tire. I've already pulled 3 trucks I ride with out on ATs. It slick rocky and muddy here. My MTs have performed great in the snow. Granted we only got about 6 inches tops. I've never wheeled out west so can't give a good accessment of performance out there. But est coast wheeling you need a MT. Yes yes it will wear quicker and be louder on the highway. But if your gonna do serious exploring in TN or east coast you need MTs. If your gonna be driving mainly dirt roads and forest service roads and such ATs may be a better fit. Really depends on how far you push the truck.

Same here, unless it is dry and hasn't rained for a few weeks which isn't often an AT tire won't get you very far off road, you need an MT for sure. I have seen trucks with AT tires get stuck literally as soon as they leave the pavement or gravel road.

 

[Robertmangrum.rm]

The plan is to have the KM3s on a separate set of rims. I’ve seen enough people have things go sideways running MTs in the snow and ice. I just need to get some replacement rims for of the steelies I have in the shed. Three of the five are so severely rusted, they don’t hold air properly and were catching on the hardware of the front brakes. Steel rims are better for off road anyway.

A steel rim gets damaged, it’s cheaper to replace and you can beat a steel rim back into usable condition to limp home. Aluminum, you are S.O.L. You try to beat those back into shape and they will crack or break a chunk off.

I have been watching market place for some new Bronco 17 in black steelies at a decent price myself. Everyone still has tires on them wanting way too much around here. I figure the price with come down soon enough.

 

[sgtsandman]

I have been watching market place for some new Bronco 17 in black steelies at a decent price myself. Everyone still has tires on them wanting way too much around here. I figure the price with come down soon enough.

For the 2019, I went with the same rim my spare was originally mounted on. They were cheaper and easier to find than the silver 16” steel rims used on the base XL. Those are black and might be worth a look. It all depends on what you are looking for. I think I had to go through the dealership for the center caps.

Things might be better and more accessible now than in 2019-2020 when I got the rims for the winter tires.

 

[James Morse]

I'm pretty much settled on KO2's or maybe General Grabbers which are marginally cheaper.
They can do bead balancing but they said it's actually more like a powder. He said it settles out the balance after you drive about 100 miles. I asked him do other people do it and he said usually if they have nice rims and don't want to mess them up.
I don't know if you can rebalance with weights if there was a problem. I don't really understand how the bead balancing works. He says it's a bag of about 4 oz they throw it in there, the bag disintegrates and the stuff somehow balances the tire.
I asked about date codes and he said a year is about the limit, 2 years would not be saleable to a customer, if they are old they send them back and if they come again bad date they just reorder until they get good but usually they are good. KO2's made in US, Generals, I dunno.
I'd probably mount the blackwall side, I know OEM spec is the OWL but I think plain black is cooler. Like he said the OWL is just if guys want to show off, they have this kind of tire.
These are not the cheapest guys, for KO2's about 1250 with tax, Generals closer to 1100. He did actually bring up Generals as a viable alternative and I see it's been mentioned in this thead.
So that's where I am with that. Oh, he said KO2's I can get in 31x10.5R15 but I can also get them in 265/75R15 which is -the spec- for my truck. Not much difference between the two, but since I can get the OEM size I'm thinking that might be the way to go then I have zero question will there be any rubbing or anything at all weird. Granted I could run the 31" and just about for sure have no problems because people do it. I'll recheck the widths/heights and see if 31" would really gain me much of anything in height. Wider to me does look better but again how much difference is it, not much.
I got about 7 weeks before inspection and the Coopers on there are pretty much shot, might pass inspection, but marginal plus they are 29" and I want the truck back oem size tire (or bigger maybe at some point but not now, that's a whole other issue).
It's kind of a ton of money but let's say I go to Walmart and start asking about date codes I don't think I'm going to get very far. I've had some bad experiences trying to save the last dollar and tires are really important.

 

[sgtsandman]

I think you’ll be happy with either tire. As far as balancing, I’ve always used the standard wheel weights and never had a problem. Some people don’t like the look. I’m more worried about whether they work rather than how they look.

 

[James Morse]

Ideally they look -and- work well... I got a while to think about it. For me I guess having never tried it I'm curious. But yeah, it's gotta perform correctly.

 

[sgtsandman]

Ideally they look -and- work well... I got a while to think about it. For me I guess having never tried it I'm curious. But yeah, it's gotta perform correctly.

BTW, I’m with you on the black walls rather than the raised white letters. Less to clean and I’m not out to attract attention. If it was a show vehicle, I might see it differently but for a daily driver, black walls are fine.

 

[James Morse]

fits "nothing to see here" philosophy, too