BF GOODRICH KO2
Is this the most aggressive all-terrain tyre in the world?
THEY SAY if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. This probably explains why the legendary BF Goodrich All-terrain T/A KO tyre has more or less stayed the same since it first made its 1977 debut in the crazy off-road events held around Baja, Mexico. In fact, it has won 26 out of the 27 Baja 1000 events. It’s fair to say that this tyre can more than hold its own on all types of terrain.
Will the just-launched BF Goodrich AllTerrain T/A KO2 tyres also conquer all before them? I went to the Landrauvergne event in France to find out. At the initial business briefing they threw a whole lot of stats at us in an effort to convince us the KO2 was better than the KO. BF Goodrich claim the following with the KO2: the sidewall is 20% stronger; there is a 100% increase in its life cycle on gravel and 15% on tar; the tyre will give you 10% more grip on tar and 19% more on snow. Now those are stats not to be scoffed at especially if you are going to be extreme off-roading in your Land Rover.
How have they achieved these impressive statistics? Well, the sidewall is stronger because they are using the same Coregardtm technology found in the Baja T/A KR2 tyre. In their testing they repeatedly smashed the sidewall with what looked like a sledgehammer and then drove over some rather large blades. Hopefully we would be doing the same.
To decrease wear and tear they have used a new compound and changed the tread design, this time opting for a self-locking pattern. The fact that the tyre is going to last longer on gravel and tar is a massive selling point to those planning long expeditions.
When I still lived in Africa this was the tour operators tyre of choice. That certainly says something as the tar roads in Africa can be like a rocky mountain pass in Europe.
For off-roaders the most pleasing aspect will be the increase in traction. This was achieved by raising the tread on the shoulder, helping to eject or remove mud while also preventing traction loss on soft ground. The bars on the sidewall have been sharpened to help grip on tricky surfaces. Lastly the massive side biter lugs will do exactly what the name says, especially when slightly deflated as they will increase the aggressive tread and thus give more traction.
The true test was in the driving around the tracks of the biggest Land Rover show in France. They were all natural tracks but provided the tyres with a rather stiff challenge. We got to drive over several terrain types except snow and sand. I was in a Td5 Discovery 2 with several off-road modifications and behind me in the convoy were several new Defenders.
On some of the slippy and steep inclines I put both feet on the ground so that I could crawl along slowly. I wanted to see if I could make the tyre lose traction. I failed in this quest despite the fact that we were running the tyres at road pressures. So maybe there was some truth in their claim of extra traction. As we took a 5 km tar road transit from the one off-road area to the next, I opened my window and was surprised at how quiet they were. They might look like a mud tyres, but they certainly don’t sound like them. The personal highlight for me was the long rocky track test. There were rocks of every shape, size and description. I drove straight over the big ones and tried to puncture the sidewalls with the sharp rocks. Once the time came to change drivers I hopped out to see if there were any nicks or signs of damage. Astonishingly there were none. The final test was an emergency stop on a gravel track. No scares or close shaves to report. It all felt under control. In an ideal world we should’ve done some snow or wet skidpan testing but this was not practically possible. The testing we did do, was pretty impressive though. I have done many an offroad mile on a BF Goodrich tyre and never been disappointed. Incredibly, they have somehow managed to raise the bar.
If you’re unsure, you only need to watch some footage of the Baja 1000 to see why this is such a highly-rated all-terrain tyre.