K02 tires with zero grip, despite tread remaining.

[Techun]

Has anyone else ran into this? I have about 15k on a set of of k02 tires and if you look at them you can hardly tell, tread depth is still remarkable.

However, what is also remarkable is their grip, especially in the wet. It's just nothing, they let go just during a casual 1-2 shift when trying to drive normally. If you give it decent throttle from a stop, they're guaranteed to spin.

It was especially bad last night in light drizzle. I noted the PSI was 35, figured someone would ask.

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[not on the rug]

KO2s are notoriously bad on wet roads. I've never seen a review that says otherwise. One of the worst performing ATs on wet roads actually

 

[Bigmoose]

This is par for the course for KO2 tires. I have had a few sets and always saw the same. My current ones on my Raptor have 17k miles and are absolutely terrible in the rain.

 

[HotdogThud]

Thirded. K02's are some of the best off road tires ever made, with really good on-road behavior as well.

That being said, they are *comically* bad when a single drop of water is applied. I've had track slicks that were better when wet than K02's

 

[Techun]

Ok. I'll keep on.

I can't imagine living through these with an empty bed 2wd pickup truck lol

 

[Mdsuits]

Wet is the ko2 Kyptonite.

 

[javelina]

agreed, had them on my JL, bad for wet. On my TJ, similar. Fortunately in AZ, we never see rain.
But for off roading, they're great. For all around tooling on the road, they're great too!

 

[615_Bronco]

Slick in the wet and terrible in wet clay when I had them on my TJ

 

[Zeaks]

I’ve only bought KO2s when replacing tires since probably 2001 and currently have them on a 2019 Expedition. I’ve never had an issue on wet roads, maybe I don’t drive aggressive enough. Not saying others experiences are bogus but I’ve just never had an issue. They’ve done well for me in any situation I’ve been in. I might replace my Goodyears with KO2s or KO3s when the time comes.

A friend and I were parked in a muddy field once and when it was time to go I watched him rock back and forth in a dually Chevy with 35” Toyo mud terrains for a bit and then dropped my Ram 1500 with 285/70/17s in drive hit 4,000 rpms and I was off. If you’re going to be in mud you definitely need rpms to clean them out.

 

[ScLeCo]

I also have never had a problem with my K02's in the rain. For me they've been fantastic in the rain. I have a lot more weight on mine than most though maybe that makes the difference.

 

[SeptuagenarianSasquatch]

I have a set of K02s, bought and paid for and in my basement which I'll probably mount this summer. (I've just passed 50K on the OEM Goodyears, plenty of rubber left! On a Badlands 4DR Squatch.)

From the above remarks about wet, can I conclude that the K02s will perform poorly in snow?

Every central New England winter since I bought my 22 has been mere slush, no serious snow, which disappointed me, because the Goodyears are supposed to excel in snow, never got the chance! With my luck, we'll get hit with blizzards starting with Thanksgiving.

But what's he verdict for K02s in snow?

 

[Techun]

I have a set of K02s, bought and paid for and in my basement which I'll probably mount this summer. (I've just passed 50K on the OEM Goodyears, plenty of rubber left! On a Badlands 4DR Squatch.)

From the above remarks about wet, can I conclude that the K02s will perform poorly in snow?

Every central New England winter since I bought my 22 has been mere slush, no serious snow, which disappointed me, because the Goodyears are supposed to excel in snow, never got the chance! With my luck, we'll get hit with blizzards starting with Thanksgiving.

But what's he verdict for K02s in snow?

I wasn't impressed with them in snow, but they weren't bad either.

They are great in the dry and doing actual off-road stuff.

 

[BroncoChallenger]

Having had KO2's in the past, and directly replacing them with Grabber General AT2's (now ATx's I think, AT2's are out of production AFAIK)...unless you have a lot of weight on the KO2's, they suck in the rain. The tread compound is actually pretty hard for an AT tire, which makes them sturdy and long-wearing, and more resistant to abrasions and failures off-road. And they are decent in the snow, and do a great job of self-clearing in mud (not sure about HEAVY mud though). But unless you're aired down, they slip easily in the rain or any wet surface so far as I noticed.

The Grabbers, with a nearly identical tread pattern, have a much softer tread compound. This means they don't last as long (I got 60k out of a set of KO2's, and on the same vehicle got 45k out of a set of AT2's), but their traction all around was greatly improved, even aired up. I don't think I've ever had a set of Grabbers spin on me unless I had zero weight on one of them with an open diff. I did lose about 1/2 mpg going to the Grabbers.

So if you like the look of the KO2s but want better traction, I highly recommend the Grabbers. I've had them on a lot of different vehicles (SUVs and Trucks) and loved them.

 

[Roger123]

I haven’t had any issues with mine and am 34k but I do do have the 4A button which gets used in the rain.

 

[AZ_Craig]

From the above remarks about wet, can I conclude that the K02s will perform poorly in snow?

Every central New England winter since I bought my 22 has been mere slush, no serious snow, which disappointed me, because the Goodyears are supposed to excel in snow, never got the chance! With my luck, we'll get hit with blizzards starting with Thanksgiving.

But what's he verdict for K02s in snow?

I woudln't assume that. I had mine in some pretty gnarly road conditions in Montana and Idaho during a storm this year while both skiing at Big Sky and then working my way back down to I15 out of the higher country up there.

Tractor trailers were blowing off the road into snow banks with near blizzard conditions.

I felt pretty planted and was able to maintain decent speed (like 40+ mph) without feeling like I was really pushing things.

I haven't found them to be great in the wet, but not terrible either. I know folks have said the last 50% of tread tends to be harder on them though and I don't think I've quite gotten there yet (around 12/32" at just under 15K miles).

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