KO2s or is the Bronco

[Beggsie]

Originally posted in what did you do with your Bronco today.

Nearly crapped pants in it and wrecked it. Saved it.
Applied a little gas on a left banked wet turn merging onto an highway. Immediately kicked the back end right and closed to swapping ends. Lifted foot and steered into direction rear end was going. 3 yo KO2s 17k miles. 2nd time. Is it the tires or something about the Bronco/traction control?

Most of this is caused due to the high torque of the ecoboost engines which have a lot of power when stabbing the throttle. On wet conditions especially around corners be easy with throttle.

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[Burndup429]

Here’s what I learned with my two door, from two near-miss incidents where I had to swerve hard right on dry pavement, both north of 70mph. (I’m learning to chill.) Mine has the General Grabbers, a much softer (and quieter) tire than the K02.

When you swerve/corner hard, you’re loaded the suspension on that side, while simultaneously causing body roll to that side.

Don’t yank it back straight, hopefully you have room. It’s gonna need to keep going right (in my instances) until the suspension unloads and body roll dissipates.

I’m of the strong opinion that had I been forced to yank the vehicle back into my original lane, things would have gotten squirrelly fast in a bad way.

 

[jensht]

When I got my second Ranger Raptor it had KO2s on it, first raptor had General Grabber AT3. I don't think I had any vehicle previously that would want to drift so eagerly as that Raptor on KO2s in the wet. After I swapped the AT3s on it, I actually could trust the rear end to not randomly step out in the rain.

 

[3People1Body]

I've been running BFG TA KO[2]'s for 26 years, never had an issue with them in wet, other than a few hydroplanes with KO's. Most of the driving was with F150's... I have around 22k miles on my current 37 KO2's (Wildtrak).

I take wet turns at normal speeds and haven't had any issues (slips), but I run in 4A most all the time.

I think nearly 2,000 surveys speak volumes, and it's reflective of my thoughts on the tires...

I love all USA made tires, I just haven't been let down by BFG yet, so I keep buying them.

 

[not on the rug]

I've been running BFG TA KO[2]'s for 26 years, never had an issue with them in wet, other than a few hydroplanes with KO's. Most of the driving was with F150's... I have around 22k miles on my current 37 KO2's (Wildtrak).

I take wet turns at normal speeds and haven't had any issues (slips), but I run in 4A most all the time.

I think nearly 2,000 surveys speak volumes, and it's reflective of my thoughts on the tires...

I love all USA made tires, I just haven't been let down by BFG yet, so I keep buying them.

If you look at all the tire rack data, the KO2 does worse than the others in all of the wet testing, except I think the Hankook Dynapros. If you look around at other testing reviews you see the same thing. The toyo, cooper, firestone, general, yokohama all do better in the wet road performance categories.

My opinion: I've owned and driven trucks and SUVs with all of the above AT tires and the K02 is the absolute worst on wet roads. It's ok on dry roads, but sketchy over 75mph. Does fantastic on light trails.

My experiences with K02s have been in a F150, a Tundra and in a Blazer. Best is a close one...either the Cooper or the Toyo At3. I hear the K03 is a drastic improvement in wet traction. When the time comes for fresh shoes, I'm considering them as well as the Toyo At3.

 

[Area51BS]

Went out for another test today as it is raining. These tires suck with any throttle other than feathering it. You do not want the turbo to kick in. 4A helped tremendously.

 

[swamp2]

Very interesting how divided we are on K02 in the wet. What is causing this? Driving style? A more broad or narrow exposure to different tires? Vehicle specific issues?

 

[jensht]

Very interesting how divided we are on K02 in the wet. What is causing this? Driving style? A more broad or narrow exposure to different tires? Vehicle specific issues?

Part of it might be that some folks have driven trucks all their life and just accept the status quo. Others might be coming from cars where the behavior of the KO2s just wouldn't be accepted. Also, some folks prefer hard tires that last forever, vs softer tires that need replacing more often. So many ways to drive, different vehicles, different values of what is good or bad.

For example, I would never claim that any AT tire is good in winter, compared to a winter tire they might as well be made of glass. But then there are tons of people that swear by them as winter tires and claim that winter tires aren't needed.

 

[2021FordBronco2]

High center of gravity is prone to being loose in corners. Made worse in slippery conditions.

3 yr old tires are starting to dry out regardless of tread compound. Meaning they're not as grippy as when they were new.

KO2s, after some wear, do tend to be a little more prone to slipping in wet conditions, which is unfortunate for an all-terrain tire. From what I hear, the KO3's may be better but not by much.

That performance is a big reason I switched to General Grabber AT2's (now ATx's). Softer compound, extremely similar tread pattern, lower cost, much better performance on wet surfaces, the same or slightly better on most other terrains/conditions. Shorter mileage life though, due to the softer compound.

I have a set of Grabber ATX's as well and very satisfied with these tires, very low slippage unless I try to make it loose traction.

 

[2021FordBronco2]

I’ve got a 1 inch lip on my garage floor at the apron to keep water out. I back mine into the garage (easier to get in/out of the drivers side). I had K03’s initially (285/65/18). When backing it, if even remotely damp, the could not pull the front wheels over that 1 inch lip without some momentum. The K03’s would just sit there and chirp on the surface. I had them for 1 month and switched them out for the SL BFG “Trail Terrain” tires instead (275/65/18). It can pull itself over that lip with no issues now.

That said, even with the T/Terrain, was coming around a clover leaf onto the highway, was damp, hit the gas a little too soon to get up merging speed, and that rear end started to slide out on me.

So to the OP: it’s both. It’s the K02’s, AND it’s the fact that there isn’t a lot of weight sitting on the rear end of the car.

Now, once you find where that breaking point is for your Bronco, it can be a little fun! Hey, just be thankful you’re allowed to have a vehicle that can fishtail these days in general!

Yep, I was surprised by how much the Bronco will slide with traction control on, makes it easy to have safe fun on an empty or dirt road without getting too crazy.

 

[Area51BS]

Going to try with traction control off and see how it responds. Wonder if economy mode would ease the jump in power when or prevent sudden increase in power by turbo coming in. I certainly don’t feel safe handing this over to a family member not ready for it.

 

[userdude]

Very interesting how divided we are on K02 in the wet. What is causing this? Driving style? A more broad or narrow exposure to different tires? Vehicle specific issues?

I would not be surprised if the makeup of the road in different places makes some difference. Most of the places I have issues are black top asphalt around North Texas. There are places I can say now where it spins out or hydroplanes (?), the former pretty much every time unless I slowly start from a stop. It's not a problem of "it ain't happening", but probably circumstances.

On tire wear, these tires have always done this, since they were new (about four years old now, ~35k miles).

This is the turn, the curve right where to the left of the Flowers text going straight to the right (Flowers is a private road for a bakery). Here it's the curve, not the turn. where I've almost spun around or slid into oncoming traffic:

This is the one that does it every time turning right onto I-35, my Bronco w/GY's and Maxxis Razr M/T's have never slipped here:

Note that this is for a short bed Chevy single cab pickup, not a Bronco.

 

[not on the rug]

Very interesting how divided we are on K02 in the wet. What is causing this? Driving style? A more broad or narrow exposure to different tires? Vehicle specific issues?

My dad, probably the most conservative, easy-going driver on the planet got talked into some KO2s a few years back. I tried to talk him out of them but he inststed. As soon as he drove in his first rainstorm a few weeks later, he hated them. He called me to apologize. Even feathering the gas and always driving well under the speed limit, he was shocked at how the road felt like ice.

The only way someone could defend that as being a good tire is if they've never driven them side by side with the cooper, toyo, falken, general, firestone or any other.

K02 guys always have the same story... I've driven them for 25+ years and they're great. Oh..what else have you had on your trucks? Nothing. Same story every time

 

[crzyhawk]

I tend to believe it's tire and driver more than anything else. I've seen a lot of complaints about KO2s in the rain. My 2dr feels fine in the rain with the stocker Duelers. It's a vast improvement over my 08 Mustang; in fact being tired of the Mustang's behavior at stoplights in light rain was a major factor in deciding to get the Bronco in the first place. Part of the Mustang's problem is tired suspension because it used to not get as sketchy as it does now. I have some issues with how my Bronco handles, but day to day driving in the rain isn't on the list. I've never felt a slight bit of hesitation to get in my Bronco in the rain.

That said, I don't have a heavy foot in the Bronco, and am not in boost all that often driving day to day. When I want to turn some RPMs and bang gears, I go flog the Mustang.

 

[KGRoberts]

I love the appearance of the KO2s.
But like driving on snot in the rain. Especially in Houston.

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