Kenda Klever All-Terrains

I don't have any experience with the Nitto Ridge Grappler, heard a lot of good about them from members here on the Forum. Don't know about the sidewalls and ply rating. They are in the same price range as the KO 2's if I'm not mistaken.

 

Here's the problem with all online forums, youtube, magazine or any other anecdotal tire review.

There's no baseline for conditions, speed, driving style, etc. One person's "this tire was scary in the rain" is another person's "yeah it's great in the rain". Same tire, two different people. There's a really low, low signal to noise ratio.

Every tire is bad in the snow, and great in the snow.

Every tire is bad offroad, is good offroad.

About the only thing we sorta agree on is mud tires like a KM3 are gonna be dicey in the snow and rain on the road vs. an AT or a dedicated road tire.

The only really meaningful test I've seen is the people that compared stopping distance of actual snow tires vs all-terrains on their subaru. It was clear a dedicated snow tire beats that particular all-terrain in light snow on the road. Other than that, the rest of it seems to be just noise.

The Kenda's are probably fine, as are pretty much every other tire. Off-road, who knows, depends on how and where you drive off-road. Most 4x4's never leave a dirt road, so, none of it matters.

 

All that ranting aside, I like navel-gazing about tires. It's just the way I am.

 

I agree with much of that as far as varying opinions on standards of performance. As I have witnessed tires that were hailed as awesome in the snow, be very squirrely when installed on my vehicle (Goodyear Duratracs).

But, I had my Ram 1500 for about 4 years and ran 3 different types of off-road tires on the same trails and same conditions, so was able to do a pretty fair comparison between those 3 tires.

Cooper Discoverer ST/MAXX, AT3, and Milestar Patagonia MT. All three tires were the same 285 size and all LT rated. Only the Patagonias were siped.

Best tire all around? The ST/MAXX. Patagonia did great in the dirt, not bad on the street, and good in the snow. AT3 was the older model and not the new AT3 4S. The AT3s I had were great on the street, suprisingly good in the dirt, and mediocre in the snow. Off all three tires, when I parked in my driveway that was covered in ice and snow, the AT3s were the only tire that I had to usually shift into 4wd to get out.

I understand the AT3 4S tires are much, much better and I'm heavily considering them for my next set.

 

Yeah, I agree, having a chance to test your own vehicle with multiple sets of tires is going to give you meaningful data. I've done the same with the vehicles I've owned. I always end up with either KO's, or in the last decade Duratracs. I can totally see how on different vehicles, a given tire will behave differently.

 

The Duratracs were a total mystery as to why they were so mediocre in the snow when mounted on my 2005 Yukon. They were awesome everywhere else and a sexy tire.

 

Huh, I have no idea. I had them on a JK Wrangler Unlimited, went over Donner Pass at Tahoe many times. What do I know though, I grew up with muscle cars in high school. Cinder blocks in the trunk for extra traction in the snow. ;P To me, everything is better than that.

 

Yep. Drove this year round in Idaho when I was young and dumb...

 

Not sure if you made the purchase yet or not, but discount tire direct has a flash sale today and tomorrow. $110 off on a set of BFG KO2's

 

Brian,

Thank you for the info. I' haven't ordered them, will order them today. I purchased my 285's KO 2 's a while ago from Discount Tires on a sale and paid $900 for the set, all included.