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Does anyone have BF Goodrich KO2 225/65R17? Need some help.

7K views 12 replies 11 participants last post by  Tyler-98-W68 
#1 ·
Where did you find the 225/65R17, and how are they working out for you?

I love my 17" rims but all I can find are the 215/70R16 and 215/75R15/C's. :(


K.
 
#5 ·
You can also get the size: 235/70/16 fit mine without lift, I did the pinch weld mod also and have 4.5" backspacing on my wheels.

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk
 
#7 ·
Most of the time, off road/ aggressive tires meant for going off road, don't come with a mileage warranty, as off roading a tire will shorten its life considerably vs only driving it on road only.

that being said, the K/O's had a reputation for a very decent tread life, my grandpa had several sets on his trucks and regularly got 50k+ miles out of them ( I think he even got 70k out of a set) and I don't think the K/O2s are going to be much different. The problem with them is cost, they are pretty expensive, but one of the few tire options in that size, so you kinda take what you can get.
 
#9 ·
Two months ago I put Goodrich LT225-65R17 T/A K02 tires on my 2011 Jeep Patriot 4x4 Sport. They replaced the stock Goodyear Wrangler SR/A P215-65R17, which were an excellent pavement tire (although I did have a steel belt separation on one).

SIZE: They are 38.50 inches in diameter, slightly larger than the 38.00 inches stock. They rub a bit, There is a thud-thud-thud noise when the steering is turned fully right and moving ahead. The inner back side lugs of the tire are rubbing against the inner back plastic wheelwell. There is no noise when backing up or when the steering is fully left, since the left tire has a tenth of an inch clearance. Above the tire there is 3/4" clearance between them and the front spring collars. The speedometer is affected a bit doing 104 kph when showing 100kph (according to GPS).

TOUGHER: 6-ply rating: 3 polyester, 2 steel, and 1 nylon. Better sidewalls. Good for sharp shale rock. Although still have to watch for sharp arrowhead type rocks getting stuck in the tread and drilling in. But they have rock ejection ridges between the tread lugs that should reduce that.

TRACTION: better grip on steep dirt and gravel hills. I can slowly go up steep hills in 4x4 where before I had to take a run at it. But don’t let them spin since they can rip big rocks out of the road. Better grip in mud and stream crossing. On the highway in heavy rain downpour, they still pulled left/right when going through sheets of water, but didn't hydroplane.

HANDLING: the sidewalls flex more, so there is more wandering left/right on the highway. Especially in a sidewind or where the camber of the road flattens out at merge lanes.

NOISY: They give a loud drone on the highway, I have to turn up my music.

AWFUL GAS MILAGE: Highway I'm using 33% more gas, I went from 7.1 L/100km to 9.5 L/100km [33mpg dropping to 25mpg in US gallons]. And lost horsepower: the engine put out 30HP before to do 100kph (62mph); now it takes 38HP to do 100kph. The tires have lots of drag running at the Jeeps 35psi placard spec. The rep at BF Goodrich recommended I use 45psi (she looked up the weight loading per tire for that size: At the truck scale I measured 1035 lb/tire front, 890 lb/tire back ). I tried 42psi but it was the same, still 9.5 L/100km. And now it bounces more on washboard and potholes.

SMELL: This rubber tire compound still has a strong solvent smell a couple of months later.

ROCK THROWING: there are rock ejection ridges between the tread, so on gravel roads, you hear lots of clatter in the wheelwells from gravel being thrown out. Sometimes you see rocks thrown ahead of you, noticeable at night in the headlights. My buddies better stay back or get their windshields wacked. Slow down when passing people.
 
#11 ·
You will always lose mileage when you upgrade to a larger (and usually heavier tire) Unprung weight which is what tires are can have a great impact on handling and fuel economy.
1. There is more rolling resistance (all terrain tread pattern)
2. Weight, those tires weigh 39lbs, the factory tires weighed 28lbs. 11lbs more mass to turn is going to make the engine work harder. It will take more HP from the engine to turn the tires.

They are great tires however they are heavy. I lose MPG on my Cherokee that has a V6 and its because I run larger than factory tires.

A brand of All Terrain tires to try would be Falken Wildpeak AT3/W I have them on Both Cherokee's and they come in P size (in addition to LT) so they don't weigh as much as other AT tires.

My 245/70/17 tires I run on my Cherokee weight 40lbs, and they are much bigger than your 225/65/17 but your tires only weigh 1lb less.

Any more questions I'd be glad to help I've only ran about 12 different sets of tires on my jeeps in the last 10 years or so =)
 
#10 ·
A review of your review

First off, welcome to the site. Please hop over to the newbie thread and let us know you're here!

Secondly, my compliments on a very comprehensive review. You're a lot more informative than the "professional" reviews that often mince their words and leave the reader wondering what they really thought or just stroke the manufacturer for the sake of their advertising revenue. Nicely balanced pros & cons.

Finally, I know tires can affect fuel economy but you seem to have a dramatic drop. Are you sure there's not something else going on? Check your math! Remember to factor in the increase in tire size: your odometer is under-reporting your miles traveled because it is only measuring tire rotation, not the actual distance your vehicle has traveled.

Its beyond me how tires can affect horsepower -- that comes from the engine -- though the increased circumference does essentially increase your transmission ratio and diminish the power actually getting to the pavement, but that should be very slight.

I'm running slightly larger tires than yours (and 4% larger than OEM) and figuring in my increased tire size there is no change in my fuel economy.
 
#13 ·
Exactly, I"ve personally owned
Cooper AT3
Wrangler Territory (Two sets)
Firestone Destination AT
Falken Wildpeak AT3/W

I run the KO2's on my work truck and I don't mind them, BUT its a bit truck weight of tires isn't an issue. Even on the Cherokee boards I'm on the defacto answer is "get KO2's" They are good magnitude more expensive than the falkens I run.

On my Compass the sweet spot was 15" wheels and tires, I ran 235/75/15, while the tires we 36lbs (sotck is 28lbs) they were the lightest and most aggressive tires, The 15" wheels also weighed less than the factory wheels
 
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