Anyone running 35 KM3's on a daily?

williambmac

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Anyone put mileage on a set of these as a d’s? How are they wearing? How are the road manners? I’m looking to replace my current tires do to wear. I have been looking at these.
I have read some online reviews claiming they wear incredibly fast.
 
I've put about 25k miles on mine in 3.5 years. I daily-drive mine in the warmer months. They are wearing very nicely - definitely not faster than average on a lighter rig like the TJ. They have awesome road manners in good weather. I don't drive mine in the rain so I really can't report on that. I concur with what @Jamesval035 reports, still quiet on the road after a few years. I'd recommended these as a daily driver.
 
I daily drove a set of 31” KM3’s. Probably got 20K out of them, if. They ride fairly well with proper pressure and I have no complaints about road handling. You do have to rotate them religiously every 3K and they will be loud and only get louder. Killer off-road though, got me out of some stuff the ATZ 3p’s never could.
 
Just put mine on, and have been Dana 44 axles and 4” Currie Springs a bout to go in all in the garage. (Rancho are 3.5” and sagging)

I’ve run this on Austin area highways the past month, and these are excellent. Other than inheriting tires on 2 Jeeps, I get BFG’s. They handle miles well, and off road well, and is too notch for me.

Only issue I’ve seen is when it rains (hasn’t in like 2 freaking months), when it first hits they are a touch slick from a stop.

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Thanks for the input. FWIW... I was installing a set of STT Pro's, but just like my 2 previous sets of Cooper brand tires, they all wanted a ton of weight.
The shop that was doing the install told me he stopped recommending Cooper/Mickey T tires due to the horrible imbalance issues that they have with them.
He said he usually has good luck balancing the BFG's. I have a set on order for this Saturday.
 
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Thanks for the input. FWIW... I was installing a set of STT Pro's, but just like my 2 previous sets of Cooper brand tires, they all wanted a ton of weight.
The shop that was doing the install told me he stopped recommending Cooper/Mickey T tires due to the horrible imbalance issues that they have with them.
He said he usually has good luck balancing the BFG's. I have a set on order for this Saturday.

From a quality standpoint, Rory of Trailmater fame speaks very highly of the KM3's.
 
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So I am out talking Texas HS Football (Yes, I am Buddy Garrett, Ha). So a few too many beers, but this is my first set of BFG Mud’s I ou ton I think 91 summer on my CJ in College. I’ve had 7 or 8 sets at lead on multiple vehicles, Mud and AT, and they are quality. Best, I don’t know, but they are in the running.

I buy BFG’s, NightForce Scopes and Remington 700’s? Just sayin, ha.
 
I recently switched from 35" MTR's to KM3's so I'm not really in a position to comment on tread wear. There are some things I really like relative to the MTRs. First, the ride is so much smoother and less jarring. KM3s have a nice ride. MTRs not so much. Second, the tread width is significantly narrower. I wasn't sure this was a plus until I realized the PS front tire no longer rubbed on the control arm--no spacer required. Third, I seem to be getting a few more miles per tank. Fourth, at this early stage, the KM3s are very quiet.

The only negative so far is that they are rock chuckers. They pick up gravel and then it hits the body.

I was resigned to get KO2s as probably my best tire choice but couldn't find any in the country. I'm happy with the KM3s which seems to me to be something of a hybrid mud terrain as opposed to a full med terrain.
 
Been running 35" km3's for about 6k km (DD) now and tread wear looks a little quick to me... But this is also my first m/t so I can't comment against other tires I have had. As of now they are quiet, great in the mud/rocks, and fine for wet roads, bring on the winter! In regards to your balancing comment, I brought the tires (brand new) to two shops, one said they couldn't do it, but had a set of 39" boggers that they were able to static balance... The next got it pretty good and only a slight shimmy with LOTS of weight, at some point I will probably bring them back and see about them dialing it in a bit more.
 
Thanks for the input. FWIW... I was installing a set of STT Pro's, but just like my 2 previous sets of Cooper brand tires, they all wanted a ton of weight.
The shop that was doing the install told me he stopped recommending Cooper/Mickey T tires due to the horrible imbalance issues that they have with them.
He said he usually has good luck balancing the BFG's. I have a set on order for this Saturday.

During the winter, it stays in the garage but from April to end of October, I drive it as much as possible. I had KM2s for years and switched to KM3s when I could no longer get the 2s. I know it's usually frowned upon here but I only put Dyna Beads in them. I have my own Acme (Coats) center post tire machine so I just mount them and put 10 ounces of Dyna Beads in them and I'm off. I do the same on my son's Jeep as well and he is using KM3s too. We can drive them up to 70mph without a issue. Other brands of tires, not so much.

As far as longevity? I'm not sure as I don't pay attention so much of the miles since it sits in the garage all winter. I just sell them when the tread gets low enough that I'm not having fun on the trail but they're fine for some mall crawler who's on a budget.

My 2¢.
 
I will say, as far as mud tires go, the KM3’s are fairly quiet. If you are used to Super Swampers, these things will seem silent. But for me DD’ing 200+miles a week A/T’s are the way to go. I never had any problems with street driving from them, they are sticky and cope well with water on the road. I had no problems with them in the snow (as little as we get in DFW). The only real downsides I had with them was the 3K rotation, weight, noise (more than an A/T, but bearable) and getting maybe 20K total for a $200 tire. They are killer off-road though and if you wheel every weekend, the trade off is probably there. Looks are a noticeable plus over a street bias A/T.

I’m probably headed for K02’s or ATZ P3’s for the daily, I’m interested to see what all M/T comes out with, seems like they are going through a re-vamp
 
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During the winter, it stays in the garage but from April to end of October, I drive it as much as possible. I had KM2s for years and switched to KM3s when I could no longer get the 2s. I know it's usually frowned upon here but I only put Dyna Beads in them. I have my own Acme (Coats) center post tire machine so I just mount them and put 10 ounces of Dyna Beads in them and I'm off. I do the same on my son's Jeep as well and he is using KM3s too. We can drive them up to 70mph without a issue. Other brands of tires, not so much.

As far as longevity? I'm not sure as I don't pay attention so much of the miles since it sits in the garage all winter. I just sell them when the tread gets low enough that I'm not having fun on the trail but they're fine for some mall crawler who's on a budget.

My 2¢.

What size tire are you putting the 10 oz in? Thinking of trying... However, when I go on trail runs I run 5+ hrs one way... Any cons to the beads?? I'm doing about 25k km a yr...
 
I will say, as far as mud tires go, the KM3’s are fairly quiet. If you are used to Super Swampers, these things will seem silent. But for me DD’ing 200+miles a week A/T’s are the way to go. I never had any problems with street driving from them, they are sticky and cope well with water on the road. I had no problems with them in the snow (as little as we get in DFW). The only real downsides I had with them was the 3K rotation, weight, noise (more than an A/T, but bearable) and getting maybe 20K total for a $200 tire. They are killer off-road though and if you wheel every weekend, the trade off is probably there. Looks are a noticeable plus over a street bias A/T.

I’m probably headed for K02’s or ATZ P3’s for the daily, I’m interested to see what all M/T comes out with, seems like they are going through a re-vamp

I've always run a M/T type of tire on my jeeps. I know a lot of people aren't fond of Super Swamper's, but I used to get 40-45k miles out of them, and they took nowhere near the weight my Cooper's took. I would have considered to Swamper's but $425.00 a tire is a little steep.
 
What do you mean by this?

I've only had three sets of tires on my TJR: 1) Mickey Thompson MTZ; 2) Goodyear MTR; and now 3) BFG KM3. The first two had big lugs that were well separated. The lugs pretty much went from edge to edge. Both tires would throw mud and snow like crazy but they also cleared the mud/snow pretty well from the lugs. The KM3 lugs are not as wide and are more closely spaced. They are more irregularly shaped. Some lugs have a vertical or horizontal "sipe" running through them. In addition, the lugs are almost "scalloped" at the edges rather than going fully from edge to edge which effectively narrows the contact patch--and likely their ability to throw mud everywhere (I hate mud and will hopefully never experience this).

That's why I think the BFG's might be considered hybrid mud terrains rather than full on mud terrains. Just my opinion--I'm not a tire expert.
 
...put 10 ounces of Dyna Beads in them and I'm off. I do the same on my son's Jeep as well and he is using KM3s too. We can drive them up to 70mph without a issue. Other brands of tires, not so much.

I gave the tire store 8 ozs of 0.25 gr airsoft pellets and 3 ozs of galvanized BBs per tire (11 ozs total--~1% of the tire weight) to balance my KM3s. I had so much trouble with the MTRs that I tried this and it worked so well. I have no balance issues on the KM3s at any speed that I care to drive at.
 
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I've only had three sets of tires on my TJR: 1) Mickey Thompson MTZ; 2) Goodyear MTR; and now 3) BFG KM3. The first two had big lugs that were well separated. The lugs pretty much went from edge to edge. Both tires would throw mud and snow like crazy but they also cleared the mud/snow pretty well from the lugs. The KM3 lugs are not as wide and are more closely spaced. They are more irregularly shaped. Some lugs have a vertical or horizontal "sipe" running through them. In addition, the lugs are almost "scalloped" at the edges rather than going fully from edge to edge which effectively narrows the contact patch--and likely their ability to throw mud everywhere (I hate mud and will hopefully never experience this).

That's why I think the BFG's might be considered hybrid mud terrains rather than full on mud terrains. Just my opinion--I'm not a tire expert.
Alot of the design cues you mentioned were in the name of road manners, tread life, and providing a balanced list of capabilities. The KM3 excels in a number of different conditions, not just mud. IMO though it's still VERY GOOD in mud. That's the cool thing about different tires, that they come in so many different designs.

I hadn't ever heard anyone refer to the KM3 as a mud hybrid tire so I wasn't sure what you meant by that. Just wanted to make sure you were confusing them with the hybrid style tires on the market - aka aggressive all-terrain tires like the Goodyear Duratrac. Which BTW is another excellent tire. 👌
 
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