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Another tire discussion - snow/wet road performance

phatboy64

phatboy64

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I have ran BFG KO/KO2's (33's and 35's) on RAM trucks since 2004 and have had great luck with them. I ordered new wheels and tires for my 2023 3500 CC SRW Limited, BFG were out of stock so I went with Nitto Ridge Grapplers, lots of good reviews but....after researching more it appears they may not be so good on snow/wet roads, I should have done the research before but it is not too late. So here is my situation and questions.

I spend 6 months out of the year in New England during the winter so depending on the weather I can spend time driving on snow covered roads (highway and back roads) so snow performance is important to me. I also spend time driving between NE and NC so I can get caught up in heavy rain storms, so wet road traction is also important. Other then Sand beaches and some gravel roads I don't go "off roading".
I will be mounting 37x12.5x20 on Fuel Assaults with a 20 offset. I want to buy the wheels and tires from the same place to avoid any finger pointing if there are balance issues.

I have narrowed it down to 4

  1. Nitto Ridge Grapplers - I have these on order but can back out and change if needed.
  2. Nitto Recons - From what I have read they seem like they have a leg up on the Ridge Grapplers in terms of wet/snow traction.
  3. Falken Wildpeaks AT3W - This was suggested to me by one of the dealers who were out of BFG's but said they are great wet/snow traction tires.
  4. BFG KO2 - I like them but I heard that the larger sizes (37") can have balancing issues. not sure if that is true.

I am looking for feedback from folks that have experience with the first three options above specifically with wet/snow performance. Also any real world experience with the BFG KO2 in the 37x12.5X20 with balancing. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
 
Everyone raves about the Falkens. If you are prioritizing snow performance thats the route I would go.

I have KM3s on my truck right now so not apples to apples but they were a pain in the a$$ to balance and still aren't perfect. They have performed well in the snow (I live in Lake Tahoe) but I will not buy them again. A lot of others that have run KO2s on these 4.5 gen trucks have mentioned really poor tread wear and life. I would steer clear of the KO2s.

I dont have any experience with any of the Nittos but the other tire I would add to your list is the Mikey Thompson Baja Boss AT. Its 3 peak rated in 37x12.50r20. My brother has them on his 2022 Power Wagon and his truck has been unstoppable in the winter this year. He only has 5k miles on them but wear thus far is really solid.
 
tchur1 said:
I dont have any experience with any of the Nittos but the other tire I would add to your list is the Mikey Thompson Baja Boss AT. Its 3 peak rated in 37x12.50r20. My brother has them on his 2022 Power Wagon and his truck has been unstoppable in the winter this year. He only has 5k miles on them but wear thus far is really solid.
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I don’t doubt you at all, but I find it amusing a tire called “Baja” is good in the snow.
 
jsalbre said:
I don’t doubt you at all, but I find it amusing a tire called “Baja” is good in the snow.
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Haha that’s fair. It’s been an awesome tire. His truck outperforms mine in the winter right now by a mile because of those tires. Granted KM3s are a pretty poor choice to begin with but I’ve been impressed with the Mickey Thompson’s.
 
I have used the KO2s for years but 35s (by 15, on my 1980 K5 & 33sx17 on my F250SD) are the largest I've used. They are what has led me to continually use this tire for so many years.
I'm sure a set will end up on my 2023 eventually but I don't expect to keep the 20" wheels.
Sorry, I don't have any personal experience with 20s to offer.
 
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I live in New England and have been happy with the performance of the Falken AT3
 
When you go to larger tires, I'd say 35" plus, you want to use balance beads in the tires rather than the OG stick on weights. They are better at balancing large tires that are hard to balance. Been running them in 35's and 37's for years with no balance issues.

I have BFG KO2's in 35 on my PW. No issue so far. have had them off road and in a little bit of snow. I've got 30K on them and they still have not gotten down to the wear bars.

I'm moving up to the mountains above Reno and will at least run them this year. next year when the heavy snow hits, I'll see how they are, or go to a different tire.

I ran the Cooper Discover AT3's on my F250. Worked great in sand and wet roads and off road. never had them in the snow though. And they were a bit noisy on the roads.
 
Purchased the Toyo Open Country AT3 in the OEM size and have been on many trips to cottage country Ontario in significant amounts of snow and they perform very good, much smoother ride than the Firebombs as well. I will have to see how they wear when towing the 5th wheel this summer so the jury is still out.
 
Another vote for falkens. Mine have a very hard 90,000 KM on them (1/4 offroad) and they still have probably 60% tread left. Most notably, the siping on each block runs to the bottom of the block. Most tires do not and at a certain wear point the siping is gone.

I've pushed snow with the grill / hood with falkens on.
 
Another +1 for Falken Wildpeak AT3W. I’ve found they are very good in the snow; though still not “true” snow tire performance; and also very good offroad, quiet on the highway, and long life.
I’ve had KO2s and Duratracs and wasn’t that impressed with treadlife in either. The Duratracs were worse, and about halfway thru their treadlife they became very noisy and wet/snow grip diminished.

That said, I’m going to be looking at the Nokian Outpost AT for my next set of tires. They are new but seem to be getting good reviews. Maybe not quite as good offroad though.
 
Thanks for all the great feedback. Based on A LOT of online research, while I really liked the looks of the Nitto's (Ridge and Recon) the general concuss is they rate low on the snow/wet road performance. Like I mentioned, I can spend a lot of time on snow covered highways/backroads and I am not willing to compromise on that ability.
I have had good luck with the BFG's in a 35" but a few tire shops said they could not commit that they could get them completely balanced at 37" and that made me a little nervous about dropping that kind of money on a tire that may give me headaches. The Falken Wildpeak AT3W got top notch reviews online and by you folks and they were up to $50.00 less per tire then the BFG's.
So I made the switch and ordered the Falken's

This site is the best!
 
Excellent video, only a week or so old so many may not have seen it yet. Wished he had added a few other tire brands to the comparison but the main takeaway is choosing the best tire for YOU.
Compares TKO, Falken, Yoko AT tires.
 
44Dan44 said:
Excellent video, only a week or so old so many may not have seen it yet. Wished he had added a few other tire brands to the comparison but the main takeaway is choosing the best tire for YOU.
Compares TKO, Falken, Yoko AT tires.
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Great video, it reinforced my choice to go with the Wildpeak AT3W for its snow traction capabilities ….
 
I think you made the right choice, another New Englander here, put Falken's on in December. Plowed with them, went everywhere in storms, really impressive. Like mentioned early in the thread the Mickey Thompsons get really good snow ratings too, I chose the Falkens because I wanted quiet on the highway which they are.
 
Same, going with Falkens but the video gave me a much better impression of the KOs than I had previously. Use/case is the real deciding factor.
 
I have run KO2 on all my trucks. that said I have heard a lot folks complain about balancing issues. That is a concern for me and one of the reasons I am going with the Falce’s.
 
I had Wildpeaks on my 1500. They replaced the stock Goodyear's that were the worst tire I've ever run on anything. The Wildpeaks were awesome. They wore well, were quiet and never gave me any issues. At 55k they were slightly under half tread. My gripe was their snow performance. Maybe my expectations were too high but that truck was worthless in 2wd. They were better than the factory Goodyear's but that isn't saying much at all. Now my 2500 with transforce HTs climbed the same snow covered driveway with ease in 2wd. This has me thinking that Wildpeaks will not be my next tire.
 
kevin588127 said:
I had Wildpeaks on my 1500. They replaced the stock Goodyear's that were the worst tire I've ever run on anything. The Wildpeaks were awesome. They wore well, were quiet and never gave me any issues. At 55k they were slightly under half tread. My gripe was their snow performance. Maybe my expectations were too high but that truck was worthless in 2wd. They were better than the factory Goodyear's but that isn't saying much at all. Now my 2500 with transforce HTs climbed the same snow covered driveway with ease in 2wd. This has me thinking that Wildpeaks will not be my next tire.
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You think one of the absolute worst tires on the market, out performs one of the highest ranked tires on the market??

Interesting findings.
 
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