US REJOICE: T/A KO2 in 225-65-17!

MiddleAgeSubie

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Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Messages
990
Location
AZ
Car Year
2018 / 2008
Car Model
4Runner / Tribeca
Transmission
5EAT
I cannot believe my eyes:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

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It is hard to overstate this development for all IV generation H6 owners who are really are interested in the off-pavement. Also terrific for V generation owners who want to keep stock diameter.

This is a game changer. For example, no need to try to find 16" rally wheels that happen to fit over giant brakes...
 
Any idea what people are running for pressure in these? I just had a set installed this morning and am going to be playing around with pressure to see what works best on road. Not having to repeat what others have gone through though would be fantastic.
 
I mostly do town and beach driving so I can't comment on dirt so much but I run my BFG T/A KO 215/70r16's at
35 psi on Road.
20 psi on hard sand up to 80kms/hr.
15 psi is good for soft inland tracks but not over about 40kms/hr.
Over x'mas I dropped them to 10psi to snatch a bogged Patrol in very deep soft sand and obviously only drove fast and far enough to effect the recovery.

If side wall damage on dirt is a concern then 25 psi would be a reasonable compromise.

If fully loaded on the way to a camp I will run an additional 3 or 4 psi in the rear.

All this variation is made easy with a quick tire deflator and an ARB compressor mounted under the bonnet. I have an air coupling in the bullbar and an airline stored under my seat for easy adjustments.

BFGoodrich are just awesome when deflated properly !
 
These are very good tires with only one negative that I can find and that is the weight. They are about 10 lbs/4.5kg heavier than the stock tires, so about 7 lb/3kg more than the Cooper AT-3 or the Yokohama AT/S.
Other than that these are fantastic. M/S extreme weather (mountain and snowflake symbol) rated, triple sidewall for extra durability, pretty good on the asphalt/bitumen.
They do have a little more road noise than street tires, but that's to be expected and it's not bad.

These are about the largest diameter tires that will fit an SJ Forester. Any larger and the tire would be rubbing the springs in the front.
 
It's like buying a battery, if you've got two the same size the heavier one is going to have more of the good stuff in it.
 
I run mine at 40psi on the road and haven't needed to air them down yet for the few beach drives I've done due to the hard sand.

IMHO the added weight in the tyre helps to keep it planted to the road surface and allow the tyre wall and tread to operate and flex as needed
 
After 2,600 miles on the TA KO2 (as a dedicated set of trip-only tires) of which only 180 unpaved (mostly frozen ground covered by light snow, a few miles of light mud), I am very impressed.

That the tires did great on such Subaru-friendly terrain is not the point. The surprise is just how good they have been on pavement. Cornering is FAR superior to that of Geolander AT-S tires and it seems to me at par with good all seasons (not high performance all seasons) and performance overall seems better as well. It is very good on highway and even better than just livable around town, the extra weight notwithstanding. Noise--about the same? The ride quality is worse, but that is a minor gripe for a great improvement ON ROAD! Again, very impressive.

I have now run 43/41, 37/37, and 40/40 for several hundred miles each. Obviously, 37/37 felt best ride-wide, but I might stick with 40/40 as others have found even and excellent wear with psi in the low 40s.

I can now well understand why everyone with TA KO (even the older ones) I have talked to raves about them!
 
Robbks said:
I run mine at 40psi on the road and haven't needed to air them down yet for the few beach drives I've done due to the hard sand.

IMHO the added weight in the tyre helps to keep it planted to the road surface and allow the tyre wall and tread to operate and flex as needed
Click to expand...

"Planted," yes, that is exactly what I was thinking when I first took them out of town.
 
Robbks said:
I run mine at 40psi on the road and haven't needed to air them down yet for the few beach drives I've done due to the hard sand.

IMHO the added weight in the tyre helps to keep it planted to the road surface and allow the tyre wall and tread to operate and flex as needed
Click to expand...

Why would you buy the best all terrain tire money can buy and not air them down? The side wall and tread aren't going to be doing any flexing at 40psi !
 
I agree with the comments about On Road grip aswell, mine are excellent.

at 40PSi they still flex plenty, i'll grab a photo shortly.
the majority of my "offroad" driving is gravel tracks where you don;t really want the sidewalls rubbing along the road risking being cut by sharp rocks.

bagging them out is really only needed on very deep very soft sand,
if the sand is soft on top but hard underneath, allowing the tyre to cut through the layer of soft stuff provides plenty of traction
 
I have only aired down to 20 once, in sand that was not as deep as I thought it would be (I knew it would not require really low pressures). I do not usually deal with soft sand. The three sets of P-metric AT tires I have used to date did just fine at 32/30 or 28/28 for longer, rougher, rocky roads.

Now, the KO2 I ran at 35/35 over 160 unpaved miles and then at 40/40 over 20 lightly muddy miles. The latter included a somewhat steep descent where I was on the verge of airing down. But as it proved not be really muddy, I proceeded at 40/40.

That said, I also drove the first third of a mile of a tougher trail over muddy clay soils. Since the trail quickly descends, I simply executed a 180; I knew from the weather it was a likely no-go, but just wanted to test the ground. The car was a sled over that barely over half a mile combined. 35/35 was definitely too much and clay soils have a reputation for a reason! I spent a boatload of quarters on a wash just to clean the undercarriage and wheels/tires.
 
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