Please post experiences with BFG (KM2) Kevlar or Goodyear MTR Kevlar

[Mighty.Mighty_XJ]

My Swampers are perfectly fine, they still have tons of tread & have never failed me offroad but I'm tired of having to swap to my BFG ATs for extended on-road driving that doesn't ruin my hearing. So I'm trying to decide between the 2 brands in my title, which I am being told are very quiet on the road, have great road handling and excellent in "bad" weather. I'm hoping that 1 set of either of these will replace both my BFG ATs & my Swampers so I can keep 1 set of tires instead of 2. I might even move up to 35s so I can run with the big boys! :laugh3:

So ... Has anyone run both of these?
Which is quieter on-road?
Which is "I'll-never-ever-run-any-other-tire" kick-ass offroad (on the rocks preferably)?
Tread wear: which is better?
What do you like/love about yours (state which you're running, please).

Help me decide!!

 

[EricsXJ]

I'll leave my opinion, but that's all it is. Take it or leave it, I don't care.

First of all, unless something has changed that I am not aware of, BFG is not using kevlar in the KM2.

My short opinion is:
The MTR is better than KM2 from what I have seen. I have not run both. I run MTRs and have for a very long time. I have seen some KM2 failures on the trails I run but not any MTR failures. I don't deny there are MTR failures, and fully acknowledge the kevlar ply does not make the sidewall indestructible. However, based on what I run and what I've seen the MTR is much better in the rocks.

My long(er) opinion:
In adding to what I've written above, I am on my 4th set of GY MT/Rs. The first three were the old school tread design and I had them in 31's, 33's, and 35's. The only reason I got rid of them was to upgrade. I did try 35" TRXUS M/T's from Interco but ended up switching back to Goodyear (that is when I went to 35's). I hated the TRXUS M/T's (I won't go into the why here because its not relevent to the discussion).

I am now on 37's and have the GY MT/R's new style. Let me just say I was a big fan of the old school MT/R's as they never let me down, and the new style has been even better. They offer better traction on the rocks than before and sidewall strength still appears to be great (they claim even stronger). My 37's run great on the highway even though I have never had them balanced and I am running heavy steel beadlocks. The key to keeping them running good like that is to rotate them often in order to maintain even wear.

Now.... even though I said I have never ran KM2's, I have plenty of experience with BFG's on my other vehicles. I ran the old-school T/A KO's on both my truck and our 2nd XJ (just 30" tires). For the most part they have been great tires and even though they are all-terrains, I have wheeled with guys who have put many miles of rocky trails under these tires and they were great for what they were. Last year I switched over to the KO2's for that XJ and I think they are a much better tire than the originals. I am due for new tires on the truck and I think I'll pass on the KO2's for that because I don't need that aggressive of a tire (its a tow rig / daily driver).

So basically I am a fan of the GY MT/R's and fan of the BFG KO2's (for general offroad use). I am not a fan of the KM2's due to the couple of failures I've seen and besides that they do run small. I put my money on the tires that have (so far) never let me down and that tire is the GY MT/R. My only complaint is that they don't make a 38" or 39" in 13.50 width and their 40" is only a load range C.

 

[EricsXJ]

Here's a good look at the MT/R while wheeling (my latest video). It might not prove anything, but I like it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJshw7Bxib4

 

[trippled]

I had km2s. They wore great, like 60k miles great, and beyond that, I hated them. I never felt like they had great traction in anything, and they would tear off in big chunks when off-road. I now run the same size in duratracs, and although it's not what your looking for, I have been super happy with. Excellent traction and pretty quiet.i would have gone with the MTR, but was feeling cheap. I had the previous style before, and if the new ones are as good as those, they'd be an excellent choice (the MTR)

 

[Jbh97009]

Supposedly they used a softer rubber in the new bfg km2's but I was never impressed
Kevlars (Goodyear mtr/k) way out performed the bfg's imo
I really think my bfg's were louder

Also, I never had an issue but I have a friend that very quickly started slicing his new bfg's, lots of local guys (including one of mine) here with good years and I haven't seen a sliced one yet

Sharp rocks your gonna slice almost any tire, especially radials, but for most wheeling I don't think you can beat Kevlars

 

[1-tonxj]

Having been on the trail in xj groups running km...krawlers Swampers and mt/r on same runs I'd say the krawler in street dot compound was a joke the others all have about the same amount of spies and grooves for biting edges and never outperformed each other my any noteworthy mention ...lol...but they all seem to get holes in their sidewalls despite all the tough claims of things like Kevlar technology ...lol...never had a bias swamper puke a sidewall in a tragic fashion that could not get off the trail with plugs .

Basicly get what you like and is nest deal between the km.or Kevlar you will not see any magic difference between them other than mtr really suck in off-road snow .

 

[89eliminator]

kevlars are the best tire i have run, hands down. i air them down to 8-10 psi and wheel in the rocks. any tire i need to buy from now on, will be an MTR.

 

[GordoSmasho]

I have two rigs with each of these tires. I will say the km2s are a decent tire offroad. There are much worse out there for much more money. On the street they are a bit noisy. In the rain they are crap on the streed. As well off road in the rain they are very slick.

Mtrks i dont have any experience in the rain. But off road the are very grippy both wet and dry. They are a fantastic tire.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

Im a huge fan of the MTRs, I have ran them on multiple rigs over the years. And I really love the Duratracs, I have them on a back up rig and they are great on the street, and awesome off road, for what they are. I would never run KM2s , I've seen a lot of KM2 sideway tears, that I just haven't seen on the MTRS.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

I ran MTR-k's for years on my XJ, even DD'ing it. They wear good, not loud, and are great offroad. I still have the set, and are about half tread but don't really wheel the XJ much so there are some AT's on it meow.
Souske used to run KM2's and now runs MTR-k's and he said it was night and day difference.

 

[D.I.T.A]

Going to hop on the MTR bandwagon , I haven't owned them but my friend has them on his ZJ in the 33 inch flavor and they have been nothing short of awesome . they've handled everything from rocks , daily driving , snow , sand , and some mud (try to avoid the stuff) and they have been great . Just keep up on your rotations and they will wear great . Never been a big fan of the KM2 and they've never really impressed me off road like that even though some people swear by them . Just my 2 cents

 

[moparmansfield]

I run 32" MTR Kevlars and have ridden in a zj with KM2s a few times. I also had the original km's on my jeep for about a month very recently. While I have every confidence in the kevlars, they are noticeably stiffer(and louder) than the km2's and the original kms. I remember forgetting to air back up after a day of wheeling and drove about 20 miles on 12 psi in the kevlars, and I hardly noticed a difference on the street. When I had the original kms (in great shape/low miles) on they felt SO much better on the street. Even at 35 psi they felt great. It's somewhat made me want to change over to softer tire, like the ko2 all terrains (in the 33x10.50 flavor). I don't mess around with rocks these days though, so my input is really towards someone wanting a comfortable daily that can still do okay off-road. If you're careful in the rocks and don't go all smasho on everything I think something other than the kevlars would do you well. But if you like to be aggressive in the rocks then definitely go for the kevlars.

 

[Mighty.Mighty_XJ]

Wow, thanks for all the helpful input guys. It seems that the MTR-K have the consensus here. I came very close to getting some KM2s this past week, but decided to wait first. Glad I did. I guess the best thing to improve my winter & wet on-road manners as far as traction goes, will be to rid myself of the Aussie in the rear & get a selectable like I was planning anyway. I'm still fuzzy on street noise regarding these 2 brands, but frankly, I don't think anything will out-loud the Swampers except for maybe bias or Boggers!

This discussion has ben pretty informative (even the part where I was soundly corrected on the KM2 "Kevlars") :laugh3: My mistake!

 

[RoyalXJ]

Both have great grip on rocks. KM2s seem to do better in the mud if you're into that. My KM2s chunked a lot more than my Kevlars. So far I'm way more impressed with the sidewalls on the Kevlars. Took out a sidewall on my KM2s with 8 psi. IMO go with Kevlars and don't look back.

 

[Mighty.Mighty_XJ]

I think I'm going to take that advice!

 

[the_midwesterner]

Cherry on top for ya with my .02 cents.

I wheel with about 5 good buddies. XJ - 35s, 2nd XJ on 35s, TJ on 40s, 4th gen 4Runner on 33s, and a JK on 37s. Out of those 5, 4 have MTR Kevlars and only the JK has KM2s. All of them can't speak highly enough of the Kevlars. Never seen a side wall go down, they balance well, easy to mount, and have tons of grip. The JK on 37s, just mentioned to me yesterday that he will probably sell his 37-KM2s and order 38-Kevlars. I am upgrading to 37s from 35s and I also just placed my order for Kevlars from tire rack.

It's a damn good tire and you can't beat it for the price.

Tire rack has them on sale right now, not sure what size you are going with, but on top of that, they have a $70 rebate on them. This is why I placed my order through them. Got 5 tires for only $200 more than what people are asking for used tires online.

 

[BRIANHO13]

I have wheel both. I have bought 3 new sets of mtr kevlars, because in my opinion they are much better. They just plain work.

 

[mcguyver_xj]

I've had both km2s and mtrs and I love the mtrs so much lots of traction and quieter on the road and better in the rain


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