built for adventure : phase 1 - tires #1mile1tree #overlander #explore #overland #adventure #travel

Those four round things everyone hates to buy, but loves 'em once their mounted.

Since they’re still fairly new to the market, we opted to install BFGoodrich KO2s on the 4Runner. The KM2s on the Tacoma faired very well last year, but we’ll be pounding a bit more pavement this year and feel like the KO2s will be a perfect fit.

We picked 285/70R/17s to mount the factory Trail Edition wheels and added Spidertrax spacers to bump the tires out a bit. I do have some mixed thoughts on spacers; I like the look but – 1) wheel spray > don’t waste your time cleaning your truck EVER; 2) width > I’ve seen where wide vehicles fail on tight trails in WV and prefer the functionality of a narrow track; 3) rubbing > although not that bad, we did have to make some trims and adjustments.
Back to the tires…

So with just under 7K miles on the KO2s a review isn’t warranted; however, I can comment that wet and road handling are very predictable. We are running the tires at the tire pressure recommended for the T4R5 so we can do an honest evaluation of tread wear and regular performance. On the trail and gravel, we’ll likely air down further.

A good all-terrain tire paired with recovery equipment is essentially all you need and like the KO, I’m optimistic that the KO2 may be the ultimate dual sport tire.

Next up, dual batteries and power management…