I haven't tried the Wildpeak AT3W, and technically I didn't try the KO2 on my KL. However, I put a set on my KK (aka "Liberty" in North America, aka "Cherokee" the rest of the world) and they were awfully noisy.

As a comparison, I have a JK with Cooper STT Pro mudders and a soft top. My wife told me "I think the Libby is louder than the JK"! Don't think so, but they were damn loud. The bad part was the more they wore down, the louder they got.

Great off-road though.

 

Check out the Toyo A/T III's. Best A/T's I've run. KO2's are a great tire, but they're heavy for our Cherokees, and somewhat noisy, as you're finding out. They are an LT rated tire, and you won't beat them in pure damn toughness, but they're designed for much heavier vehicles than our KL's, and much more at home off the road, than on. The Wildpeak AT3W, and the Toyo‘s are far superior for the best of both worlds...JMHO...😎

 

Thanks, but I don’t understand why everyone says they are too heavy, they are lighter

Thanks for the input, but I don’t understand why everyone says they are too heavy. They are 5lbs lighter than the Wilpeaks, and 1lbs heavier than toyo.

 

I didn't try the KO2s on my KL, but on other cars, and I'm driving my KL with Falken Wildpeak AT3WA (A is the European version, same tire) for over 32.000 miles now.
Think of it this way: do you like to think about your tires? You like the look and you like to show it, and you like the feel and sound they make?
Or do you like to simply rely on your tires and stop worrying and just forget about them? If this is the case: Wildpeak AT3W is your tire.

 

Ditto @Flybynightcru , a lot of sites will only put up one weight for a tire, not by size. Had my Cherokee not had a brand new set of KO2s on it when I bought it, I probably would have leant to the Toyos (and 17" Rhino Arsenal rims, lol). Given that, they have great manners, and the weight/mpg penalty doesn't bother me that much, but I'll definately do more research when the time comes to replace them.

 

Running AT3W for more than 20k miles. I do a lot of long trips and found them ok on paved roads. I'm taking about 1400 miles long trips as well. Road noise is bearable.
Ran several Colorado trails including some rocky trails ( Engineer pass, Imogene pass, Ophir pass to name a few) and never had any issues with them.

I liked the snow performance. Last December I drove almost 400 miles during snow and they were very very stable.

 

Just curious, scale of 1-10 (10 being silent) how would you rate the road noise? Thanks.

 

Just curious, scale of 1-10 (10 being silent) how would you rate the road noise? Thanks.

 

I would say 7 considering it's AT tire. I can't say for sure if the noise is louder at any specific speed as I always listen to music at highway speeds.

 

Thanks for the input. Idk if I maybe got a bad batch of BFG’s but the set I had on my Patriot were nearly silent. These have a horrible “woof” between 30-50mph. 98% sure it’s the tires, not parts, as it started as soon as I put the KO’s on, and my TH is only 4 months old.

 

They look good and agressive as well.
Recently I did Racetrack playa drive in Death Valley, California. Very notorious trail for tire damage due to rocky road. No issues at all- not saying that means these are the best tires but I was super happy with how it drove with confidence.

 

Are you running stock size on this or did you do 265/65 ?

 

Guys, the Toyo comes in an SL and an LT (E load) tire in 245/70r17, and the BFG only comes in an LT (E load) in that size. So there’s your weight discrepancy. The SL Toyo is 35 lbs according to Toyo, and 42 lbs for the LT. The BFG LT is 47 lbs according to BFG.

 

Off the TireRack website.

 

I had wildpeaks on mr renegade, great on road tire, great in the snow, quiet, terrible off road tire! I know have a set on my 1 ton nice tire to have in the rain and snow. The k02 great off road tire a lot of guys in my Jeep club have them on there wranglers and work really well in the mud and rocks, not so good on road, they say there a little load and pack up in the snow. Let us know what you go with? Happy Jeeping 😃

 

I've had BFG KO2 and Falken Wildpeak AT3W tires in the Snowhawk. Both were excellent in the snow and rain. KO2s were heavy as mentioned, which contributed to accelerated wear with a Dobinsons + Aussie lift. It took 75k+ miles to wear out the KO2s. Never had any trail damage, LT235/80r17.

Switched to AT3Ws for a lighter tire, P245/75r17, which also sacrificed the number of tread and sidewall plies. The first set were near perfect on the trails and road, ran them until they were bald, 65k miles. The second set had 2 separate tires with tread punctures. I noticed they were made in Thailand. The newest one is made in Japan. I thought the first set was made in the USA, but I could be wrong or wishful thinking.

Both failures were on the current SW tour (UT, AZ, NM, TX, CO, WY, MT). Following the CDT from Mexico to Canada. First tire was unrepairable, so it was replaced with the spare and a new tire purchased. I cannot believe the cost inflation. 2nd tire is holding 42 psi after stuffing 3 repair sticks into it. Not pretty, but it's the spare now.

West TX is dry. The Rio Grande is nothing but cracked and dried mud. East TX is hot and humid, but there's water. NM is perfect weather above 6500', but dry as a bone also. Most lakes and rivers are bone dry; some reservoirs have a little water, but won't last. Stage 2 fire alert everywhere. No rain in sight and high winds. Black Mtn fire is 0% containment and growing.

Waiting for the cold front to blow through CO and WY before moving further north.

Happy Trails

 

I'm switching from Wildpeak AT3w 245/65r17 to KO2. The lightweight version of the AT3w can't handle the granite rocks up in the California Sierras. That's where I do the vast majority of my wheeling. Mine took a ton of sidewall damage and finally failed today. I can't compare them yet as they're on order but when I get them on I'll post a comparison. All 4 KO2 at Costco ended up being 813.

 

Good choice! K02 are a better off road tire.and not a t too bad if cost, good buy! Fill us in with your progress with them?! Happy Jeeping 😃

 

In my opinion, AT3W and similar tires are the better choice over K02 for our platform, unless you do most of your driving off road. We have a unibody with independent suspension, not body on frame with solid axles where K02 belongs. That heavy unsprung mass will bite you in the end with all the accelerated wear and tear on suspension components and CVs.

 

Well good luck with your purchase and keep us informed on how well they preformed for you?!

 

I got my KO2s installed to replace my destroyed AT3Ws. I've only done a bit of highway/city driving and I can say that they are noticeably louder than the AT3Ws. There's a new background hum that wasn't there before. So if you're hoping the AT3W is quieter I believe that they are. The hum isn't enough for me to care or notice, I drive around with my crossbars and kayak saddles on all the time and those are louder. So the hum only adds to the background noise in my car but it's not loud enough to hinder conversation or anything. They don't seem like they're rougher for daily driving even tho they're at 45psi.

However, I wasn't about to do a direct compare. I was driving my partners car around for a few days waiting for the tires so I'm working off memory.

I initially ordered form Costco but didn't want to wait the two weeks and wasn't sure they would install them anyway(the speed rating is different and some Costco managers are sticklers about that). America's/Discount tires matched the Costco price and I had them installed the next day.

I'll give them a good testing this weekend and come back with a full comparison/review.

 

K02 off road all day over the wildpeakes! On road the wildpeakes are better kind of like Toyos!😃

 

FYI some of the confusion with regards to tire weight is most of the current AT tires have both passenger and truck rated tires, sometimes in the same size. I find the tire websites tend to get these specs mixed up. The passengers versions have much thinner/softer sidewalls for daily driving. This also makes them considerably lighter than the same tire in an LT. It also makes them considerably more vulnerable to sidewall damage I've discovered.

 

This is true! Good homework!