Nitto Ridge Grapplers or BFG KO3s?

Well I better post a picture of my K03s too.

My local offroad shop calls the Nittos "Instagram tires" because they claim the performance isn't there but they look good if youre farming likes.

 

I’ve used both those tires on my 3/4 ton work truck. I started with KO2s on that truck (2022 Chevy 2500) and liked them well enough but had issues with Clay build up on the tires while driving to Oil Leases in Northern British Columbia I only ran these for 30,000km. Switched over to Ridge Grapplers and the off-road performance was significantly improved but the on road performance suffered quite a bit. I personally did not like the way that tire felt on road. I ran it for 70,000km. It definitely lasted pretty good but it wore pretty odd and I had issues with the tire chunking in the center of the tread (running 38-42 psi depending on what I was doing).

I have KO3s on there right now and only have about 8,000km on them. I really like them so far. Haven’t gotten to see their summer performance yet however. They do very well on road and on ice covered logging roads. Also bring them up to the coal mines in Northern BC and they seem to be holding together well driving those haul roads covered in shattered rock and coal.

I put Yokohama Geolander AT XD G017 on my Tundra at the same time (I have roughly 5,000km on them). Wanted to compare the two tires I was most interested in. So far I like the geolanders more. They are more of a rough terrain tread pattern over an AT. Has very deep tread depth and overall a more aggressive tire. Has loads of sipping in the treads and has done incredibly well in the snow and more than acceptable on ice.

 

Good info on the Geolanders, thx

 

Nice! I could see that… I was looking at those wheels in black also

 

Got it! The Geolanders have been coming up a bit maybe I should check those out also … I don’t do a lot of off roading mostly highway… it seems the KOs might be a good bet for that

 

Think I’ve decided on Nittos for tires but changing my mind on wheels .. what the thought on these?

 

I run bronze methods 701's

 

The bronze clashes with the chrome.






I keed, I keed.

 

So you don’t think it looks good? Even though I don’t have a ton of chrome

 

I was just kidding, I saw your other post. I think the bronze looks great on a black truck, chrome or not.

 

Haha ok ok. Yea I don’t know if you saw but I can basically get these for $1K off retail cost … so I wasn’t necessarily looking at bronze to begin with but it’s growing on me … I definitely like it on black as well. But there are a lot of folks that think it’s a sin to mix the bronze with chrome apparently ahaha

 

Question for those putting new wheels and tires on your Tundra - - are purchasing new tire sensors with the new tires?? Or are you just going without the sensor ?

 

I guess if you want to copy me get those wheels..

I kid. 18 million people have these wheels. Looks good.

 

Haha they are nice

 

So I’ve looked into the hub rings just to see if I could get any… it looks like my wheels (XD Boneyard 20” with 0 offset) have a center bore size of 128mm… I have been unable to find that size to match my 110 hub … it might be why I was never offered any to put on there

 

Where did you find that information that it's a 128mm bore?

 

I found it on a website that still sells them .. they are discontinued now I believe

 

I wouldn't run either of those and go for Falken AT4Ws. Ive had 11 trucks here in the last few years and several Jeeps before that running all types of tires. KOs are the worst, loud, cup al lot, and are mediocre at about everything other than dry and rain. Im the small percentage of people who you couldn't pay to run KOs on anything. Ridge grapplers are good but they lack in the rain. My most recent set of tires were the Falkens on my Ram 2500. I made several trips from Nashville area to the WNC mountains to help those affected by the hurricane. I put those Falkens through hell and they outright performed. If I were looking for a daily driving tire to do it all, that would be it.

 

Never had an issue with KOs cupping, or being loud. 3 sets of KO2s and now on a set of KO3s. Interesting you say they are better than mediocre in the rain, because that seems to be the most common complaint about them - not great in the rain.

I've never run Falken AT3 or AT4s. I ran a few sets of Falkens on performance cars in the past and they always wore terribly, cupped, and were generally trash. Vowed never to purchase them, and when they launched the AT3, even though it was a "discount tire" at that time, I stuck with my tried and true KO2s, Cooper AT3s, and Toyos.

Have you run the KO3 or are familiar with the improvements over the previous generation?

 

No like you I vowed to never again go down that path. New Wrangler Rubicon, trip home tired were incredibly loud for what they are, coming from my previous Jeep with Yoko G003s. Gladiator, same thing. OG KO2s on a Jeep commander wore like shit, perfect alignment specs, terrible in NY winter but did good in rain.

I wouldn’t compare falken car tire to their truck tires. My stock 240sx ate Falkens hahaha

 

My buddy ran the Wildpeaks on a brand new Silverado. Similar to your Jeep experience - alignment great, tires wore terribly and needed to be replaced at 10k miles.

I think we have all had bad experiences. I'm not sure how true this is, but ive heard that mass produced tires for OEMs are dogshit compared to their aftermarket counterparts. The Duratracs that came on my F350 Tremor are a great example of that; soft and squirrely with a load, bad in wet conditions.. i replaced those right away but have driven on Duratracs in the past that performed well.

 

Duratracs do have two compounds, a 3P and one that’s not, pretty sure the tremor comes with non and that would explain it.

Pic of my AT4Ws after 10k miles, two rotations. Just sold that truck but I put them through everything you could imagine and they were flawless. Was in pretty thick deep mud in Swannanoa after Helene went through and they climbed right out. Was really impressed for an AT in an 8600lb truck.
I’d probably buy them for my tundra but think with my LSK kit it needs a more aggressive tire.

 

330 miles of this yesterday on KO3s. From Noethern Utah, where we started in the snow, to Northern Nevada where it was a torrential downpour. Not a single slip or misstep. 100% confident in these tires after towing this route several times in weather like this and worse.

Would recommend.

 

I have 50k miles on my ridge grapplers - I got them in 285/70/18. They were super quiet at first but at about 20k miles in, they got really loud. They suck in the rain and they suck in the snow. They look awesome and they were great in the sand and on dry pavement.

I am also looking to replace them in the next few days. I was looking at the BFGoodrich ko3's in the same size, but I hate how they only come with the white letters.

I was also thinking about going with the Toyo Open Country RT Trails but they don't come in 285/70/18. I was thinking about going up to 295/70/18 if I went that route.

 

The KO3’s have one side white lettering and other side black lettering just like the KO2’s these are 285/70/18 best tire I’ve had yet.

 

Thought about this. I can flip the KO3's with no issues?

 

Yes they are not a directional tire so you can run them either way, just have to request which side you want out when you get them installed.

 

Thanks a ton. You helped me make my decision. I also got a set of 6112/5160's with the Bilstein UCA's going on this weekend as well. I'll be replacing a 2" spacer block that I've regrettably been running for years.

I noticed you had 5160's in the rear. What do you have your front set at?

 

Nice! That will be a good setup and almost identical to what I’m running. I have the 6112’s in the front set at 1.9” with the dirt king UCA’s. I will probably bump them up to 2.5 notch when I upgrade to a high clearance front bumper sometime here in the near future. Not sure if you do any towing but I also installed the heavy duty RAS system in the rear and it really helps also gives about 1.5” to help level things out a bit.

 

Very nice. Any shims at the 1.9 setting? I was thinking about doing 2 driverside shims and 1 passenger side shim to get more lift with less preload. I'm also debating 2.5 setting with a driver side shim. I really cant make up my mind.

Just waiting for a warmer day!