Better street type tires if hardly ever going off road?

[Deleted member 850]

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[HyperM3]

Who appointed you post monitor?

Since its my post, and I get all the alerts to reactions on it....I suppose I was automatically appointed. Just so you know, you can multiquote in one response. You dont have to do an individual response to everyone about how much you love the Michelin tires 1 minute apart. But I do appreciate your enthusiasm.

 

[ag02m5]

Signing up for responses. The KO3 are too much for my mostly road use. I bought the truck for the power primarily and looks #2. I don't plan to thrash it offroad, as fun as that sounds.

 

[LantaLurker]

200 miles into my new ownership, Im actually pleasantly surprised at how competant the K03 are. Im tossing this truck around like its a sports car and its holding its own. In the wet and 4A, I can barely get the truck to spin tires. Im ok with the K03 for a while.

That's crazy, I find it insanely easy to kick out the rear or get abs to go off if it's even remotely wet. The truck can handle corners but I go alot easier than I should because the tires don't give me a lot of confidence. I'll probably switch to falkens when I burn the rest of this rubber. Maybe I'll give the defender ltx a shot, I loved the pilot sports on my previous car

 

[nikhsub1]

…Something like the COOPER DISCOVERER AT3 XLT be a good balance Tirerack.com.

This is the best all around tire period. Super quiet on road, good off-road and great in the rain. You will love these tires I run them in my gen2 and when i let other truck folks drive it they are floored by how good the coopers are.

 

[Tailwagger]

That's crazy, I find it insanely easy to kick out the rear or get abs to go off if it's even remotely wet. The truck can handle corners but I go alot easier than I should because the tires don't give me a lot of confidence. I'll probably switch to falkens when I burn the rest of this rubber. Maybe I'll give the defender ltx a shot, I loved the pilot sports on my previous car

My sense as well. Takes nothing to spin the rears even in the dry, though in fairness I still have less than 1000 miles on them. Haven't had much need for 4A yet but what little I have done in it, there's no doubt that the RR is far better under hard throttle. But traction in 2H is either a joke or a riot depending on you're PoV. Of course no mode or setting does much of anything for braking which IMO is pretty abysmal. Can't speak to 90-60 sort of braking yet, but 40-0 sux and In my view is mostly due to the stock tire. An observation back up by TR testing of the K03 against others of its ilk.

I will say that while I don't do any off roading, during the few short stints I've done at moderate speed on dirt and gravel roads, the K03s seemed transformed and in their element. So I get why Ford spec'd them, but it would have been nice to have had a more road friendly option for those of us more concerned with traversing tarmac.

I do wonder if some of the K03 on road behavior might be improved by dropping tire pressure down into the lower 30s, but then there's the likely fuel hit. In the end, I suspect I'll just buy a set of LTXs next spring.

 

[Lion77]

200 miles into my new ownership, Im actually pleasantly surprised at how competant the K03 are. Im tossing this truck around like its a sports car and its holding its own. In the wet and 4A, I can barely get the truck to spin tires. Im ok with the K03 for a while.

The K03's have a softer rubber compound than the K02's which were great off-road but not the greatest on-road. The particular varint of the K03 that comes stock with the RR is also a "custom variant" specifically for Ford.

They worked with BFG to develop a tuned variant in a C load range for the RR to get better ride quality and grip when off-roading because the existing 285/70R17 was an E load range that was too stiff for the lighter weight RR application.

The RR is the FIRST truck I've owned as well, it's also the FIRST vehicle where I actually really liked the factory tires performance. K03's as a tire series are also rated by users on Tire Rack as the BEST off-road tire overall, but WildPeak A/4TW's are a close second:

BTW, I run Falken WildPeak A/T trails on my wife's CX-9 and they are awesome on that car (obviously it's a road-focused AWD mid-sized sporty SUV, so we didn't want legit off-road tires, but something more aggressive for bad weather, dirt / gravel roads etc.).

I've also gotten crazy mileage out of them on the CX-9, at 70k miles and still 5/32 tread (getting close to replacement now, but I only expected them to last 40-50k). But they don't make anything that would fit the RR, too bad cause that would be your "road focused, light duty A/T tire" your looking for. Still, I'm pretty happy with the K03's even on the road, and their off-road prowess is top notch, so I'm sticking with factory KO3's on my RR.

I had Pilot Sport 4S on my 2016 Mustange GT with a Stage 2 Power Pack from FP, in a 275/35R19 square setup. on RTR flow forged wheels. I could easily pull over 1G of lateral in that car, so I don't expect the K03's to perform like a street summer tire, but given their off-road capability, they are good enough for my uses. I bought the truck for off-road AND trips, which are mostly cruising on highway / back roads. The K03's do everything but the "on-road sports car or off-road track car" experience.

1. Perfectly fine for highway cruising and bumpy back roads with potholes. Work well in Walmart parking lots too, especially when you want to shame some hobbyist wannabe Jeep with 20" G-wheels....
2. Excellent off-road
3. Look bad ass
4. Factory size is lighter than most of the other tires in that size range, preserving the responsive Baja / Rall Truck nature of the RR.
5. Good enough for low to intermediate crawling (like 1-6 out of 10) and comparable or better in capability to most of the other mid-sized trucks factory tire offerings which are also running 32" to 33" tires stock, ONLY the Colorado ZR2 Bison or Canyon GMC AT4 has 35's, the regular ZR2 or AT4's run 33" as does the Taco Trail Hunter / TRD Pro's / 4Runners.

 

[AssolMarandy]

Yes, it makes sense to switch tires if you won’t go off-road much. The KO2/KO3 tires are strong, but they can be loud and rough on the road. They also wear faster on pavement.

For better street driving with good grip in rain and snow, look at all-season or all-terrain tires made for mostly road use.

Some good choices:

Michelin Defender LTX – smooth ride, good in wet and light snow

Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail – handles like a street tire but can go off-road a little

Continental TerrainContact A/T – quiet, good in rain, works for light trails

These are better for street and still fine if you hit dirt roads sometimes.

 

[braupe]

Firestone destination XT is the most slept on tire in the segment. We have them on our Ranger and it just finds grip on slippery situations. Including snow. For pure mudding there are better options, but for a quiet and capable all terrain that out grips K02/3 and wildpeaks. The Destination XT is killer.

 

[Locust13CT]

This HKS truck demo truck for their exhaust has toyo open country r/t tires that i think is a more street friendly, less blocky looking tire and I think it looks pretty good...


Youtube: HKS Legamax Ford RR

edit: actually nevermind i just checked the tires and they're rugged all terrains so prob less street friendly...

 

[Shadowsquatch]

Following. Definitely something I’ll be considering if/when I get my RR. Any updates on MPG improvements or other alternative tire suggestions?

 

[Dan_C]

Yeah, I was looking at the AT/III version. That being said, Id want to change out right in the beginning because I typically drive 5-6k miles a year, so waiting until the K03 need to be replaced would be like 10 years!

If you only drive 5-6K miles per year, any cost savings in better mpg will not offset replacing your tires before you need new tires. If you like the look and performance of the KO3s, save your money and keep them.

 

[Tailwagger]

If you only drive 5-6K miles per year, any cost savings in better mpg will not offset replacing your tires before you need new tires.

True. But OTOH, if you find their squishy ass behavior under even moderately hard braking to be just too spooky, you might save yourself the hassle and expense of running into something. Per Tire rack testing the WildPeaks, for example, stop 9 feet shorter in the dry, 13 feet in the wet. I would think the LTXs would be better still. Is it worth the $1400... dunno... havent done it yet nor have I hit anything, but its something I find myself considering every time I've been forced into a hard stop which around here happens far too often.

 

[Crapblaster]

They make this tire in Raptor size now. 285/70/17

BFGoodrich Trail-Terrain T/A Ride Comfort-Focused All-Terrain Tire Good on Highway, Snow in P285/70R17

 

[Pic-N-Stick]

Following. Definitely something I’ll be considering if/when I get my RR. Any updates on MPG improvements or other alternative tire suggestions?

I'm in the same boat. Heard how bad the KO3's were so I've been looking. (I'm placing an order for a Ranger Raptor in the next few months.) I went and tested a used RR with 8,000 miles and was surprised how well it handled with the OEM tires! It felt more sure-footed than my 2005 Tundra with Michelin Defender LTX's in 265/65R17's. (Size of both trucks are pretty close) Granted the technology is light years ahead of my Tundra, but I just expected worse handling on the RR tires from all I've read. I'm still looking at putting on a set of Falken Wildpeak AT4W's, but don't think I'll be in nearly as big a hurry!

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