Can you imagine yourself going to a place where there is no electricity, no wifi, no internet, and no computer? Hard to picture, right? How can we live in such remote places? But when you are saturated with your repetitive day job, a nature escapade is a great retreat! Well, you probably can’t imagine yourself without the internet for long, but a weekend off from the busy life is a great way to empty that stress bucket and recharge!
But these places, these beautiful places, they are not, err, that accessible to normal vehicles. Your highway terrain tries won’t make it through challenging terrain. You would need some specialized tires that would bring you there.
If you are wondering which among BFG KO2 vs Duratrac is better, you have come to the right place! We’ll take a look at them side by side to see all their features and how one is better than the other. These two are made by amazing manufacturers, and both have high quality, so choosing one may be a tough decision.
Table of Contents
The Companies Behind
BF Goodrich and Goodyear are not just good, and they are two of the best tire manufacturers in the world. Both these companies have more than a century of existence since its establishment! The former is just two years away from fifteen decades while the latter is twelve decades old.
These two companies have extensive experience in tire manufacturing and have been in the industry as early as the invention of automobiles! Would you look at that? And still, they are thriving today and providing the world with improved transportation experience with their tire innovation.
Outward Appearance
Highway terrain and slick tires have one thing in common, they don’t stand out! Let’s face it. Men are first attracted by the looks. Isn’t that right for most of us? Although performance trumps looks, it’s not bad to have something that does what it does best and still maintain style and good looks.
BFG’s KO2 has an interlocking puzzle-like design that runs along its five-track. It’s reinforced sidewalls, which is what’s prominently seen, is designed with wide and protruding gaps that make it look like a monster that would engulf anything on its way!
Duratrac has the same five-rib configuration. The outer ribs are linear while the three ribs on the middle have finer nodes and are arranged like a double helix. The sidewalls have simpler designs, but nevertheless, they are also reinforced.
The Noise
As expected from all A/T tires, there are some unavoidable noise. It comes from the larger gaps between the tread blocks. The noise is especially noticeable during highspeed runs on paved roads. The noise, mostly, starts to become noticeable at around 40mph on both tires.
If you’ve had mud tires before, the tire noise of these two are tolerable. Without your car stereo on, the humming sound is noticeable and can be a bit annoying. Turning your music up easily cancels the noise. But between the two, Duratrac has a higher pitched hum which is a tad bit more noticeable compared with the low-frequency hum of the BFG KO2.
Handling
Thanks to traction, our tires are able to propel our vehicle and keep our vehicles connected to the ground. When it comes to challenging terrains, normal tires would have lesser traction. Without specialized tires, some places would be difficult to reach by automobiles.
With these tire company’s extensive experience in manufacturing tires, they have innovated and improved traction on different types of terrains. Yep, there’s a reason why snow tires have more traction on snow compared with your everyday HT tires.
BFG KO2 has excellent traction over mud and soft terrain, thanks to its sparse tread block distribution. This tire claws on sand, wet sand, mud, soft mud, river fords, and rocky terrain. You won’t have to worry about sharp-edged stones.
Goodyear’s Duratrac has wider gaps on the outer rib which allows it to easily tread through soft mud, wet sand, rivers fords. The wide gaps give it more clawing ability on sand and mud.
Although the sparse tread block distribution means lesser grip on pavement, Goodyear compensated with the serpentine sipes.
Both tires have good grip and performance on pavement. However, in this category, Goodyear is better optimized for all seasons.
Off-Road Performance
Wider tread block spacing enables off-road vehicles to claw on challenging terrains like mud, wet mud, sand, wet sand, rocky plains, and even river fords. Mud tires would not let you down and take on the murkiest mud puddle with little effort. Compared with mud tires, all-terrain tires may be left behind. But maybe you don’t find mud tires practical for everyday use.
Most people may still be on the pavement more frequently than off-road. This makes all-terrain tires more useful and practical than going for mud tires.
BFG KO2 has aggressive sidewall design that is optimized for tough environment. These tires can take a beating and virtually puncture-proof sidewalls. The interlocking puzzle-like tread design easily catches traction on stony fields. The grooves are designed with stone ejectors to make sure that you have most tire surface contact with the ground. This tire also features “DT” (different tread) compound that has a superior chip and tear resistant strength.
Goodyear’s Wrangler Duratrac has an equally aggressive outer side block with wide gaps. This design allows you to plow over soft mud, wet sand, and even stony fields. If you carefully examine the tires, you will see teeth between the gaps. These are Goodyear’s patented TractiveGroove Technology™. These teeth give you more grip over mud and other soft terrains.
Reliability and Durability
Aside from performance over the payment and extreme environments, tire manufacturers want to make sure that their tires would last longer.
On average, Depending on the nature of your trip, or your work, you may be or towing a lot of stuff with you. It’s important to know how much your tire can safely carry. Both BFG KO2 and Duratrac has 50,000mi treadwear warranty. They are confident that these tires won’t give up on you for at least 50,000mi. Under normal usage, if premature treadwear is proven, these companies offer prorated rates for replacement tires. Both these tires are tough and would serve you years before you see noticeable tread wear.
BF Goodrich’s KO2 has a huge selection that fits 15-20-inch rims. They are very dependable and capable of handling heavy loads. Depending on the tire variant, you can get 100 up to 128 load rating. That translates to 1764lbs up to 3968lbs of load carrying capacity for each tire. Now, multiply that to four tires to get how much load your vehicle can carry.
Wrangler Duratrac is also available in many sizes that fit with 15inch up to 20inch rims. They are also optimized for load carrying. Duratrac tire selection has a load range of 104 to 129. Each tire can safely carry up to 1984lbs up to 4079lbs! Imagine what you can haul with these tires without breaking a sweat!
You can count on with these tires for a long time. It would take several years before you will need a replacement, of course, under normal usage.
Conclusion
Tire wear and tear is dictated by how much you use it. Under normal circumstances, you are covered by a 50,000mile treadwear warranty that gives you prorated rates in case of premature wear. Hot pavement and high speed is something that would increase the rate of your tires wear and tear.
However, both tires are awesome. Both tires are tough and have huge load carrying capacity. Duratracs can carry just a hundred eleven pounds more than the KO2s which are quite negligible.
BFG KO2 offers DT compound that boasts chip and tear resistant materials while the Duratrac features TractiveGroove Technology™. If only you could have these two features on the same tire!
If mud is your primary concern, the TractiveGroove Technology allows you to claw on mud with more traction. If you will be using it on stony and rocky patches of off-road terrain, DT compound will get you through without damaging your tires.
When it comes to noise, which is something that you would be dealing with when it comes to tires with wide tread block spaces, BFG KO2 has a more tolerable hum compared with Duratrac.
Overall, you are in good hands with both tires. They come from renowned companies, and they offer treadwear warranties. At the end of the day, it all boils down to your preference. Where do you frequently travel and what type of terrain do you encounter? How much tire noise can you tolerate?
Basically, BFG KO2 and Duratrac can get you through off-road terrain better than HT tires. If you go extreme off-road adventures, you might want to think the bigger mud tires.
When you get your tires replaced, your MPG will be affected. Because of the gaps between the treads, you will have lesser tire surface in contact with the ground compared with HT tires. Do put in mind that equipping all-terrain tires can increase your fuel consumption.
