BF Goodrich KM3 is a powerful mud terrain tire, and it’s not only for mud despite the name, but can take on all sorts of rugged off road challenges, but it’s nice to see that it also does not limit too much of it’s on road performance, as it meets your expectations.
Being a tire engineer, in my opinion, the BF Goodrich KM3 offers a gold standard mud terrain tire which is very capable off-road, as it offers amazing experience on rocky trails and muddy environments while staying stable on highways. The tire is also not too heavy and at the same time provides enough durability so its handles well on pavements and don’t compromise off road where things get sharp.
Sizes Important Info
BF Goodrich T/A KM3 comes in a total of 56 sizes, where it even provides you with 14 inches, and goes all the way up to 22 inches (though I really miss 24 inches).
The speed rating is average, as all sizes come with Q.
This is average because its common with almost all other MT tires out there.
The load rating on this tire however are not offered in F, as they are only available in C, D and E.
But this keep it’s weight at bay as the tire stays in between 37 to 83 lbs.
Good enough tread depth is offered on all sizes, which is just okay, all sizes get to have 18/32″.
BFG does not offer any warranty with this tire, also all tires are just M+S rated and missing 3PMSF rating.
Tread Features
BF Goodrich Km3 is a very famous tire for off road use. The tire offers some unique tread features which makes it so great, let’s check them out.
BF Goodrich Km3 offers attenuated silencer grooves as they provide variable pitches. This is achieved by the irregular placement of central blocks.
Here all blocks have very wide deep full depth sipes, these sipes or should I say grooves (as they are so wide) run laterally and longitudinally, and this way cover the both aspects of grip.
They also offer advanced mud-flow geometry as the the interconnected channels offer a straight way path for mud to escape.
The shoulder blocks are very simple and don’t carry any tread features, but they all gaps there have stone ejectors and they do make small notches on every other rib.
On the outer margins they get staggered (which provide mud scooping) and then they join shoulder lugs to form a very aggressive design (see the image on top of the page).
Durability
When it comes to mud terrain tires, durability is a big one. But with more durability comes more weight which limits other things such as on road traction, tread wear, noise and so on.
So with that in mind the BF Goodrich KM3 kept the tire’s durability slightly below average.
But the tire still get to have 3 ply polyester carcass and 2 broad steel belts on top.
It’s just there is just single ply reinforcement of Aramid on top, which is also considered the cap ply.
So the tire gets to be pretty light in weight while still providing you with 3 ply sides, yet you still don’t get any miles warranty.
Wet Performance
When it comes to wet roads, there are two things to consider, the grip/traction and hydroplaning.
Let’s take a look at both of them one after another.
Wet Traction
The BFG Km3 offer an all season rubber with a good amount of silica and Kevlar, so it’s rubber where stays soft is not too prone to wear as it also becomes stretchable.
This provides the sipes/slits flexibility to expand and contract and this creates a suction for the water particles, so they are removed that way.
But they only work on straight paths as there central tread of the tire provides the most traction, and during cornering, as the shoulders are considered, the minimal tread features don’t offer anything.
So you get very minimal lateral traction on wet roads, which means slippage.
Hydroplaning
Hydroplaning resistance is another important part of wet traction where it takes the load off sipes by evacuating water (so less water is left for sipes to deal with).
And with wider channels, the BF Goodrich KM3 is very efficient at escaping water out.
It offers decent float speeds taking in to account, it’s a Mud-Terrain.
For folks who still did not get it, float speed simply put is the maximum speed with which tire can roll over water without “floating”.
On Road Performance:
Roads and pavements are usually not good for mud tires. They really lack in terms of grip. And of course, they are very loud.
Let’s discuss factors affecting tire’s performance.
Steering Response
Being an MT, the tire’s steering response although is not as great as an A/T, it’s still okay considering other options.
With just a single cap ply, the tire is light and does not understeers as much as others do.
So the communication is slightly faster.
But this is for dry, as on wet things are a little different (discussed below).
Traction on dry roads
On dry roads you need grip and that comes from rubber to road contact, the more the better.
The BF Goodrich KM3 although does not provide as much exposure of rubber with the road, it’s still great, as the tire’s angled side lugs offer a great contact patch, enhancing handling stability.
It’s central lugs also enhance this, as they are designed to be on road oreinted, with square off rugs with minimal tread features.
So the tire offers decent grip values providing average braking distances and handling times.
For Your Info: Toyo Open Country M/T provides one of the most capable grip on dry roads, detailed review:
https://tiredriver.com/toyo-mt-review/
Ride Quality
Being a Mud tire, the BF Goodrich KM3 has to compromise on highways when it comes to overall comfort and noise, the two major factors of ride quality.
Let’s discuss them both.
Comfort and Noise
Talking about comfort first, with softer rubber having high silica density, the BFG KM3 provides a spongy compound to absorb the bumps both on and off road.
Furthermore, the tire has a single light weight cap ply which ensures the inner construction is not rigid, and this further adds to the soaking of the impacts.
So comfort wise the tire is okay.
On the other side, if we talk noise, that’s a bit of an issue with KM3. The tire’s wild lug gaps allow a lot of air to move around and hit the tread with full full force, so a lot of noise gets generated.
The tire tries to dampen it by placing ribs haphazardly which cut down the sound waves, but its still not enough.
The rule is the balder the tire gets, the more noise it makes.
For Your Info: Best tire for tread noise in M/Ts is Falken Wildpeak M/T (review).
Snow Performance
On snow, there are a lot of variations, there is deeper terrains, then there’s on road snow, ice, and son on.
The BF Goodrich Km3 is not good on ice, let’s take this out first, it’s minimal siping do nothing on this terrain so it’s not recommended to go there without chains.
In terms of light snow, the tire is okay, nothing impressive, as it’s wider grooves don’t capture in the snow to make snow to snow contact, like winter tires do.
But the tire is capable of doing this with deeper snow.
So, although this tire is not 3 peak mountain snowflake rated, deeper snow is something it can work on with it’s scooping lugs everywhere.
Tread Wear
When it comes to wearing of the tread, there is a few things to consider which includes the tire’s weight and overall construction.
Now the BFG KM3 offers a very light weight rubber (compared to other MTs) which is elastic and soft.
So, although the with little weight less pressure is put on the rubber, the tire still generates a lot of rolling resistance which causes tread wear.
Moreover, the tread depth of the tire is not impressive as well, going up to just 18/32″ where mostly they go above 20.
So with narrower rubber layer, the tire gets burned off quicker. Maybe that’s why the BFG is not giving any warranty with this tire.
For Your Info: Best tire for tread wear in M/T category is Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 (Review).
Off Road Traction
Although these tires are marketed as mud terrain, that does not mean they are just made for mud.
Actually mud is the toughest terrain of all, and it’s the only reason why these tires exist, as no other tire can go there with as much confidence as these guys do.
But besides mud, there’s rocky trails, sand, dirt, gravel and so on.
I’ll try to cover them all below.
Rock Traction
On rocks, the massive slanted sidewall lugs of BF Goodrich Km3 offer ample traction, when you air down these tires. That’s because it’s slanted lugs enhances the footprint of the tire and with it, it’s softer rubber simply sticks better.
Moreover, with central lugs, having longitudinal and lateral slits in them, the tire is able to grip in all directions, as these slits are able to open an close according the surface needs.
Being a light weight tire with a single cap ply, the KM3 also offers great climbing abilities.
And where it’s light weight its still durable, as you get 3 ply polyester sidewall with high turn up, so you drive with confidence without worrying about sharp close encounters.
For Your Info: Best tire for rocks is Cooper STT Pro (review), in the M/T category of course.
Mud performance
Mud is a tough one and here tread need to clean itself off quickly so little mud to mud contact is made.
The BF Goodrich KM3 provide ample mud cleaning with it’s lateral and longitudinal interconnected tread voids.
I love the tire’s lateral grooves, by the way as they offer a clear path connected the shoulders.
The mud in the middle gets crushed by lugs and triangular shaped stone ejectors, while the lateral channels are like highways for mud to evacuate with full pressure.
Moreover, the staggered shoulder design of the tire aids a lot, there are huge mud scoops on it’s sidewalls, and I think I don’t have explain why they are called mud scoops and how they help.
Performance on Sand
On sand as you need a light weight tire with can offer a great footprint, you can never go wrong with BF Goodrich KM3.
The tire is light in weight and with it’s lugs which paste on a large area covering the sidewalls, the tire offers a great tread print.
On sand, besides having good driving skills, you need a light tire, which would not dig and rather would focus on moving forward.
To Conclude
The BFG KM3 is a great all rounder mud tire which offers a decent off road traction and a great on road experience.
Off road the tire checks all boxes, while on roads, the tire has to compromise on some areas where the wet traction is the major one to look out for.
Other than that, it’s a great tire to have.
