Both the BF Goodrich KM3 and the Toyo Open Country M/T are popular choices for off-road enthusiasts who want tires that can handle tough terrain and provide reliable traction in challenging conditions. However, it’s important to note that these tires are typically not well-suited for use on paved roads, as they can be noisy and may not provide as good of a ride as other types of tires.
In my professional opinion as a tire engineer, the BF Goodrich KM3 provides a better wet traction, curved aquaplaning resistance, fuel efficiency, and winter performance, and off-road it’s paddles allow it to have the best traction values on sand. On the other side, the Toyo Open Country MT provides amazing tread life, and with it’s stronger composition, you get to have superior performance on rocky terrains. And on highways, it does better traction wise, but only when things are dry.
Table of Contents
Tread Design
The BF Goodrich KM3 features a very self cleaning tread with its elongated shoulder lugs.
It’s shoulder lugs basically cover a majority of tread’s portion, creating wider lateral grooves compared to longitudinal channels, the central lugs make.
Speaking of which, the central lugs are smaller in comparison, and are equipped with full depth thick siping.
And although they make some king of narrower circumferential channels, the lateral grooves are much wider and prominent, still.
(To make sense of it, thick of central lugs as part of shoulders).
So, this combined with dual bold stone ejectors (also equipped with triangular ones), the tread gets to be pretty self cleaning.
Moreover, to provide additional off-road digging/scooping, the shoulder lugs form a staggered pattern towards edges.
They also join together on sidewalls to form sharp lugs over there as well.
Moving on towards other tire, the Toyo M/T, keeps it’s lateral and longitudinal evacuation balanced.
This tire basically features 4 rib design, forming 3 longitudinal grooves.
The inner two ribs contain lugs with sharp edges, and (better) interlocking siping.
They wrap around the shoulder lugs to create a much better on road stability (in comparison), while the necessary bite is given by it’s sharp edges, and chamfered sides.
The outer ribs contain straight-forward shoulder lugs with wider lateral gaps in between (having stone ejectors).
And towards sidewalls, they although don’t make as thick of the lugs as the BFG KM3, they sure are staggered in a similar manner.
Let’s see how powerful these tires are from inside.
Sidewalls Construction
Off-road tires must be able to withstand rough terrain and sharp objects, making durability a critical factor.
And the “sidewalls” are particularly susceptible to cuts and punctures so the polyester casings the tire make tell how powerful they are from inside (as they are the only ones protecting there).
Although both tires have 3 ply polyester casing with 2 wide steel belts running on top, the Toyo Open Country M/T gives you a slightly stronger overall build, with 2 nylon cap plies, whereas BFG KM3 only gives you a single layer.
Sizes Info
The BF Goodrich KM3 is available in a total of 56 sizes, ranging from 14 to 22 inches.
Each tire size has a speed rating of Q and a load rating of C, D, E, or F, with the heaviest size weighing 83 lbs and the lightest size weighing 37 lbs.
The KM3 has a tread depth of 18/32″ on all sizes, and it does not come with a warranty.
Coming to other beast of a mud tire, the Toyo Open Country M/T, it comes in more sizes in comparison, 83, in 15 to 26 inches.
Speed ratings are also offered only in Q, while load ratings are seen with same C to F, but weight range is 50 to 110 lbs, which tells its slightly heavier in comparison.
And lastly for it’s tread depth, it ranges form 17 and goes up to 21/32″ (so it’s better here).
Winter Performance
Both tires are although not 3 peak mountain snowflake rated they still are good enough with deeper snowy terrains going up to 5 feet, without any troubles.
(Also note that its a myth that you have to have a 3pmsfr tire for snow).
Sure mud tires are a bad idea on packed snow and ice, but on “off-road snow” they are above average.
And here you are going to get better results with BF Goodrich KM3, with it’s better scooping abilities as this tire makes elongated shoudlers and with it wider lateral grooves (consider its tread again by scrolling above to see that).
Dry Pavement Traction
To fully understand the dry performance of an all-terrain tire, it is necessary to consider traction, steering, and cornering ability. Let’s delve into the specifics of each of these elements.
Dry Handling
With lateral orientation the BF Goodrich KM3 does better in the handling department. This tire basically provide large shoulder lugs, and as explained in the tread section above, the 2 ribs in the middle also look like they are divided from shoulders.
That’s why moving on corners, the tire offers better lateral g forces.
Moreover, another reason it does better here is its’ handling response times.
With just a single cap ply of nylon, it’s able to keep its weight at bay, where it only reaches up to 83 lbs, that’s 30 pounds lighter, comparing heaviest size of Toyo M/T.
That’s why Toyo causes its tread to under-steer a lot, compromising on steering response.
Directional Grip
Mud tires are infamous for their strong dry traction on highways, as with bolder design they don’t get to grip as much on both directional and lateral paths.
But still out of them, the Toyo M/T provides better efficacy with it’s shorter braking distances (a measure of directional grip, which has to do with moving on a straight path).
Toyo basically provides more on-road oriented ribs in the middle, creating 3 circumferential channels. And with them, they get to be more streamlined, yielding a more consistent design.
Moreover, with a stiffer rubber composition, it also keep it’s contact firm, even with larger tread depth (which I calculated on average, across all sizes).
The BF Goodrich KM3 on the other side, is not able to form as consistent of a connection with the pavement as Toyo M/T, (while moving straight), and it’s softer composition also waste more energy in to flexing its elongated lugs.
Wet Traction
When it comes to wet traction, you can not expect too much out of mud tires. That’s because although they offer ample hydroplaning resistance, they are not able to give satisfactory “wet” grip. I’ve discussed them both one by one.
Wet Grip
Wet traction is a weak area for both these tires, and they are both not recommended here. Let me explain why.
There are two things that define wet grip, sipes, and their flexibility.
Sipes offer slits where water gets accumulated, and so they need to be malleable enough, otherwise they won’t “wipe” off the water away (by contracting/expanding, creating suction).
Having said that, I’ve rated both tires equally here, as Toyo M/T provides more sipes, and BFG KM3, the flexibility with its higher silica density.
Hydroplaning
As both tires offer a pretty bald design, they both are able to escape water out without any issues.
But still, hydroplaning resistance is actually divided in to two sections, where curved and straight aqua tests are measured, and these tell, how fast water gets evacuated laterally and longitudinally.
So with a laterally streamlined grooves on BF Goodrich KM3, the tire does better on curved hydroplaning tests, wheres as the opposite happens on Toyo M/T.
Tread Wear
When it comes to tread’s life M/Ts are notorious for being not so great. That’s because they weigh a lot and their softer compound wears off faster (compared to less aggressive tires).
Now the Toyo Open Country MT weighs a lot no doubt about it. But this tire is still somewhat saved by it’s stiffer compound, which is also cut/chip resistance.
Moreover, it’s tread depth reaches up to 21/32 whereas on BFG KM3 it stays up to 18.
So all these factors contribute in making Toyo M/T superior here.
For Your Info: Best tire for tread wear in M/T category is Pro Comp Xtreme MT2 (Review).
Off Pavement Traction
Off road, there are a lot of terrains to consider, let’s talk about them all to see how these tires performed on each.
On Gravel and Dirt
Although both tires offer amazing cut resistant rubber, and self cleaning grooves, the overall performance on gravely roads is still seen better on BF Goodrich KM3.
That’s because this tire basically gives you dual stone ejectors, where conventional/ordinary ones are placed between the shoulder lugs, and triangular ones are place in the middle lateral grooves.
The Toyo M/T on the other hand, features a tread which is more inviting to dirt/stones, so naturally it get to have limited performance values in comparatively.
Muddy Trails
Both tires are although built for this type of terrain, there are still a few factors to keep in mind.
Let’s discuss Toyo Open Country M/T first.
So this tire presents a heavier construction, has Kevlar reinforcements, and stiffer sides. All these features basically dig in the thick mud instead of going forward.
(Usually digging is not bad, if done right, meaning some tires have thick mud scoops on sidewalls, and with digging they tend to do better, but not this tire).
Moreover, as most of the mud get out laterally, the longitudinally aligned lugs get in the way of that.
Both of these things are eliminated on BF Goodrich KM3, as it offers wider lateral grooves, shoulder lugs which act as paddles and thicker mud scoops, which don’t just dig in.
All these things render it better here overall.
Rock Climbing
A lot of stuff is going on on rocks, and on this type of terrain you need a need confidence inspiring climbing abilities combined with biters looking in all directions.
And so checking both boys out, although you can’t declare one better than the other, you sure can still note a few significant things about them.
The BF Goodrich KM3 has a spongier compound composition which is able to stick much more nicely. And this combine with it’s lighter weight and elongated lugs allows it to produce better incline traction.
On the other side, with correct notches placement, the Toyo Open Country M/T focuses on lateral traction in a better way.
And it’s “N” shaped sidewall lugs are also very effective in aiding that further with lowered air pressure.
For Your Info: I’ve rated Cooper STT Pro (review), one of the top performing tire in the M/T category, for rock climbing.
On Sand
Out of all the mud terrain tires I’ve reviewed so far (and I think, I’ve covered them all), the BF Goodrich KM3 produces best results on sand.
The tire is lighter in weight, and with its single nylon cap ply, its edges stay malleable, basically they are greatly optimized for soft sand. And with lowered air pressure (which you always do on sand), you get to have a lot of tread print availability, which allows it to float better.
Moreover, it’s elongated lugs resemble paddle tires a lot. (And paddle tires are best in the business when it comes to sand climbing).
Toyo M/T lacks all these features, and with heavier weight and sharper sides, it’s not able to do so good especially on an incline traction test (as it gets to dig more).
Leave With This
Both mud terrain tires offer premium options for your heavy duty trucks, though still out of them, there are a few areas, where we saw one tire performing better than the other.
The BF Goodrich KM3 provides one of the best traction when it comes to sand, and other than that, the tire does great on mud as well comparatively. It’s winter traction is also superior, and so is it’s fuel efficiency and comfort capability.
In comparison the Toyo Open Country M/T offers better dry grip, tread life, and rocky terrain traction.
