Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo 3 and the BF Goodrich KO2 are both really great at what they can do, considering they are all-terrain tires. These tires show that the overall market has made some serious progression over the years. Though which one is a better pick for your driving needs? Let’s find out!
Having thoroughly studied and analyzed these tires, I can tell you that the BF Goodrich KO2 although can’t outperform Dueler A/T on roads, in both wet and dry conditions, it’s still a great off-road performer in comparison. And on-road it’s not so bad when it comes to providing a quieter ride, tread life, and winter traction.
Technical Facts
The BF Goodrich KO2 has following features, on it’s 90 sizes coming in with 15 to 22 inches.
- Speed Ratings: R, S, or Q
- Load ratings: C to E
- Weight range: 35 lbs to 67 lbs
- Tread Depth: 15/32″ on all sizes
- M+S as well as 3PMSF rated
- 50k miles warranty
Review this tire here: https://tiredriver.com/bf-goodrich-ko2-review/
The Bridgestone Duler Revo 3 comes in 16 to 20 inches rim diameters, having following specs.
- Speed ratings: S, R, and T
- Load ratings: SL, C and E
- Weight range: 30 to 60 lbs
- Tread depth range: 12/32″ to 16/32″
- Warranty: 60k for P-Metric and Metric sizes (Excludes LT Sizes)
Tire Structure
Bridgestone Dueler Revo 3 out of the two, is less aggressive tire to have.
This tire basically offers you with 4 rib design where the inner ones are equipped with chunkier lugs.
These lugs are designed to provide both on and off-road traction.
They have a lot of biters in the form of saw toothed edges, full depth sipes, chamfered sides, and in groove notches providing off-road grip.
Whereas their wider structure and consistent design (as all lugs are joined up with each other), account for on-road stability and traction.
Moreover, also make 3 longitudinal grooves (with inner most having curves to it) providing dirt and water evacuation.
Though with smaller lateral tread voids, the sideways evacuation is compromised still. And here the shoulder lugs have a bigger contribution, as they make a continuous rib not allowing particles to leave out laterally.
On the other side, the BF Goodrich KO2 offers a more rugged design, where its shoulder blocks are clearly more combative.
They are staggered unlike the Bridgestone Dueler A/T and offer two different kinds of elongated notches.
Moreover, they also carry stone ejectors in between them.
(The tire actually has dual stone ejectors, where besides conventional ejectors, triangular ones are placed in the tread gaps).
On sides, you get to have thick biting lugs with traction scoops and these combined with chunky sidewall lugs offer a great off-road grabbing abilities.
Though with such aggressive design these lugs aren’t able to provide ample dry traction (lateral) on roads.
But you do get ample directional grip with consistent middle pattern, no doubt.
Tire Toughness
To operate effectively in harsh off-road environments, off-road tires must be designed with durability in mind. To address this requirement, they are given with strong inner plies.
So it makes sense why with more of these “plies”, the BF Goodrich KO2 gets to be more durable.
The tire offers 3 ply polyester + 2 steel belts + 2 spirally wound nylon cap plies.
Whereas, on Dueler AT Revo 3, you get only 2 ply sidewalls and a single cap ply on nylon on the top, just underneath the rubber skin.
For Your Info: In my list of top all-terrain tires, the BFG KO2 is ranked for it’s epic durability.
By the way, I recommend watching this video.
Tread Life
The longevity of a tire’s tread is impacted by more than just rolling resistance, as there are two things here.
- Tread wear rate.
- Tread wear time.
And considering both it can be seen, why Bridgestone Revo 3 provides a better tread life. The tire yields smaller rolling resistance values. And so even though it’s tread compound is softer, it does not wear too fast.
Moreover, it also features tread depth up to 16/32″ (whereas KO2 gives 15/32″), so it also takes more “time” to wear down to 2/32″ of legal limit. (You can check your tire’s tread depth with a penny).
Fuel Efficiency
Rolling resistance is a fundamental characteristic of tire-pavement interaction, but too much of it results in tire being less fuel efficient.
And affecting that include factors like the tire’s weight, and tread structure/composition.
Having said that, it makes sense why out of the two, the BF Goodrich KO2 is less efficient with fuel usage. The tire weighs more, and each of it’s lugs get to bear more pressure on them, increasing rolling resistance.
Also Read – Are A/T tires not as fuel efficient?
Ride Quality
The two crucial components that influence the overall quality of a ride are the tire tread noise and the tire’s ability to handle road imperfections through its tread composition and structure. I’ll explore each of these elements in more detail.
Comfort
The smoothness of a tire’s ride is influenced by its effectiveness in reducing road shocks, with the composition being a crucial factor.
That’s why soft-treaded tires like the Bridgestone Revo 3 lead to a more comfortable driving experience.
The BFG KO2 on the other side, gets a more rigid compound, and that, combined with it’s aggressive shoulders, you get a very edgy overall ride, especially while cornering.
Tread Noise
The creation of tire noise comes from air flow, mostly through the grooves on the outer ribs of the tire’s tread, causing air particles to strike the walls of the blocks to produce unwanted “tread noise”.
That’s why with a continuous running shoulder ribs, the Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 3 cuts down on noise at the very source. Whereas on KO2 you get a more voided design allowing air particles to freely come in and strike around the walls with a greater force, and becoming loud.
Recommended Read –
Are All-Terrain Tires Noisy? : https://tiredriver.com/are-all-terrain-tires-noisy/
Pavement Performance
When determining the dry performance of an all-terrain tire, it’s essential to consider factors such as traction, steering, and cornering. Let’s delve into each of these important components.
Dry Grip
Dry grip of a tire mostly depends on the rubber’s contact the tread makes with the road. That’s why out of both tires, the Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 3 provides a better rolling resistance with the road.
Note I am using the word “better” rolling resistance, as too much of it is also not good for the tire, because it decreases fuel efficiency.
The BF Goodrich KO2 on the other side, lacks with it’s wider grooves.
Sideways Grip
The weight shift towards the sides during cornering, highlights the role of the outer shoulders, meeting up with the road.
That’s why the BFG KO2 having a balder structure there don’t get to provide a good enough rubber to road contact resulting in limited lateral traction.
Steering Communication
Steering sensitivity or communication, depends on two things.
- How consistent is the connection of the tire’s tread with the road?
- And how well lugs resist to flexing, when taking turns.
And considering both, it makes sense why the BF Goodrich KO2 is not able to provide as much of a steering response as it’s competitor.
For Your Info: The Dueler A/T basically is so on-road oriented, that its often used as a 2WD tire as well.
Wet Performance
Wet traction is achieved with water removal capabilities. And it gets escaped out of the tire with two things, grooves, and sipes.
Grooves get to provide the most cleaning, preventing the tire form hydroplaning (which happens when a layer of water comes in between the tire’s tread and the road, and tire loses all contact friction).
Whereas sipes provide grip on a micro level, where the slits open/close biting the watery surface.
For Your Info: Mostly off-roaders aren’t that fast, and since hydroplaning resistance gets measured with float speeds, water isn’t mostly the only thing slowing these A/T tire down.
Winter Performance
Although the Bridgestone Dueler AT is not 3 peak mountain snowflake rated, like the KO2, the tire is still pretty great when it comes to hard packed snow.
Basically 3pmsfr is not every thing. Like some folks think, it does not tell how well a tire is when it comes to braking and handling. It only tells that a tire is 10% better in accelerating on snowy roads, compared to all season tires.
You can read about it further here.
Off Road Performance
Let me divide this sections of different types of terrains, where I’ve experienced these tires.
Muddy Trails
On mud you not only need faster removal, but also scooping. And both these features are better provided on KO2.
The tire has wider interconnected grooves, providing the cleaning component, and with thicker sidewall lugs, with mud scoops on staggered shoulders, you get the needed paddling.
The Bridgestone Dueler Revo 3 is missing with them both, so it can’t provide as much mud traction as the BFG.
Sandy Dunes
To survive on sand, a tire must stay afloat. And so with a softer tread, and lighter weight (on average), the Dueler A/T yeilds a lot of it.
And its U shaped sidewall lugs, although aren’t thick enough, are still covering a good portion of the bead area, and with lowered air pressure they get to providing very less digging.
The BF Goodrich KO2 on the other side, although also features pasted out sidewall lugs, it’s shoulder edges are very prone to sinking in to the sand.
Actually, just underneath its rubber, the tire features 2 ply spirally wound cap plies, and they make things pretty “stiff”, where the harder rubber on top, and shorter tread depth isn’t helping with things either.
On Rocks
A tire suitable for rocky terrains, needs to have a pliable tread, with flexible lugs for superior grip (coming in from every direction). Moreover, you also need sidewalls with robust and long-lasting outer and internal formations.
And so although you get a softer tread on Dueler Revo 3, the tire does not supply with as powerful of a durability, nor you get ample biters, like the hook shaped lugs, and numerous angled notches, seen on KO2.
Whereas BF Goodrich’s boy provides 3 ply sidewalls, and have multiple full depth notches, siping, and biting shoulders to its advantage.
Recommended Read –
Are A/T tires good for rocks? : https://tiredriver.com/are-all-terrain-tires-good-for-rocky-terrains/
Gravel Performance
Self-cleaning grooves are a crucial component of off-road tires for gravely roads, as they eliminate the risk of harm caused by trapped stones and dirt, while also maintaining optimum traction.
That’s why with dual stone ejectors, the BFG KO2 is able to provide better efficacy.
The Revo 3 on the other side, is very inviting to dirt particles. In fact, before taking the image (see tread section), I had to remove a lot of stones from it’s tread.
Conclusion
The Bridgestone Dueler Revo 3, is a better daily driver, as it offers greater on-road grip in both wet and dry conditions. Moreover, it also features superior fuel economy, tread life and comfort levels.
Though it can’t outperform the BF Goodrich KO2 when it comes to all sorts of rugged terrains, but is still great however with sand.
