Both the BF Goodrich KO2 and the Goodyear DuraTrac are considered all-terrain tires. But in case of Duratrac, the tire seems like a hybrid. It has very wild spacing between the blocks, and they are even often mistaken for mud tires. But the impressive thing about them is that, they are very smooth on roads. And off-road, both perform awesomely, but keep in mind that they work very differently.
Having owned both tires, I can attest that the BF Goodrich KO2 performs slightly better on-road, offering superior stability and reduced noise. Off-road, it matches the Goodyear Duratrac in winter traction, though it finds muddy terrains somewhat challenging. Conversely, while the Goodyear Duratrac may not be as durable, it boasts a more aggressive design, greater tread depth across all sizes, and a lighter weight.
The Good things about Duratrac
When it comes to Wrangler Duratrac, the tire gives very impressive hydroplaning resistance, as you’ll see in the upcoming sections. It provides a confident steering response on pavements, where you exactly know your traction limits.
And this becomes even more impressive when you take these puppies off road, and see their amazing biting abilities.
The Good things about KO2
KO2s are very stable on dry roads. They give you a firmer response in terms of handling, with decent grip (as seen by its lateral g forces).
Moreover, the tire’s consistent design allows for a quieter ride, relatively.
Additionally, off-road, the tire is simply put, “impressive”, where it’s most highlighting feature is it’s durability, (talked about it more in it’s respective section).
Tread Appearance
Both of these all terrain tires look very different. In case of Wrangler DuraTrac, the central area has blocks, with saw-tooth edges to them.
All of them are joined together by one another, as they all lie on a secondary rubber layer, acting as foundational support.
Now the tire clearly divides up the shoulders with its central lugs, by wide circumferential grooves.
And these grooves have, what Goodyear calls, Tractive Groove Technology, which is just a fancy term for in-groove biters/secondary tread pattern that you see.
The shoulder lugs are relatively bigger (in size), and run in pairs (every two of them join up with each other), adding to tire’s handling stability.
Moreover, siping here also vary a little, where they form a more inter-locked pattern.
Other than this you get similar off-set edges, and of course huge lateral voids.
But yes, these voids, don’t have any stone ejectors in them, which is very odd.
Moving towards the BF Goodrich KO2, this tire actually provides you with 2 different types of stone ejectors.
While the traditional ones run between shoulders, you also see small triangular ones, on outer grooves.
Speaking of which, the tire offers very interconnected pathways of these grooves.
This is due to the worm-like interlocking structure of the blocks.
These lugs feature full depth sipes, and have a lot of off-set edges, adding to their weird shapes.
And while they are slightly elongated, the shoulder lugs are bigger, overall, and even more aggressive.
These outer lugs are seen with multiple in-groove notches and thicker lateral voids in between.
Moreover, they are also staggered, with every other shoulder block forming a scoop, towards sidewalls.
Speaking of which, unlike the DuraTrac, here the sidewalls are bulkier.
Durability
When it comes to off road tires, durability is something you can not miss. Rugged terrains have a lot sharp objects which can seriously hurt the tire. Where besides stones, sharp pointy logs are often overlooked. They pierce the sidewalls pretty easily.
But I’ve never had this issue with BF Goodrich KO2. It’s claimed to be the toughest tire ever (by its company) and looking at it’s inner construction, it really goes along with that.
The tire has very strong polyester covering inside which is made of 3 layers. Then there are 2 steel belts which are sandwiched with spirally wound nylon covering.
So the KO2 provides 3 ply polyester sidewalls, where its counterpart only offers 2.
For Your Info: E rated tires of DuraTrac used to have 3 ply sides, but for some reason they decided to change it.
Tread Life
Tread life is a tricky subject and it’s dependent on a lot of factors. But let me start off by this here; both tires with their dual compound give a better than expected life.
I didn’t mention any warranty that comes with these tires, as they don’t prove anything.
Both tires have cut resistant rubber, but the Wrangler Duratrac with it’s softer make chips off quicker in comparison.
The BF Goodrich KO2 on the other hand, with it’s stiffer compound takes a while. The tire also has less biters and with a consistent design, so it lasts very long especially if they are mostly driving them on roads.
Goodyear Wrangler don’t do better on road, their stickier compound have more rolling resistance and besides providing less fuel efficiency, they also wear faster when compared.
But overall, I’d rate both tires equal here, and that’s because, Duratrac has more tread depth, and the deeper the tread, the more time it takes to wear. This factor is often overlooked here.
Recommended Read: Do A/T tires wear faster?
Dry Performance
When it comes to dry roads, there are a few things to keep in mind. Of course dry traction is there which further divides in to grip and handling, but there is also steering response, and the cornering ability.
Both of these tires provide you with a very good lateral g forces, and the dynamic response of both tires really surprises, given that they are off road.
Dry Traction
Dry traction is very dependent on the rubber to road contact. The more the contact, the more the grip.
So in case of Goodyear Duratrac, where you get larger block valleys, even though you get a broader tire, it still does not make a good contact with the road in comparison.
On the other hand, the BF Goodrich KO2 with it’s consistent central area and less spacing between the blocks, the tire is able to provide better grip.
However, on corners, both tire’s give out almost same steering response, both tires communicates with you very quickly, although you may see slight over-steering in case of KO2.
Wet Road Traction
Wet traction is very dependent on the tire’s composition and the design of the sipes it has.
Both tires offer full depth sipes but here the Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac offers more interlocking between these 3D sipes, so the design advantage goes to this tire.
And as for the composition, again these tires also provide a higher silica rich rubber, so they are slightly softer when compared.
It’s softer rubber makes it’s siping more spongy and so it’s able to clear water from it’s path quite efficiently.
BF Goodrich KO2 although has full depth sipes as well, they are not as flexible to contract and expand.
Hydroplaning
Another factor of wet performance is largely credited to Aquaplaning, where the float speeds are measured which tells how fast you can go over standing water.
And although, you will feel the same performance on both tires, the Wrangler Duratrac has an upper edge.
It’s simply math if you look at it. The wide spacing on the Duratrac’s tread combined with more tread depth on all sizes, simply provides easier path for water to leave the tire.
On the other hand, the BF Goodrich KO2 also provide efficient channels from it’s grooves, but it float speeds average comes out slightly lower when compared.
Comfort On/Off Road
With a high polymer composition of Goodyear Duratrac, the tire where it gives more flexibility to siping, also makes the tire spongy. So it is able to take on impacts in a better way.
The more tread depth of the tire also provides larger thickness, for those impacts to subside.
But these tires are very loud, and you will feel them even with Pantera on (metal band).
On the other side, the placement of blocks on BF Goodrich KO2 provide variable pitches through out which dampens on road noise, making these tires very silent.
Winter Performance
Winter performance depends on a lot of factors and both tire’s have very different way of working here. But at the end of the day, subjectively, they both would feel to have very similar traction values.
Both of them have 3 Peak Mountain Snow Flake rating which tells you that they would have no problem in the acceleration department.
The Wrangler Duratrac with it’s silica rich compound provides more resistance against lower temperatures, as it softer rubber can bear more negative degrees until it hardens up.
On the other hand, the BF Goodrich KO2 is not as broader, and this helps the tire put more pressure on the snow.
It’s design as I talked about in the Tread section above, is very good at trapping things in it’s grooves, and with more pressure (being a narrow tire), it’s able to make better snow to snow contact.
Off Road Traction
Off road, there are a lot of terrains to consider, but some most challenging ones out there are worth discussing, so I discussed all of them below.
Mud Terrain performance
BF Goodrich KO2 faces a really hard time on mud. The tire is very good at trapping things in it’s grooves, so it’s not able to self clean itself in a better way.
It’s interconnected grooves don’t let more volume of mud to escape, but still it’s shoulder blocks fight till the end with staggered scoops.
Goodyear Duratrac on the other hand, has no problem in self cleaning. The tire provide a very decent path, so no mud is accumulated.
It also has staggered shoulders combined with bulky sidewall lugs which improve the tire’s scooping abilities further.
On Rocks, Dirt and Gravel
Both tire’s are champ on rocks. The central section of both tires, provide all the biting edges and crawlers that you need.
Wrangler Duratrac has an advantage of softer compound which provide more friction as it’s lugs molds over the rocks.
While the BF Goodrich KO2 has the advantage of durability and small blocks with sipes. The durability of the gives you confidence to take them anywhere while the small blocks and sipes aid with it’s crawling abilities.
On Sand
Sand traction is very much affected by the tire’s weight and composition.
The BF Goodrich although has no problem on light sandy terrains, but with deeper sand, the tire takes the back seat and it’s weight and stiffer sidewalls don’t allow it to have better values, especially while on slope. The tire starts digging, and loses its forward momentum (but this is for newbies, experienced drivers know how to handle deeper sand with KO2s).
Wrangler Duratrac provide better incline traction, the tire is lighter in weight and offers less stiff sides.
It keeps it’s forward momentum going, but it really demands that you keep your foot on the pedal.
Take Home Points
Both tires are popular for these all reasons we discussed. And all the topics we covered here really help you choose a tire which is best suitable for your need, as they both work very differently.
And overall, generally you simply can’t put a finger on either one of them.
Both are great on snow with 3pmsfr. They perform great on roads. There’s a bit of a noise issue with Duratrac, but I think its very overrated.
Off road, they both are very impressive, but BF Goodrich KO2’s durability really takes a large piece of the pie.
Very informative, thanks