- G'day.
Today at the warehouse we've got the BFGoodrich KM3.
(relaxing electronic music)
BFGoodrich are the default choice
for a lot of off-roaders in Australia,
because they've got this reputation for building
durable products that are reliable off-road,
and the KM3 is actually the latest in a line of KM tyres.
So they're the BFGoodrich mud terrain tyres,
replacing the KM2.
KM2's actually still available on the market,
not sure for how long,
so I assume that that is now their more
reasonably priced offering, because BFGoodrich actually are,
they're at the higher end of the market,
so you know when you're buying these
that you are gonna buy something that has
the backing of a well-known manufacturer,
and has been on the market for a while.
But the KM3, they're saying its
percentage is better then the previous one.
I know that it comes in 60 different sizes,
so quite a wide range of sizes,
all the way from a 14-inch rim,
which actually fits a 28-inch tyre,
so that'll probably make the Subaru guys happy.
And then it goes all the way through to a 22-inch rim
that is a 37-inch tyre,
so that'll make the serious off-roaders happy.
So the KM3 is actually BFGoodrich's
most serious off-road tyre
that can still be legally driven on the road,
so you won't get more aggressive than this from them
if you're actually looking
to drive it to work and back or whatever.
But let's take a bit of a look
at some of the features of this tyre close up.
So, BFGoodrich are actually saying
that the sidewalls are 27% tougher,
and that it's gonna be able to climb rocks 8% better,
so 8% better traction,
and also they reckon that they're 5% better in the mud.
So how are they achieving that?
The sidewalls themselves, they've actually used
a new technology that they're calling
CoreGuard Max technology, which is actually
better polyester, better other stuff,
that it means that it's gonna be
more resistant to punctures and tearing off of road.
They've also got this
Traction-Armor Sidewall Sculpture, that they're calling.
So that's this jobbie here on the side,
which I noticed it's reversed on the other side,
so when you're looking at it, it actually,
this bites in this way,
the other one bites in the other way,
so if you're stuck in the mud,
it's pulling in two different directions,
even though the tyre is rotating that way.
They've also got these mud-phobic bars here,
which they say are gonna make it more likely
that the tyre is gonna eject mud from these voids.
So they're sort of similar to stone guards,
or stone deflectors, or stone ejectors,
or whatever you want to call it,
depending on which manufacturer you're talking about.
But they're a little bit bigger,
and so they're more likely to spit mud out,
according to BFGoodrich.
If we turn the tyre around, (groans)
something to note is
that they're actually quite a lot heavier.
I mean, these are a larger tyre
than what we usually run on our off-road,
but they're definitely a heavier tyre,
so that's something to take into account
if you're cautious about fuel economy or anything like that.
So, they also reckon they're building this linear flex zone,
which is actually across here,
which means it's gonna be able
to conform around obstacles more easily,
and they're also pointing out that they've just got
these friggin' massive blocks.
So there's not many, actually there's no,
real fine siping in here, there's a few bigger sipes.
So just be conscious that these are not gonna be
fantastic on the road, because they're not gonna be
that great at dealing with,
or there's not enough tread face on the road.
So in comparison to an all-terrain tyre,
or a highway terrain tyre, they're not gonna
hold the road as well in most conditions.
However, off the road, these blocks
will really come into their own,
and they'll be able to cut into the dirt,
and into the mud, and into the rock.
Well, not cut into the rock, but grip the rock far better
than an all-terrain tyre or a highway terrain tyre would.
BFGoodrich say that this contains their Krawl-TEK compound,
which is the actual stuff that the tyres are made up of.
I mean, they're saying that they're designed
with these industry-leading compounds, that are designed
to enhance grip on rock and slick surfaces,
which basically means they're gonna be stickier
than probably your average all-terrain tyre,
which means that again,
they're gonna stick better to that rock.
As per most mud-terrain tyres though,
I would expect these tyres to wear down faster,
so you won't get as many K's out of these tyres,
and if you don't balance them and that sort of thing,
then they're probably gonna get noisier faster as well.
So noise is the other thing to be conscious of
with mud tyres, so it'll be really interesting to see
how these perform once we put them on to our long-term test
with that noise.
So we're putting these BFGoodrich KM3's
onto our long-term test Landcruiser.
It's a 200 series, it's had some Falcon mud terrain tyres
on for a little while.
Now we're switching out to the BFGoodrich,
so it'll be really interesting to see how that goes
over the next 10,000 K's.
What I'll be paying attention to,
or what I'll want him to pay attention to,
is how noisy are they gonna be,
how are they gonna handle on the road,
and also, how are they gonna handle off the road
where they're actually intended to.
So we'll put them through their paces
and then report back to you guys
as to how they go for day-to-day life,
as well as getting stuck into the off-road, so stay tuned.
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