First off, a mud tire isn't just for mud anymore. A mud tire has to be ready for anything and everything-from rocks to dirt to snow to swamps. It wasn't always that way, of course, but the success of the mud-tire design has proved capable in so many situations that it has risen above its label to become the do-everything tire. Practically every company that makes a light-truck tire offers a mud-tire tread of some sort, but no other tire has played a bigger role in creating this segment than the BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain.
When you make a tire that is so influential to the marketplace, you have to be careful not to dilute the credibility you've built, so the BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain has only had two tread designs in the last 30 years. That's an impressive track record, but as technology has improved and the competition has become fierce, BFGoodrich decided it was time to reinvent its Mud-Terrain T/A to maintain its appeal-hence the new Mud-Terrain T/A KM2.
To find out how the new tire works, we spent a month with BFGoodrich's Mud-Terrain T/A KM2. We mounted a set of 37x12.50R18 tires on Airaid's Ford F-250 and drove them back and forth to work to get a feel for their road manners. We also took them into the mountains north of Los Angeles to test them in the dirt and rocks, and we borrowed a new Jeep Wrangler to try them out in the mud. Here's what we found out.
 BFGoodrichMud-Terrain T/A...  BFGoodrichMud-Terrain T/A KM2For those in the know, the new BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM2 looks like one of BFGoodrich's other tires, the Krawler. The family resemblance is no accident, as the Krawler's linear flex zones have proved themselves on rocks and other extreme off-road obstacles. The Krawler has even created a new designation within BFGoodrich called Krawler-TEK. The idea was to carry over some of the Krawler's extreme off-road capability to the new Mud-Terrain, but with less cost, lower weight, and better on-road traits. |  In its natural habitat, the...  In its natural habitat, the Mud-Terrain T/A KM2 still thrives on mud. The more aggressive paddlelike tread is well suited for diesel trucks that have enough torque to keep them spinning in 4-Hi. On less powerful gasoline-powered vehicles, the new tread design may be too aggressive in some cases and could conceivably bog the engine. |  On the street, the new Mud-Terrains...  On the street, the new Mud-Terrains were louder than the Nitto Dune Grapplers we previously had on the truck. The large tread voids that gave us great traction were also responsible for the new noise. It's interesting to point out, however, that the sound-deadening material Ford engineers use to block out the clatter of the diesel also does an excellent job of shielding the passenger compartment from the noise associated with mud tires. |