BFG AT/KO for Freelanders - 21 Nov. 2004

By MuddyOval member lagged

BFG AT/KO for Freelanders

It was finally time to replace those old bald Wrangler HP's. Based on recommendations and reviews of the BFGoodrich AT/KO tire I decided to give them a shot.

I ordered a set of five from costco.com in the 225/70/16 size. This size is the largest tire that will fit the Freelander and still have no chance of rubbing. I did not want to go up to the 75 size because of rubbing and the effects it would have on handling. 


First, here are the old tires to compare against.


That is the front of the Hippo with the old Goodyear Wrangler HP's that come stock from the factory. The measurement to the fender was 30 and 1/4 inches.


Here is the old rear tire. The measurement here is closer to 30".


And now with the new tires installed. Costco mounted and balanced them for me, already included in the price of the tire. 


Here is the front with new tires installed. Measurement is 31 1/8", an increase of 7/8". 


Here is the rear, the measurement is 31 1/4", an increase of 1 1/4.This is probably because I more cargo when I measured the rear with the old tires. It should be closer to 7/8 inch of increase.

The new tires give a nice increase in clearance and traction without too many sacrifices. I haven’t gone offroad with these yet, but in the mud of a construction site they did a thousand times better than the bald Wranglers. Handling is better than the stock tires because the BFG AT/KO have a much stronger sidewall. The new tires are a little bit noisier, but I still have to fiddle with air pressure to see if I can fix that problem.

At Costco they now fill tires with Nitrogen, which is why the caps are green. I don't know if it makes a difference, but they were excited about it.