BFG tire disintegration

[monkey44]

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Tire issue - this disintegration happened on a back road. I noticed a low-air warning - looked at tire, seemed OK not flat, not even visibly low. Then drove about a mile or so, heading to the service station to air it. Then this, altho, had to drive about 100 feet or so on it as the road has runoff ditches on both sides - no place to safely pull off.

After removing tire, found a nail embedded, but should only be a slow air leak.

In case you can't tell BFG E 285 70 17 ... 32K miles, about seventy five percent with a 2800 lb Lance camper, not a lot of off road anymore, mainly highway. About 2.5 years on tires. Anyone know of any issues with the BFG KO-2???

Oppps, tried to post image - got that symbol instead - help with image??

[GTO66]

I also had bad set of BFG, however mine were commercial TA.My front tires separated while on a trip at the worse time.Saturday night while driving through Atlanta. These tires were just under four years with 23000 miles.The tread wear was not good and I figured I would be lucky to get 30000 out of them.Since it was a Sunday when I needed to find tires, the only ones available were Westlake. Never heard of them, but can't be much worse then the BFG and the price was a lot less. Also this truck spends it life in a garage unless camping and air pressure is monitor with a tpms system.

[monkey44]

Thanks for all advice ...

Might just stay with stock wheels and new BFG ... hard to break old habits. Might be due for a new truck next year anyway ... been thinking about it once 2020 has been out on market a year or so.

Will probably upgrade the 2008 Lance to a lighter camper too, as we do less cross-country now. Something a bit more compact ... NL Sportsman springs into mind 🙂

[silversand]

monkey44 wrote:
Me too, BFG on four trucks, over thirty years. Seems this one might just be unfortunate timing, picked up a nail and no where to turn out - had to roll, and roll it seemed forever. Finally a turn-out. Don't know the tire date, but will look tomorrow. I've had them around 2.5 to 3 years. Not sure mfgr date. Will post it tomorrow

I had a set of four BFG TA/Ko LR: E tires OEM size (I bought these in 2006; precursor to the more contemporary KO2's). 3 of 4 of these tires developed sidewall and tread cracking very, very badly at the 3 year mark. I take meticulous care of tires, check inflation weekly, cover them up from direct incoming solar when parked for longer times. The camper is a light weight pop-up (nothing heavy) on a 2500HD.

I was quite pi$$ed. Changed them out a little after the 3 year mark for Michelin AT2's. At the 4 year and 7 month mark with the Michelin tires, both front tires cracked badly (rotated yearly, regular wheel alignments). Changed the Michelin tires out for our present tires: Goodyear Duratrac LR: E. Doing well with these after the 4 year mark, presently.

I ALWAYS check the manufacturer's date of manufacture stamp on new tires before they are mounted, and will refuse a tire or tires if the date is older than ~2 months. But, doing forensics on tires I believe is case-by-case (my case may be extremely different for/from other situations).

My take on the defective TA/Ko's is that they were, well, defective from the get-go. I will not buy BFGs again. Your mileage may vary. This was just my personal experience.

[Grit_dog]

Where I live there are ALOT of new takeoff HD truck tire and wheels for sale on Craigslist, form all the folks who put aftermarket wheels on.
IMO they're a good value. Typically $1000or less for a new or almost new set of tires and wheels.
Of course the tires aren't typically the longest lasting or good snow tires, but you can get your money's worth of use out of them as summer tires or have them siped for winter use.

[Grit_dog]

Yeah I've never had bad luck with the several sets of BFG ATs over the years. Haven't run them in a while though.
Agree now, tires not old, truck not loaded, is a suspect tire failure unless it was running really low on air for a good distance at speed. Miles not feet.

My point on the 17" tires is E load 17s are now only made in lighter load index. 121 or 3195lb max is all you can get now. Idk why but the mfgs quit making heavier 17" truck tires several years ago.
You have a truck that weighs 3klbs + empty on the rear axle. Add your moderate size camper and you're at max load rating of even good 17s like your bfgs.
Similar size 18 or 20" are rated higher. For example 275-70-18 E load tires are 125 or 3600+ lb rated.
OE rims are not the weak link IMO. They are very robust and have large factors of safety in my opinion. Can't say the same for all aftermarket rims though. Hence my reccomendstion for takeoff OE wheels in the larger size.

[monkey44]

dodge guy wrote:
I've always had BFG's. never had an issue. What is the date on the tire?

Me too, BFG on four trucks, over thirty years. Seems this one might just be unfortunate timing, picked up a nail and no where to turn out - had to roll, and roll it seemed forever. Finally a turn-out.

Don't know the tire date, but will look tomorrow. I've had them around 2.5 to 3 years. Not sure mfgr date. Will post it tomorrow

[dodge_guy]

I've always had BFG's. never had an issue. What is the date on the tire?

[monkey44]

discovery4us quote: I have had good luck with the BFG KO2 with the exception of mileage. Both sets I had where done at 30k miles.

I agree, BFG are not best for mileage, but I like the ride. Also, despite the flat, at 32K miles, these four still have plenty of tread. Hard to see it in this photo.

Gritdog: Why you say max load with camper?? - pretty max load for truck, sure, but no problems with it over the years. But 'E' rated tires are close to 3000 lbs, so that's 6000 lbs carry unless I misunderstand tire capacity. Camper is only 2800 - dry, probably 3200 loaded as we pack light and shop often.

BTW: Looking at wheels now too, was gonna do wheels anyway with tires next time, so this is next time -- just sooner than I planned 😞

[discovery4us]

I have had good luck with the BFG KO2 with the exception of mileage. Both sets I had where done at 30k miles.

Even being 17s if they are E rated they should be somewhere around 3200 lbs.. Also on a E or higher rating with stiff sidewalls a tire may have lower pressure than it appears due to the lack of a sidewall bulge. With my last set and being in sand I would have to air down to less than 25 lbs. before I would see a significant sidewall bulge.

[monkey44]

Grit dog wrote:
If that nice truck spends much time hauling a camper, I’d look for some 18 or 20” takeoff wheels anyway so you can put some heavy duty tires under it.
Good time to doo it when you need new tires. Can usually get a new or nearly new set of tires and wheels for the cost of just a high $ set of tires.

This truck spends most of its time camping - at least did, until this year. Now we stay home more, but we have an SUV for around town. This truck is sorta my back-up if I go out when Genie takes the car. But it was empty when it blew out. Probably less than three years old tires.

Not sure why seventeen inch rims - stock on my 2500HD - should go larger, but am curious about it. I still buy the 'E' rated tires.

Does an 18 inch E' rated tire carry more weight than 17 inch 'E' rated tire. I've bought the BFG 'E' rated tires for about 30 years and four trucks, always stock wheels -- probably 300K miles or more carrying a truck camper, never had one issue.

AND, that raises the Q? How do I determine which 18 inch A-M wheels will carry the weight. Would not care for fancy look, just functional, although not UGLY either 🙂 🙂 Might go to 18 inch, but not 20 inch, probably. Where best would I look for wheels?

[Grit_dog]

If that nice truck spends much time hauling a camper, I’d look for some 18 or 20” takeoff wheels anyway so you can put some heavy duty tires under it.
Good time to doo it when you need new tires. Can usually get a new or nearly new set of tires and wheels for the cost of just a high $ set of tires.

[Grit_dog]

Not a bfg issue imo, but pretty light tires for camper duty being 17s
Just an unfortunate flat imo.

[JIMNLIN]

After removing tire, found a nail embedded, but should only be a slow air leak.

Tire with 32k miles under a truck camper... tire ran on low pressure to long....tire ran hot till it came a part which is to be expected of any tire under those circumstances.

[Grit_dog]

Yup that happens sometimes. How old of tire? Lost one, not a bfg on my work truck a couple years ago. Screw in tire, went flat on freeway. Buy the time I could pull over it was cut similarly.
Those aren’t very heavy duty tires for hauling that camper given they’re 17s. So there’s that. The back tires have been at max load anytime the camper was on the truck.
IMO not a bfg specific issue, just an unfortunate flat.