BF Goodrich Mud-Terrain KM3

Back in the early 1980s, BF Goodrich introduced an unconventional tyre that would forever change the way we thought about off-road traction.

- Chris Collard

They called it the T/A Mud-Terrain: “T/A” borrowed from their successful line of streetperformance offerings, and the rest for the type of terrain it would call home. It was the first such tyre with an aggressive tread design, deep voids, and radial construction.

The impact was such that, in the following years, nearly every tyre manufacturer in the genre would introduce a variant of BFG’s original design. In 1984, the company rocked the four-wheel drive community with a 35-inch version: a massive tyre for the time. This new ‘miracle’ tyre provided extra ground clearance, and, at low air pressure, its soft sidewall deformed like a warm marshmallow. However, we also found to be susceptible to pinching, tearing and punctures.

During the following decades, the tyre underwent several revisions, ultimately appearing as the KM2 in 2007. With technology moving at light-speed, the company’s engineers went back to the drawing board, to CAD systems, and to chemists, and spent the last six years developing the fifth-generation T/A MudTerrain: the KM3.

We recently tested the KM3 in the Victoria Highlands, Australia, on terrain ranging from high-speed gravel twee spoor and dry granite, to softsand, moderate mud, and windy mountain tarmac.

NVH