Help with BFG Mud-Terrain KM tire

Pinzgear · Post by **Pinzgear** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 11:40 am

I have BFG KM's on my truck and have less than 3,000 miles on the tires, almost all highway miles except for a little bit of fairly mild off-roading in the neighbor's farm fields here in Wisconsin. I go up and down some pretty steep dirt/mud hills around his fields, but hardly any rocks or sticks.

A month ago while driving around in the farm fields, I blew out the sidewall on the right rear tire, right below where the tread meets the sidwall. I thought I might have hit a stick or rock weird and that's what caused the tear. Either way, I didn't think that a tire with less than 3k miles which was designed for off-road use should tear like that, so I have been fighting with the local tire shop/Michelin rep to get some money back under the warranty.

Well, over this past weekend, I ran a few of the same trails with zero problems. No flats. Then the next day I went for a 30+mile drive on the highway (pavement). I got home, parked the pinz in the garage, and heard a loud hiss from the right front tire. It had a 2-3inch tear in the same place as the other tire did, right where the tread meets the sidewall.

Am I doing something wrong or are these tires just junk? I am absolutely amazed to have had the same thing happen twice, especially when I'm not doing anything extreme. I have off-roaded for years in AZ with BFG AT's on my Jeep and never had a problem, even with all the rocks.

pinzwheeling · Post by **pinzwheeling** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:10 pm

I've used the BFG MT for many years with zero issues. I guess you could just be unlucky?

undysworld · Post by **undysworld** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:22 pm

Sean,

I assume the tires came on the truck? I don't run those myself, so just a couple general observations.

At least around here, it's not uncommon for pieces of metal to be buried in the ground, especially around farms. Whether it's a part that fell off some farm equipment (commonly on field roads, but anywhere really), or some machine which was simply abandoned and sank in, or old metal fence posts which are down. You might carefully check any trails you drive for such. Any of these could easily do that damage.

Maybe that second tire got damaged at the same time/place as the first, and only started leaking after heating up on-road a bit? (I'd assume you checked the others after the first failure though.)

I'd also check online for people complaining. Just because the rep's unwilling to cover off-road damage doesn't mean the company doesn't have a problem they're aware of. I'd continue to do some investigating.

The fun continues... BTW, did you ever get that speedo issue fixed?

Paul

Pinzgear · Post by **Pinzgear** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 1:09 pm

I guess metal is a possibility, but I'm still having a hard time explaining why it was fine for over a day and a half and then after 30+miles of pavement it started leaking and leaking fast (i.e. big tear). Also, both me and my neighbors have driven ATVs all over those same trails and never had an issue. I just don't know what to think. Weird.

Sean

P.S. No, unfortunately speedo is still not fixed. It's on my winter list of things to do.

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 1:24 pm

Like Paul gave reference to. The front tire may have glanced off what did in the rear tire, and developed a very slow leak that took it's toll with the on-road drive where a tire develops a lot more heat, and flexing if running low on air.
BFG's are generally very good. Now Firestone is another thing ( but they may be my Albatross

)

Higher Ground · Post by **Higher Ground** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 2:05 pm

Up in B.C. the BFG,MT is common . They are a tough tire , however they are not known to have a strong side wall . I currently run the Goodyear MTR on my Jeep and have no problems with sidewall cuts . My past BFG MT's had thin sidewalls , with a tred that seemed to last forever . My current Goodyear has only 20,000 km's and is at 50% tred , they have worn fast !

Pinzgear · Post by **Pinzgear** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 2:08 pm

So do you guys think this is something that should be covered by BFG or not?

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 2:47 pm

The damaged area needs to be inspected to be able to determine a cause.
Remember the mess of a few years back and the finger pointing of Bridgestone and Ford about the Explorers and their tire problem. And from what I've seen over the past 10 years of Pinz posts, most people are riding on tires that are over the rated rim width, and between that and tire pressure used, you can never be sure what will happen. The tire manufacturers spend a lot of time and money in research to set the tires parameter for each size.

As Higher Ground said, The BFG' MT are known for ( for lack of better words) a weaker sidewall, BUT there are tradeoffs. With more plies in the sidewalls, the tire becomes stiffer and flexes less with lighter vehicles and the advantage of using the sidewall to bite is lost. I must assume ( since BFG has smarter engineers than me

) that the gain in traction for the typical weighted vehicle is best for the number of sidewall plies. As technology goes even further, I suspect that there will be tires that will be even tougher in the sidewall and still give good flex for the sidewall bite

Pinzgear · Post by **Pinzgear** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 8:27 am

So what would you guys do? Should I replace all 4 (5 with the spare) tires with something else or just replace them one by one with a different brand when each sidewall blows out?

Thinking about it, it's pretty inconvenient having zero confidence in my tires, but at least I'm out in the neighbor's farm fields right next door if I have a problem. I couldn't imagine having these tires on my pinz and thinking about actually driving off-road in the backcountry wondering how many spares I need to bring along!!!!!

edzz · Post by **edzz** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 10:08 am

As has been stated earlier I’d be inclined to search the area where you experienced the first tire loss for the cause of the damage. The second tire could have been damaged on the same hazard. Replacing tires with a different brand probably won’t solve the problem if the tires were damaged by the same hazard and you keep driving over it.

Ed

Pinzgear · Post by **Pinzgear** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 1:39 pm

Although it COULD be something sticking in the ground, I really doubt it. Like I said, we drive our ATV's all over the same trails a lot more than I use the pinz there and have NEVER had any problems. Not only that, but both tires had tears right in the sidewall, same place, not punctures. I will take the ATV out on the trail again though and see if I see anything.

undysworld · Post by **undysworld** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:18 pm

Sean,

Here's what I'd do, considering you've still got 3 useable near-new tires.

If they warranty them, I'd stay with the BFGs. (I'd always understood that sidewall rips were due to damage, instead of defects. But maybe I'm just confusing that with repairable or not.)

If they won't honor any warranty, I'd buy just one more. That way you've got 4 matched tires. Then I'd get a similarly sized used spare as cheaply as possible, maybe not even exactly the same size but close enough to limp home with. I'd run those 4 tires as long as possible, and then can 'em for something different.

I just don't think it's a wise idea to go mixing and matching tires, especially since 3 of yours still presumably have some years left in them. It may be ok given the slow speeds we drive, but generally it's a no-no.

Squiggas · Post by **Squiggas** » Wed Sep 01, 2010 5:03 am

Long shot - they could be very old and failing with age. You can check the manufacture date by looking at the date code on the side wall, usually at the end of the DOT code. Four digits - first two are week number last two are year number.

Pinzgear · Post by **Pinzgear** » Wed Sep 01, 2010 2:16 pm

Good idea. I will check the date.

I think I will do what Paul suggested--buy one more BFG and a cheap used back-up spare and then see how long the rest last. I will definitely replace them with something else.

Sean

Paul Gudmundson · Post by **Paul Gudmundson** » Thu Sep 02, 2010 2:03 pm

i must say i have been running the same set of bfg's a/t for 10 years now on my pinz with about 40,000 km now and they are at the point where i need to replace. i had no problems with them they were a great set of tires but i should have turned them on the rims DOH! but now i know there is maybe a problem with the newer batches i might find something else. also i know i guy that had superswampers thornbirds and at 3000 k the knobies actualy riped right off while going down the highway so the sure is still on.