There is an influx of questionable new tires on the market. Many are from manufacturers we've never heard of before. Most are overseas tires that any company can just put their name on. "Development" of those tires basically consists of picking whatever tread pattern looks best and coming up with a cool name for it.
Any legit tire company can attest that development of a tire is a long and arduous process. It requires lots of engineering prowess and is cash-intensive. There is nothing quick or easy about tire development. Lots of testing must be executed to ensure a new tire performs. Usually, several different tread patterns are tested extensively to see which one works the best. Engineers have to be up to date on the latest rubber compounds and technology. It all has to come together to create a tire that is better than previous versions. If you are starting with a great tire to begin with, that can be a tall task.
One tire company that is intimately familiar with the development process is BFGoodrich. In 1980, BFGoodrich introduced the original Mud-Terrain T/A tire. In a sea of ill-tempered bias ply tires, the Mud-Terrain T/A was a first. It was an aggressive enough tire for the trail with its open voids and deep lugs, but it was also a radial tire. What was the big deal about that? At the time, the huge majority of tires on the trail were bias ply. While their tough sidewalls were great on the trail, their bias ply construction made them ride rough and vibrate on the highway. The radial construction of the original BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain changed all that. You could now have an aggressive tire for that trail with good street manners. BFGoodrich continued to push the envelope and introduced a massive (for the times) 35-inch-tall version of the Mud-Terrain in 1984.
The bias-ply versus radial tire debate raged on in the early 1980s and was as intense as the battle between Hulk Hogan and Randy "Macho Man" Savage. More companies followed BFGoodrich down the radial tire path. Indeed, some of those earlier efforts weren't as stout as bias-ply tires, but manufacturers did their homework and greatly improved upon the puncture resistance of radial tires, quickly catching up to or surpassing bias ply tires.
Among those manufacturers was BFGoodrich. It developed its original Mud-Terrain over the years, releasing three different versions of it. Then in 2007, it released the all-new Mud-Terrain KM2. It brought on a host of advancements and the KM2 soldiered on largely unchanged for over a decade. But 2007 was a long time ago in terms of technology. To put it in perspective, Steve Jobs walked out onto stage and introduced the world to the original iPhone that same year. Obviously, a lot has changed since then in any form of technology - including tires.
With the KM2 getting long in the tooth, and technology developing at light speed, BFGoodrich knew that it had to keep up. But the company didn't want to rush a tire to market. If it was going to replace the KM2, it had to be with something better. So BFGoodrich spent the last six years developing the next-generation KM3. A lot of time and effort has gone into the new BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain KM3. Let's take a look at it.
