NORTH 31.06/WEST 115.38, Mexico — Dan Newsome, BFGoodrich's country marketing manager for light truck tires, takes time during a recent ride-and-drive for the BFG T/A KO2 All-Terrain through the hinterlands of Baja to discuss the rationale behind the second-generation KO all-terrain radial.
Mr. Newsome was part of a cadre of about 40 BFG executives and associates, journalists and Baja race veterans that ran open-wheel buggies and Ford F-150 Raptors through 300 miles of the trails, tracks and roads that make up the annual Baja 500 and 1,000 off-road races up and down the Baja peninsula.
The new tire incorporates technology from BFG's series of competition-tested off-road tires — including the Baja T/A KR2 — to enhance the integrity of the sidewall to improve its resistance to splitting, which Mr. Newsome said it is responsible for 84 percent of all all-terrain tire failures.
Bundled together as “CoreGard” technology, the development combines new sidewall and tread compounds with slightly reinforced upper sidewall/belt-edge.