Is the KO3 a good fit for the frosty overlanding, snowy backcountry?

Which is why its approach for designing the new KO3 was iterative rather than clean-sheet. Essentially, the team identified what worked, then sought to make each element better, ending up with a new tread pattern and a new all-terrain compound.

Technically, yes. It bears the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol, an industry standard earned by tires which pass a rigorous third-party test for grip in wintery conditions. BFG says this means it’s legally compliant in places like Quebec and other areas where winter tires are required by law during certain parts of the year, a feature not shared by some other all-terrain tires.

Brandon Sturgis, the global product manager for BFG off-road tires, told us that despite the KO3 being marketed as an off-road tire with Baja provenance as a champion of the desert, it is a category of tire in which the three-peak mountain snowflake designation is almost a ‘must have’. His team’s consumer research shows it’s a key feature desired by consumers, even ones not in the snow belt. Sturgis feels one reason it ranks highly is that buyers have already checked the option box for all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, suggesting they’re automatically thinking of these conditions right out of the gate.

Some folks make the case that a dedicated set of winters, designed for nothing but snow and ice instead of such conditions plus off-road grunt, will provide better results when Jack Frost really gets nasty. There can be merit to that argument, especially in parts of our country where what falls from the sky is not to be believed.

In short, mechanical and molecular features are the two puzzle pieces which determine the grip levels of a tire when things get chilly — which is to say when the thermometer drops below 7 degrees Celsius.

Mechanical tools are most commonly defined by a tire’s tread pattern, referring to how tread blocks are arranged, voids between them, and the number of sipes in each block. With off-road meats like the KO3, integrated features like sidewall details intended to deflect trail hazards are also part of the mechanical mix. Those voids amid the tread blocks are carefully engineered, as companies have learned these areas can assist traction when full of snow. How? Try walking over ice in winter boots with clean soles versus a pair with snow stuck to them and report back to us.

Same goes for sipes. Those are the little zig-zag lines in a tire’s tread blocks whose job is to open up ever so slightly when pressed into a driving surface, providing more biting edges into snow or ice. As with the previous paragraph, we’ll give you some homework to prove their function. Take a piece of styrofoam from an Amazon package and slide it across your kitchen counter. We’ll wager it slid pretty easily. Now, take a blade and carefully make a series of shallow cuts in the styrofoam before again sliding it across the counter. Different, eh? That’s sipes at work, or the basic concept behind them, anyways.

Molecular tools for winter grip are baked into the secret brew of a tire’s rubber compound, typically a closely guarded secret mixture whose recipe is more closely guarded than that of the Krabby Patty. Winter appropriate tires typically have good amounts of silica, permitting the rubber to stay flexible in cold temperatures. Tread is easy to see (and copy); compounds, less so. Molecular properties are nigh invisible yet greatly inform the KO3’s ability to remain pliable and grip the driving surface once the mercury drops. Poorly selected compounds, which can appear on budget tires, tend to remain rock hard compared to molecular structures found on big name brands. 

We tested the BFG Trail-Terrain T/A+ earlier this year in Colorado, a tire aimed at customers who seek a dose of off-pavement action but perhaps not to the level of a person who takes to the B.C. backcountry every other weekend. The Trail-Terrain T/A+ is designed to handle lighter off-road duties than the burly KO3, such as a cratered dirt road leading to the cottage. Its difference lies in trading some off-road grunt for demonstratably quieter pavement-based rides on one’s way home from dirt trail adventures. The KO3 won’t drive you batty on the road but, to paraphrase Newton’s Third Law of Motion, every off-road grip tool generally has an equal and opposite on-road noise profile. 

Sturgis tells us buyer data suggests the tire is part of a growing market in which people are taking machines like a Ford Bronco Sport or Toyota RAV4 TRD and turning them into smaller overlanding(ish) rigs for weekend warrior activities like backcountry hiking or mountain biking. In making their vehicles a bit more capable than stock, yet not modifying them to the point they’re uncomfortable going into town, winter tire certification and soft-surface traction are important.

With those advantages, it’s clear why a growing number of overlanders and weekend warriors are pushing into the backcountry with tires like the KO3. And, really, rubber bearing the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol helps in just about any condition when ambient temps are below 7 degrees Celsius; extra traction in simple cold weather can also be of massive benefit. Mixing those capabilities with those of an all-terrain tire can help explain the KO3’s popularity.

Sign up for our newsletter Blind-Spot Monitor and follow our social channels on X, Tiktok and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest automotive news, reviews, car culture, and vehicle shopping advice.