Best Tires for the Lexus Gx470

They took everything that I didn’t like about the KO2… noise, harshness, poor hydroplane resistance… and fixed it. The KO3 is an improvement and is a nice addition to my lifted GX470. The on-center steering is acceptable for a truck but not nimble like my Toyo ATIII. The BFG does have good handling but it feels a little slower to change direction than the Toyo. However, this thing takes the cake for braking performance… snow/dirt/street, it stops well everywhere no matter the conditions. Of course it can’t hang with a winter tire on ice because no A/T can. But, it’s a top tier choice of tire. I’m going to put the same size on LRC on my Tacoma.

Tires are a good all around tire with good highway manners... they unfortunately did not wear well for me and I warrantied them out at about 35k miles because two of the tires had steel belt separations at the shoulder and tread... This was on my daily driven GX470 with little off-road use (only a couple camping trips with rocky 4x4 roads). Due to the faster wear and warranty issue I would not buy them again even for a road queen.

I've had them all on my Toyota truck/suv over the years... BFG KO, KO2, KO3, Toyo AT3, Yokohama GO15, Michelin AT2, etc...

The KO3 is a top tier tire with great technology. The ride is significantly improved over the KO2 in both noise and comfort (the E-rated tire does very well on my GX470). The ONLY two complaints (minor) are 1) steering is slower and definitely makes it feel like a truck. 2) Ice traction is the same... NOT a winter tire... in spite of the newest rubber technology they still haven't improved the ice stopping in spite of the improvements on packed snow and wet roads.

IF you drive more in the rain, get the Toyo AT3... I've never had a better rugged AT tire than this one for keeping the truck tracking straight when you suddenly encounter a deep puddle on the freeway... it doesn't jerk the steering wheel and make you panic like the KO2 did for me. The Toyo and new BFG are hard to discern any major real world differences in snowy roads (when new). We'll see how the full depth siping helps this new BFG over the years... If you want a less rugged looking tire there's plenty of more on-road oriented tires that will handle well in the wet... this isn't my category so I don't typically buy those tires.

At first I thought that they were louder than the tires they were replacing but I soon realized that they were making a higher frequency noise so they were more noticeable. After a couple of hundred miles they have quieted down to a point that I don't notice them with the radio off. Recently I drove through flood conditions hitting water occasionally 4 to 6 inches deep at 35mph and I had complete confidence in the car and tires.

I replaced some Goodyear Assurances with the Nokian One. At first I was angry, I thought the Nokians were noisier than the Goodyears until I realized that the sound was a higher pitch and there for was more noticeable. After a couple hundred miles, the tires are either quieter or I have gotten used to that sound frequency. I sometimes turn the radio off and listen to the tires and road noises and I find them quiet for the different highway surfaces. They handle quite fine for tires on an SUV.