The Truth According to BF Goodrich Guys

[MagicMtnDan]

During our all-day desert run on Saturday we went to Ocotillo Wells where they were having Tierra del Sol, a large event focused on all things Jeep.

BFGoodrich had a truck there with some BFG experts and their tires on display.

We chatted them up and talked about our Raptor and their tires. I specifically wanted to find out if the rumors about the Raptor having BFGs with a "special tread composition" are true. Note: I was very skeptical because of two reasons: (1) There's no information about a "special BFG tire" for the Raptor in any of the manuals and paperwork that came with the Raptor, and (2) there aren't any special markings on the outside of the BFG All-Terrain TA KO tires so there's no indication that I've found telling us it's a special BFG tire.

Jeffrey and I talked to a BFG product expert at the event and he confirmed my suspicions - the BFGoodrich All-Terrain TA KO tires on the Raptor are the same as their other BFG tires.

I'm confident in this information but if anyone has any information to contradict this please share it with us.

 

[bradyh20]

Good find! I was wondering the same thing. If it was a different compound, that led to dozens of other questions I had...

 

[SOCOMech]

Hmmm.......I think I'm gonna go with what Ford is saying, there's just been too much put out there about it for it to actually be a lie, ya know? I kind of put those BFG guys in the same boat as a car salesman......they're there to represent the product but, they may not actually know everything about it. Plus, maybe they were just talking about the overall tire and look, maybe they don't know of the different compound. I don't know if you'd actually be able to tell the diffirence in usage though. Ford even said that the tire would be $200 at your dealer........maybe contact a dealer's parts dept. and ask for a diffirence in part #'s?

 

[Kinkrider888]

MMD is correct. I went to the Ford dealership today and realized that there is a specific BFG tire you have to get for the raptor. This tire is available to everybody but when you do get one make sure it says weight load D on the tire. That is the only thing "special" about it.

 

[MarkT]

I think the stories are both true. I'm pretty sure Ford worked closely with BFG on making changes to the tire. I also doubt that Ford lied about that.

But I also would bet that any of the BFG TA KO tires of the exact same size and load range as the factory Raptor tires are the same no matter where you buy them... BFG may have even made the changes to their entire line of this model tire.

 

[MagicMtnDan]

I don't think this is anything but semantics. There is nothing special about these tires in regard to the SVT Raptor and Ford essentially says so in the Supplemental Maintenance manual while they also call the tires, "unique". If there was anything "special" about the tires on the Raptor there would have to be special markings on the tires!

This is from page 26 of the Supplemental Maintenance manual:

IMPORTANT TIRE INFORMATION
Your SVT vehicle is equipped with unique wheels and tires designed to enhance performance and appearance. To continue providing this performance, extra care must be taken when operating and maintaining your vehicle.

TIRES
Your SVT vehicle is equipped with high performance, all-terrain tires that are designed to optimize handling, steering and braking to provide the performance you expect in an SVT vehicle. These tires are optimized for both on and off-road performance, and their ride, noise and wear characteristics are different than other tires. Also, because of their aggressive tread profile, it is important that you maintain your tires properly.

And this is from page 27:

When replacing tires, the only way to assure original performance is to use the original equipment tire. If a different tire is used, it should be the same size, speed rating and load rating.

It's clear to me that there is nothing more special about the tires on the Raptor than it was the tire that was used when optimizing the suspension design and performance.

IMO, the tire was not designed, modified or produced specifically for the Raptor. It's a great tire with known performance that was used when developing and fine tuning the vehicle.

And obviously, if other tires meet the size, speed rating and load rating they're absolutely "acceptable" to Ford and their tire criteria.

Source of info: 2010 Raptor Supplement

 

[ChadB]

I do know that there are two different speed ratings. What doesn't make sense to me is that between the two speed ratings, the overall size seems to be different. The revs per minute and width seem to very per speed rating (per BFG's website).

 

[ChadB]

Also it shows the speed rating "S" is Ford OEM and "R" is GM OEM. So there is a difference but nothing to speak about

 

[MarkT]

I understand your point but I know BFG does test and change rubber compounds. (I was semi-sponsored by them back in the early 90's and got to try out a new compound they were considering for the Radial T/A which had already been out for several years.) It seems plausible to me that BFG would work with Ford to make changes that were then incorporated into the entire tire series or at least the Raptor-specific size.

If the question is are the tires so "special" that you wouldn't want to change them to another brand for fear of significantly hurting the performance... like say taking off the Fox Shox and replacing them with "Sear's Best" would? I doubt it. There are probably better tires out there as well as worse tires.

But I still don't doubt something "special" was done to the tires... I've seen some of the R&D BFG does first hand. Does anyone know if the exact Raptor size existed before the Raptor was first tested? it could be as simple as Ford asking BFG for a size of TA KO that didn't exist yet. (remembering that the Raptor testing started at least a couple of years ago)

 

[MagicMtnDan]

Jeffrey and I talked to the BFG expert at the Tierra del Sol expo in Ocotillo Wells and we discussed this. He said there's nothing special about the BFG All-Terrain T/A KO tires used by Ford on the Raptor.