Preface:
My 2009 H2 came w/ 20s. While they are nice wheels, tires for this size or larger are very expensive. While there's some benefits, I really can use a larger sidewall for the potholes we have here & the metal pipping sticking out of the curb.

I also owned a 2003 H2 w/ the original KOs & loved them. More on that later...

Cost:

The difference in cost between the BFGs in a 17 & nittos in a 20 were enough that buying 17" wheels was only an extra $150.

I believe the tires were $300 each, but are now about $288.
The wheels were $157 each.
Tirerack mounted & balanced them for free.

The price since I bought these has gone down $12ish a tire + there's a $70 MIR (mail in rebate) if you buy these now.


Reasons for buying this tire: Biased opion
So why didn't I buy a Nitto or Toyo? That's what everyone is running these days!
My experience with the original BFG KOs stems back to when the Hummer H2 came out in 2003. I got about 89K miles out of the first set & sold the 2nd set the vehicle with an insane amount of tread. The only time they failed me was in deep mud (which I had no business wheeling in) & when our bridges here in NOLA froze in 2008/2009, and even then, most tires will fail in icy conditions (we do not salt roads, nor have a budget for that). Considering it's not a dedicated mud tire, it handled everything I threw at it.

I've had poor experiences with Toyo tires (worst ride of any AT I've ever had the experience to test, & traction in wet conditions was crap, plus the stupid thing was 81 lb for an 18" wheel), I have never tried Nitto (but I've heard good things, but only moderate tread wear life of 50k-ish miles). Being concerned about ride quality & longevity, not just offroad/onroad performance in poor conditions, I went with what I consider to be a solid tire made by a good company.

Michelin does not make an AT tire (or highway tire) wider than 285, and that tire is just under 33". The 275 on the 20 is 34", but too narrow, but if I'm wrong about that, please correct me. Michelin also owns BFG, in case anyone wasn't aware of this. If I were to buy a highway tire (and 275s were ok), I'd get an M/S2. The ride is incredible, but unfortunately, they don't cater to larger tire sizes.

Wheels:
The wheels are Ultra 250 Colossus 17x9s, with a +12 offset. They seem to fit perfectly. I also like the look & the price is oddly enough reasonable, even for a 17" wheel. They weigh 33 lb each, so they are not on the light side. I believe you can get wheels in this size up to 10lb lighter, so that's something to consider if you are interested a tire with a 17" wheel.

Why did I buy these wheels?
I liked them, first & foremost.
Many people buy rockstar wheels & while they are nice, I hate to just be like everyone else. I owned a set of Fuel Hostage wheels, so I've been down the road of "fit in with the crowd" wheels. I believe these look very good on the silver H2. If you have a black H2, They may look good as well, but wouldn't fit in with an blacked-out theme.


If you've actually bothered to read this far, thanks for enduring the wall of text. Here's some pics of the set up.

From the front:
As you can see, the vehicle does sit cocked due. The left tire is the BFG (35x12.5r17) & the right is an old Goodyear SR-A (305/60r20), so despite a technical 0.6" height difference (should only raise the vehicle just under 1/3"), it's noticeable.




Some shots of the wheel itself:



Here is a comparison of the stock wheels/tires vs new:



I will not give a review of the tires yet.
I have a lot of suspension work to do on the H2, namely bump stops & shocks. Both are worn out & not working at all.
I will say that over the SR-As, these ate up a bit more of the major bumping in the road. They did however have a harsher ride, but that means nothing as I have absolutely no clue what the PSI in the tires is right now.

Just sit back & wait about a month (you'll see why) & I'll give a full review of these tires with functioning shocks & bump tops.


If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

 

For sure, original Hummer H2 BFG Tires are good choice! That's why GM put these tires on Hummers in 2003. So you made good choice!

 

I applaud you for that.
It's your truck. Why not make it unique.

 

I love the BFG tires. It's good to buy American made products. I also dig the way you put the white letters out. When I wear out my BFG KO I will replace them with the KO2's or GoodYear Duratracs.

 

They really were a solid tire.
From what I read, the original KOs went down in quality after some time & were responsible for death wobble on some vehicles. My last pair purchased was either in 2007 or 2008, so I can't really comment on the current quality of the KOs in stock.

There aren't really enough sizes of the KO2 to go around. If you have 17s (reasons I moved down in size), 35s & 37s are an option. There's so a 34x10.5r17. Odd little tire, but I've some some people excited for it. Maybe they want it because of the niche size or running a nearly 35" tire on a small truck without the tires sticking out?

Anyways, I'll drive these around & see what they do.

I will mention this; I drove through some gravel yesterday & the tires are picking up small rocks. I don't recall the original KOs doing that as much, but it's been a few years since I had them.


Thanks!
They look a lot better in person than in the pictures.

Thanks. I wasn't sure if I wanted to have the lettering in our out. I figured I'd go out, since, again, everyone puts them in. Not trying to be a hipster, but it's not as if I have a blacked out H2. That would be a different story. The letters were all blue. The camera on my phone did not shift have blue shift, causing that. It's rubbing off, but somewhat strange.

If you go riding in mud a lot, you probably want the Duratracs, just based on the tread design alone.

 

I like the KO2 but unfortunately it's an E rated tire for the 35x12.5x17 size. If it was D rated then I would be all for it. Maybe more of a reason to get the 37x12.5x17...

 

Nope, I've had Duratracs on my H3 for over 5 years. They are terrible in mud.
They are excellent in everything else though, dirt, sand, rain, snow, rocks.
I've put them thru their paces but I know that I have to be careful in mud.

 

I had the opportunity to change the PSI levels & here's my initial results.

PSI 71:

This was the PSI tirerack inflated them to before shipping. Harsh ride, mostly jerky/jouncy. Rode fairly well behaved, all things considered.

PSI 55:

This PSI caused a lot of vibration, especially in the seats. The back of the seat kept bumping against my back. Expansion joints, bumps, & pot holes were felt all over the vehicle.

PSI: 45

This is the best so far. These ride better than the stock Goodyear S-RAs on 20s. More major bumps are soaked up along with small bumps. Overall, a better ride, despite needing bump stops / shocks. No wandering was noticed either. The vehicle felt far more planted than at 71 PSI. I'll be taking the H2 out on the interstate tomorrow night, so I'll give you guys more of an impression then.

I have a good feeling, for street only use, I can make this vehicle feel like I'm on a cloud.

I've noticed, despite the tire brand, 66% of max PSI tends to provide the best ride characteristics for ride quality when not towing or hauling heavy loads.

What's the problem w/ an E rated tire? I've had E rated highway tires that rode like I was on a cloud.


Glad to clarify & correct. I'd have figured w/ larger lugs, it would be be good. I guess the smaller ones, closed packed down the center kill the muddling capability?

I've read that the KO2s (other forums, I think on Tacomas) didn't do very well in mud. I have yet to test it & without a winch, I'd be very iffy to try right now!

I guess if you want to mud, get a mud tire! Makes sense to me, lol.

 

Small update.
I've had these tires between 1000 to 1500 miles (I need to check the OD), but that's the general mileage.

The only harsh terrain so far is gravel which is probably less than 1/10 of a mile & a hair of offroading on soft grass, lol. Everything else is in city, highway & probably the worst, New Orleans potholes.

The rubber seems really soft.
Softer than the KO1. So much so that even now, I can still deform the rubber with hand pressure.
As well, notice all of the cuts, knicks, and gouges in the tread. Our roads are not the best, by all means, I'm shocked at how poorly its wearing. My KO1s looked brand new at this point, even 10k miles, heck even 15k miles into their life. The edges of each tread look worn as well. At least worn for 1500 miles of on road usage.


Here's a few pics:




I'm hoping they will last, but if they wear much earlier than expected (if I don't get 70k miles, I'll be really irritated), I'll contact BFG directly & see what they have to say.

I'm running about 52 PSI right now. I might increase the pressure a hair & see how they do, but I don't know if that should be necessary. The max PSI is 65 for these.

 

Thank you for the write up on these tires. I have these on mine right now (have no clue how old they are) they were put on prior to me purchasing the truck. They are wearing evenly but they are cracking and one has developed a slight leak. They are great for what i use them for. I am getting ready to get new tires and have narrowed my decision down to either another set of these or the discoverer at3. $6 less for the at3 and it has a 55k limited warranty. But i just love the bfg's.
By the way- i really like your wheels!
I look forward to more feedback on the tires and found the psi ranges interesting. Mine are currently set at 45-47 cold.