I figured I'd give some initial impressions on the BFG KDW2 tires. Later on when they are broken in I'll do some more harder driving to see what they can do.
Facts
Brand and Model: BFGoodrich KDW2 (or NT)
Front: 255/40/18
Rear: 295/35/18
Mileage on tires: 200 miles
Look and Feel
When first looking at these tires they are just amazing. The radical tread pattern has large channels between the pads which greatly enhances it's ability to push water out away from the tire. The pictures do it no justice. The sidewalls are rather rigid and the tire itself is quite hard.
Stability
The tires are very stable at low and high speed. At higher speeds you don't feel the "floaty" feeling that you may feel with some tires as the contact patch lessens. Additionally the 255's on the front had less of a tendency to "rail road track" every groove in the road like my previous BFGoodrich KDW 275's. They follow fewer grooves. The rear has a tendency to track a little bit but is easily corrected.
Handling
I took it easy on the tires because they need to be broken in first before they perform at 100%.
Dry:
Cornering is superb in the dry. They are very responsive and respond to even the slightest of steering wheel movements, almost causing an oversteer if you're not careful.
Wet:
When running through the rain, even puddles, the tires so far have not experienced any pulling to one side or the other like some tires in the past have done, these will track straight. I had an incident where I hit a rather large puddle of standing water on the roadway that I didn't see. When I hit it I was startled and jerked the wheel to the left. I was travelling at about 55 MPH or so and the tires held straight through the puddle, responded when I jerked the wheel, then held straight again after correcting. Not once did they feel "floaty" during the maneuver.
Road noise
Surprisingly I haven't really heard any road noise from these tires. It was cold so I didn't have my windows down but the road noise from my older BFGoodrich KDW's howled like crazy. These so far have near no additional road noise that can be heard over the engine.
Overall Impression
So far I'm impressed with these tires. I know there have been some conflict on which tires is the best (KDW2 or GS-D3). As of right now I would definitely purchase another set of these tires and recommend these tires.
Facts
Brand and Model: BFGoodrich KDW2 (or NT)
Front: 255/40/18
Rear: 295/35/18
Mileage on tires: 200 miles
Look and Feel
When first looking at these tires they are just amazing. The radical tread pattern has large channels between the pads which greatly enhances it's ability to push water out away from the tire. The pictures do it no justice. The sidewalls are rather rigid and the tire itself is quite hard.
Stability
The tires are very stable at low and high speed. At higher speeds you don't feel the "floaty" feeling that you may feel with some tires as the contact patch lessens. Additionally the 255's on the front had less of a tendency to "rail road track" every groove in the road like my previous BFGoodrich KDW 275's. They follow fewer grooves. The rear has a tendency to track a little bit but is easily corrected.
Handling
I took it easy on the tires because they need to be broken in first before they perform at 100%.
Dry:
Cornering is superb in the dry. They are very responsive and respond to even the slightest of steering wheel movements, almost causing an oversteer if you're not careful.
Wet:
When running through the rain, even puddles, the tires so far have not experienced any pulling to one side or the other like some tires in the past have done, these will track straight. I had an incident where I hit a rather large puddle of standing water on the roadway that I didn't see. When I hit it I was startled and jerked the wheel to the left. I was travelling at about 55 MPH or so and the tires held straight through the puddle, responded when I jerked the wheel, then held straight again after correcting. Not once did they feel "floaty" during the maneuver.
Road noise
Surprisingly I haven't really heard any road noise from these tires. It was cold so I didn't have my windows down but the road noise from my older BFGoodrich KDW's howled like crazy. These so far have near no additional road noise that can be heard over the engine.
Overall Impression
So far I'm impressed with these tires. I know there have been some conflict on which tires is the best (KDW2 or GS-D3). As of right now I would definitely purchase another set of these tires and recommend these tires.