Best Tires for a Ford Raptor: What Owners Actually Run

The factory BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2, or its KO3 successor on newer builds, is the tire most Raptor owners buy again when the stock set wears out, and that is not brand loyalty, it is the tire actually engineered around this truck's weight and speed. But it is not the only right answer. For daily driving and all-round use, stay with the KO2/KO3. For desert and high-speed running, the Toyo Open Country A/T III's stiffer sidewall holds up better. For real mud, the Nitto Ridge Grappler splits the difference without ruining your highway manners. For snow, the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W is the one owners in real winter states actually trust.

What Ford ships from the factory, by generation

A Gen 1 Raptor (2010-2014) left the factory on 315/70R17 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO tires, a 35-inch class tire on the standard 17x8.5 wheel, one generation back from the KO2. A Gen 2 Raptor (2017-2020) standardized on the KO2 in the same 315/70R17, with a 37-inch package added later at 37x12.50R17 on beadlock-capable wheels. A Gen 3 Raptor (2021-present) carries the same idea up a wheel size: 315/70R18 KO2 standard, 37x13.50R18 KO2 on the Performance Package. The Raptor R ships on the 37-inch tire as standard equipment.

BFGoodrich released the All-Terrain T/A KO3 as the KO2's replacement, claiming longer tread life and a quieter ride. Whether your truck left the factory on a KO2 or a KO3 depends on when it was built during that transition, and RAPTOR CENTRAL has not confirmed a hard cutover date across every trim. Check your build sheet or the sidewall itself, not the model year.

Two other trucks in the family run different rubber. The Ranger Raptor is smaller and ships on a 33-inch-class tire, so do not cross-shop its sizing against the numbers below. The Bronco Raptor is the outlier: it ships on a 37x12.50R17 Goodyear Wrangler Territory MT, a mud-terrain, straight from the factory, load range D. Nothing else in the family gets a mud tire as stock equipment.

The short list, and who each one actually suits

A word on the Grabber A/TX: it gets dismissed by reputation alone, but General is owned by Continental, the casing is not a budget afterthought, and it carries the same 3PMSF (three-peak mountain snowflake, the winter-traction certification stamped on a tire that passed a snow test, not a marketing claim) rating as most tires above it. It will not out-tread a KO2 or out-desert a Toyo, but at $60-80 less per corner it is a legitimate budget pick.

Load range and sidewall honesty on a heavy truck

Every tire here comes in load range D or E, and the difference is carcass ply rating and max sidewall pressure, not marketing. Load range D tops out around 3,640 lb per tire; load range E runs 3,860-4,080 lb depending on size. A stock Raptor's curb weight alone, roughly 5,700-5,900 lb for a Gen 2 or Gen 3, more for a Raptor R, loads all four corners before a winch bumper, gear, or trailer tongue weight get added. Load range E is the safer default once you are running 37s, a steel bumper, or real payload, and several shops will steer you off load range D on this truck for that reason. Confirm the load range printed on the sidewall; the same tire model is often sold in both.

Tire life reality

The mileage ranges above assume stock alignment, a rotation roughly every 5,000-7,000 miles, and mostly pavement. Desert running at speed cooks tread faster than the same mileage on pavement, since heat and abrasion climb with speed on loose surfaces; owners running Baja-style trails regularly report 20,000-30,000 miles on tires the table says should go 40,000. Skipped rotations do similar damage: a Raptor's front end runs enough camber and toe variance that an unrotated tire cups or wears the outside shoulder before the tread indicators say you are done, and an alignment will not fix that wear pattern after the fact.

Snow and 3PMSF honesty

Most tires here, including the KO2, KO3, Ridge Grappler, Open Country A/T III, and Grabber A/TX, carry 3PMSF today, meaning the tire passed a standardized snow-traction test, not that it is a winter tire. On packed snow and light accumulation, a 3PMSF all-terrain gets a 5,700-6,500 lb truck around fine. On ice or repeated sub-freezing days, none beat a dedicated winter tire's compound, which stays pliable where an all-terrain's stiffens up and loses grip. If you live somewhere with a real winter and drive daily through it, a seasonal set of winter tires on a second set of wheels is still the honest answer.

Road noise, plain

An all-terrain on a truck this size is not going to be quiet, full stop. The KO2 and KO3 sit on the quieter end of this list. The Ridge Grappler's hybrid tread, closer to a mud-terrain up front, adds a noticeable hum by 55-60 mph. If road noise matters more than off-road capability, that is a real reason to pick the Wildpeak or the Open Country over the Ridge Grappler.

When not to buy a mud terrain

If you tow, commute, or put more than half your miles on pavement, a true mud-terrain like the BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM3 is the wrong tire, even though it looks the most aggressive on the shelf. Mud-terrains wear faster on pavement, run louder, hydroplane sooner on a wet highway since the tread clears mud instead of channeling water, and cost more than most all-terrains above. Buy a mud-terrain when you actually wheel in mud regularly. Buy the Ridge Grappler for most of that look with some of that capability without giving up the daily drive. Do not buy a KM3 to look the part in a parking lot.

Pressure guidance, on-road and off

Ford's door-jamb placard pressure is the right on-road starting point for the stock size, and it does not carry over once you go to 37s, since a taller, heavier tire at the same pressure runs a different contact patch. Off-road, airing down to the low-to-mid 20s psi on a 35, or high teens to low 20s on a 37, is roughly what most experienced owners run on sand and rock for contact patch and ride cushion. The right number depends on load, tire, and terrain, so treat any figure here as a starting point to air down and check, not a spec to set and forget.

What it costs, per corner and per set

Budget roughly $1,100-1,400 installed for a set of four 35s from the mid-range of this list, and roughly $1,400-1,750 for a set of 37s, both swinging with your local shop's rates and whichever tire you land on. That is before an alignment check, worth doing any time you change tire size, and before pricing what a 37-inch tire asks of your wheels or what you give up going from 35s to 37s. Either upgrade changes your real-world fuel economy too. Whatever you land on, it should show up on the mods page with the rest of your build.

The short version

Stay with the KO2 or KO3 for the factory answer you do not have to think about again. Move to the Toyo Open Country A/T III for desert miles at speed, the Nitto Ridge Grappler for real mud capability without a mud-terrain's daily-driving penalty, and the Falken Wildpeak A/T3W if winter traction is the actual priority. Skip a true mud-terrain unless you wheel in mud often enough to justify the noise and the wear. Check the load range printed on the sidewall, not just the tire's name, before you buy a set for a truck this heavy.