My van came with 225/75/16 sized tires and they were at the end of their life. I really wanted to replace the tires with something that would give me a bit more off-road/trail ability, but not sacrifice MPG/highway noise. After doing a bunch of research about tire size (you can read those forum threads here, here, and here) I decided to go with 245/75/16 BFGoodrich A/T KO2s. I have had BFG A/Ts before and loved them and the KO2's newer design is much better.
My concern was if going up a size would fit and although it is close they do fit.
I did have to trim up the mudflap though and use zip-ties to hold it back as it had bent in over time.
I purchased the tires from TireRack.com on sale. I would definitely recommend calling them over ordering online. The guy I spoke with was really helpful making sure I got the correct size/weight rating and also delayed the shipment so I could get a $60 promotion they were offering in a few days.
Took it to a local shop to mount/balance (roughly $25 a tire):
Tire are installed and look great! Really changes the look of the van and the highway noise isn't noticeably different. The fuel mileage seems to be within a few MPGs, but hard to tell as the change is tire size will effect speedometer and odometer readings. Once the tires were installed my speedometer was corrected (5 MPG difference at highway speed), which I am assuming will effect the MPG readings as that will change the mileage driven per tank, which is how I calculate the MPG. I am installing a ScanGauge 2 to try and get a more accurate reading of the MPG.
Speedometer Corrected after tire install (Speedometer vs GPS after new tires):
Discussion about MPG/MPH differences are in this forum thread.
UPDATE January 2019: After driving 6000 miles through the pacific northwest and Canada I am still very happy with the tires. The MPG seems similar to before and the highway noise is not noticeable different. The wear seems normal and no complaints so far. The van looks so much better than before and sits slightly higher. The traction has been amazing. In the forests outside Whistler, BC I had to back out of a downhill dead end trail on loose dirt and was very surprised with the grip. Even though there was some tire spin I was able to back out of a bad situation with my 2WD van. The snow ability is also amazing with the tires. Dealt with snow/ice covered roads in Chicago with a rear wheel drive van and I felt more confident in it than with my AWD Volvo. Would highly recommend these tires.
April 2019: Rotated tires for the first time and the still seem to be in great shape with no abnormalities. Checking my maintenance log they have over 14,000 miles on them since install.
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