Tires; Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac

[OrvisKrawler]

My buddy had these on his grand cherokee before he sold it, they flat out rock in the snow and on rock, I was seriously impressed with them in moab when we went and I wheeled with him in the snow a couple times, when my 35" hankook muds were spinning and not getting any traction and were just making things ice is when the duratracs impressed me the most, they just flat out dug down and hooked up, If they made them in a 35 they would be my next tire

 

[sixstringsteve]

I read that they have weak sidewalls. I'd love to hear some first-hand experiences though. I do think there's a hug market for aggressive A/Ts.

 

[Greg]

I've seen a lot of oil field trucks running around with Duratracs, so they must work well in sloppy, muddy oil field roads. I would expect that since they're meant to be a commercial tire, they probably have a hard rubber compound for long life. I wouldn't expect them to do as well in Moab as a set of KM2's, but I have no experience to back that up.

 

[1995zj]

Recent thread with more opinions. My opinion on the tires is in there as well....I definitely wouldn't recommend these for any truck or tow rig. I like tires to last longer than 20k miles and I'll be lucky to get there.

http://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.php?t=78458&highlight=duratrac

 

[RamIt]

I'm running the DuraTrac's on my '03 diesel and I was skeptical at first. I went from BFG All-Terrains to the DuraTrac's and they just felt soft or squirley at first compared to the BFGs. Now that I've got some miles on them and got a better feel for them, I like them a lot. The only drawback is that there is still no mileage warranty at all on them, and they seem to be wearing faster than I'd like. Discount told me that Goodyear 'might' be adding a mileage warranty, but are waiting until they get some more results and see how they're lasting on average. That said, I like the aggressive look, and have been happy with their performance, but I don't expect to get the mileage out of them that I would have with BFG's.

 

[sixstringsteve]

RamIt, would you think they'd be aggressive enough for a trail rig?

 

[sixstringsteve]

From the other thread, this quote taught me a lot.

I've sold dozens of these at work.

My opinion and some feedback...

Great for a light weight rig, TJ, Toy, Grand.. Not so much for a heavy vehicle or tow rig.

They have a very soft tread and sidewall. They drive great, quiet, and great traction, but on a heavy vehicle they wear fast and wander quite a bit.

The price is great on most size's. I am looking to put the 245/75r16's on my WJ and they are the cheapest tire I can find, that is an A/T.

On a suburban, maybe, but not for towing. Scoutabout has them on his Dodge and said they were pretty soft when towing...

I have a friend running them on his 2010 Tundra and he love's them. Sitting about 20,000 miles right now and still look new.

For a tow rig, I would recommend Procomp extreme A/t's, 40,000 mile tread life warranty,

In your size, I would do the standard procomp a/t's with the 50,000 mile tread life. Or the Nitto Terra Grapplers.

I've seen too many bad sets of Toyo's come through the shop. But everyone has their favorite.

just my opinion.

I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, but someone's experience with their Cummins Dually is going to differ from a samurai. I really appreciate it when others explain what vehicle they were on along with what terrain they drive.

 

[RamIt]

RamIt, would you think they'd be aggressive enough for a trail rig?

Yeah, I think for sure on a light weight vehicle they'd be great on a trail rig. Personally, I would run either the Wrangler MTR's (which is what I currently run on my crawler) or the BFG Mud Terrains over the DuraTracs, but my crawler is pretty heavy.

Also, I should mention that although I don't think I'll get as many miles as I'd like out of the DuraTracs on my duramax, I do drive it daily and haul my crawler and other loads behind it often in the summer months.

 

[sixstringsteve]

thanks ramit. I'm trying to decide between the KM2's (which I've had on the past 2 rigs) and the duratracs. I like the idea of duratracs for icy/light snow conditions, and the km2's for everything else.

 

[pELYgroso]

I'm also going to be getting some new rubber for the 'runner, and these were on my list. Who would y'all recommend for a great price on these in the Lehi/AF area?? (running 35/r15 tires)

 

[sixstringsteve]

tirerack.com, then have discount tires match tire rack's price.

But I read somewhere that the duratracks weren't offered in that size... I may be wrong though.

 

[LT.]

I guess I should also comment on the DuraTrac's. We have a set on our wrecker. The wrecker is a 1996 Dodge, Cummins, 3500, 4x4, dually. We have the only wrecker in the state that is a 4x4 and is equipped with a recovery bed. We do have the truck turned up a bit with a BD Diesel turbo and a modified fuel plate. The truck weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 10,000 to 12,000 lbs unloaded. So far we have never had a better tire for the snow, slush, light mud, that we often have here in Northern New Mexico. The truck does see some highway use as we often tow cars to and from Albuquerque, round trip about 140 miles or so. The truck usually is chained up for a majority of the winter but, so far we have not needed the chains at all. As far as mileage goes we don't really know how long they will last yet.

LT.

 

[Zombie]

Just to add some input here,
Goodyear bought a set of duratracs back from a close friend of mine. He put them on his 07 vortec max crew cab 4x4 (heavy half ton package). He love them at first, but then said they felt squirrely... Then he had to change lanes abruptly on the freeway to avoid a collision and said he just about crapped his pants. He tried towing his boat with them and said it was worse when towing.
He asked me to come drive the truck and give him my opinion. I poked the tires, and was shocked by how soft the tread compound was... it was WAY softer than my Mickey T baja MTZs I had on my ZJ at the time. The drive went well at first, until I changed lanes, and snapped my other hand to the wheel. The back and of the truck wobbled around and the front did some twisting action too... I moved the mirros and watche the tires, and it didn't appear to be sidewall flex, it seemed like the tread blocks were wiggling. these were basically 34x11xR20 load range E tires... I don't remember the exact size.
He lodged a complaint with goodyear, and thanks to some well place contacts he was able to meet with a goodyear rep. After a testdrive the rep bought back the tires and set him up with a set of dunlop ATs in the same size and load range. The dunlops have been great, no wander and no complaint. The goodyear rep indicated that a handful of batches of duratrac were produced with an improper compound, causing excessive movement of the tread blocks when new and very rapid wear.
I'd imagine the newer tires should wear better and feel more stable...
Tyler, you may want to try contacting goodyear to see if your are affected.

I'm not sure I'd want to run these just yet...

 

[jason04]

I've had them on the 4runner for a year now and almost 10,000 miles. Very pleased with them. DD is much better then the BFG KM2's particulary on the roads in bad weather. These are great in the ice and snow around town! Also very happy with them out on the trail and in the rocks. Air down to 17 PSI and does everything I need them to do.

Some good threads about the tire with feedback...

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forum...rac-tires.html

http://www.toyota120.com/forum/showt...light=duratrac

The only bad reviews I've read about this tire are from people with larger full size truck and are towing.

I've got the 285/70R17 load range D on a 2005 Toyota 4runner

Best of luck,

Jason