Another Duratrac Thread

[Mike G.]

If you only do light trails, why even get a tire like the Duratrac, especially in an "E" range? You will lose some mpg because of heavier tire.

I drive a lot of backroad and trails in the mountains in the winter, and we get our fair share of snow at home. The Duratrac has a great reputation for snow and wet conditions. The E rating does not bother me at all, I have had E rated tires on my other Toyota trucks and they were fine. I am not to worried if I lose 1-2 mpg. I also like the looks of the more aggresive tire.

The amount of busted sidewalls that I see on the Duratracs are a little scary.
Some of the failures have not been hardcore off-road stuff. I did not see another tire that had so many failures posted.

 

[p nut]

GY has been known in the past with sidewall issues. I do not know personally, as I have not run GY DT's. They look like they would perform well, though. The DT's are snow rated, much like most BFG KO's (few LR E omitted), so that is probably another appeal.

When you say "backroad" and "trails", is it anything more than just fireroads? No actual rock crawling involved? What I'm asking is, could a Subaru make it through just fine? If so, all you really need is something like Michelin AT2's at most, but I'd personally just go for the M/S. Those more aggressive AT tires will just sap your MPG and lessen your vehicle's performance. If you've got snow to deal with, maybe get a set of snow tires.

 

[Mike G.]

GY has been known in the past with sidewall issues. I do not know personally, as I have not run GY DT's. They look like they would perform well, though. The DT's are snow rated, much like most BFG KO's (few LR E omitted), so that is probably another appeal.

When you say "backroad" and "trails", is it anything more than just fireroads? No actual rock crawling involved? What I'm asking is, could a Subaru make it through just fine? If so, all you really need is something like Michelin AT2's at most, but I'd personally just go for the M/S. Those more aggressive AT tires will just sap your MPG and lessen your vehicle's performance. If you've got snow to deal with, maybe get a set of snow tires.

I had a Subaru Outback and it was great car until the engine blew up. There are a lot of trails that I take my 4Runner on that I would never even consider taking the Outback on. The weather conditions and trail conditions also come into play. I have Destination AT`s on my truck now and they are an OK street tire, but they have not done so well on muddy or snow covered trails.
I do not want to buy a separate set of snow tires, and I think if I just buy a slightly more aggressive tire I will be fine.

 

[hokiemike]

I like the Duratracs. I've received a ton of compliments on the tires since I put them on 8 mos. ago with the trail wheels. They're great on/off road. I do a fair bit of highway driving too. I've only noticed .2 mpg difference(less) compared to my original LTD 20". Yours should look similar to this pic..

 

[cbreze]

i finally got a chance to look at my E rated duratracs close up and see the psi max is 65lbs. Was wondering if anybody goes that high. my dealer delivered my 4R with 40 lbs in the tires. trying to get max longevity over comfort at least for right now.

 

[Gerdo]

i finally got a chance to look at my E rated duratracs close up and see the psi max is 65lbs. Was wondering if anybody goes that high. my dealer delivered my 4R with 40 lbs in the tires. trying to get max longevity over comfort at least for right now.

Don't run them at max pressure. That is for carrying the max capacity of the tire. Even a fully loaded 4runner is no where near the max capacity of a LR E tire. If you did run max pressure, you would wear out the center of the tires and would have a really harsh ride.

 

[Reata]

I love mine. They have about 20,000 miles currently and plenty of tread remain.

 

[cbreze]

Don't run them at max pressure. That is for carrying the max capacity of the tire. Even a fully loaded 4runner is no where near the max capacity of a LR E tire. If you did run max pressure, you would wear out the center of the tires and would have a really harsh ride.

What do you run in yours? Just trying to get the optimum for an unloaded 4R. I'd like them to last as long as is possible

 

[Hellamatic]

This seems like an appropriate place to share this pic...

I was heading into work on Thursday and had a sidewall blow out on my work truck (2010 F350 with 325/65/18 Duratracs.) I regained control of the truck and ran the passenger side into the snowy ditch to try and avoid rim damage. Got out and surveyed the damage - there was a split in the sidewall about 2/3 around the circumference. I got my apprentice to pick me up, then we returned to change the tire when the sun had come up. Pulled the truck back onto the shoulder and the rest of the sidewall peeled apart. No damage to the truck and luckily it was a rear tire that blew.

This is the first issue I've had with Duratracs, and I've been running them on a fleet of 13 of my work trucks for the past 2 years. Granted, this is the only truck with 325s on it (boss' truck has to be cooler than the rest of the fleet, right?). My Goodyear rep actually told me that the 325 size had been discontinued due to a few QC issues and low demand - luckily he was able to track me down 2 new ones though.

<a href="http://s1262.beta.photobucket.com/user/kelseyreder/media/image-3_zps11f99bd7.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii615/kelseyreder/image-3_zps11f99bd7.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>

 

[Mike G.]

I have seen to many pictures of sidewalls blown out of the Duratracs. It would be nice if GY would address this issue, but I guess they will do nothing because it will cost them money.

I know a lot of people use the Duratracs on their trucks and have not had issues, but there are a lot of pictures and posts about sidewall failures, more so than any other major manufacture.

I will search for another tire....

 

[msommers]

I ran them studded over the winter last year and were amazing. The studs were either garbage or not installed properly but after ~25,000km they're gone. Now the duratracs are my summer tire and I bought some Nokian LT2s studded as my winter.

I'm on a lot of lease roads, deep mud, highway, gravel even did a fairly mild trail run last year. Someone mentioned about the poor sidewall performance but these are also guys that do some serious offroading/crawling which is something I'm not interested in. On the highway they're not loud, just a slight hum.

I'll be buying another set as soon as these are shot without even thinking about it. I have about 35,000km on them now and still have plenty of life by the looks of it.

 

[sandcrawler]

What do you run in yours? Just trying to get the optimum for an unloaded 4R. I'd like them to last as long as is possible

according to the TRA table, ~44 psi is correct.

 

[agjake01]

Same story here, except most of my miles are highway. They have plenty of tread left, more than most AT tires come with brand new. They are a little pricey, but so far I have not been disappointed.

I have load C, and the only thing I can complain about was the excess wheel weight required to balance. (Drives like a dream, even with the extra wheel weights)

Trying to decide between the BFG AT KOs and the Duratracs in the stock size with the C load range. What MPGs are you getting with the Duratracs?

 

[cbielat]

I've gotten close to 40k with mine. Still have them on with good tread depth still. I run them at 40psi getting around 18mpg. I also rotate them every 5k.

 

[Zeder]

I am going to need new tires by early spring and I am starting to look at my options. I really like the reviews I see on the Duratracs, but I was curious if I will get a good 40,000 miles out of them. I am not one to take a tire down to the wear bars; I believe in having good tread under my truck.

I am not a heavy off-road guy, but the truck does see its fair share of unimproved roads and trails. Just curious what you guys have experienced with the Duratracs under your 5th Gen.

I am looking at the 265-70-17 E.

Thanks for any input or opinions.

Hey Mike,
I have been running DuraTracs for 7 years now. I went though 2 sets on my Xterra (approx 70,000kms on each set.) They both had a a lot of tread left compared to a regular AT tire when I changed them. Both sets did get progressively harder (and louder) as the tire lugs got smaller. Not too bad, but noticeable. Even at that point they still worked better on the snow/ice/wet/mud that the BFG AT's that came stock on the X. I UPGRADED to my T4R Trail and 2 days later I was at the tire shop putting on DT's again. Stock size C load rated. I tow a 3800lb trailer about 10k a summer and have never had any troubles.

Just do it! IMO they are the best tire out there for on on/off road vehicle and they look great to boot!

Z

 

[cbreze]

Is there any advantage to an "E" rating? My truck came with E's is why I ask. Just more weight or is the sidewall any beefier or better to fend off sharp rocks and such. I don't tow or carry weight ....yet.
Any harder to balance? I notice a lot of weights on the wheel.

 

[Mike G.]

Stopped by a Tire shop that had numerous truck tires on display and they had a set of Duratrac`s, the salesman immediately tried to sell me a set. I asked him about the thin sidewall problems and he started to compare the sidewall with the other tires and he was really surprised at how thin and flimsy they felt.

I could not believe how thin the sidewalls felt, every other truck tire felt substantially thicker. I will never put these on my truck!

This sucks because the tread is a great performing design. If you are considering these tires I would advise to compare them before buying.

 

[sandcrawler]

Stopped by a Tire shop that had numerous truck tires on display and they had a set of Duratrac`s, the salesman immediately tried to sell me a set. I asked him about the thin sidewall problems and he started to compare the sidewall with the other tires and he was really surprised at how thin and flimsy they felt.

I could not believe how thin the sidewalls felt, every other truck tire felt substantially thicker. I will never put these on my truck!

This sucks because the tread is a great performing design. If you are considering these tires I would advise to compare them before buying.

what load rating were the Duratracs you were, um, fingering? anecdotally, the C-load have spotty reviews, while everyone with the E-load (myself included) is happy with them. same goes for the 285/70-17 D-load as far as i can tell.

were the ones in the shop the C? betting they were...

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

I currently have about 37000 miles on my set. Now I did have a side wall puncture while wheeling. A small piece of wood was able to get through the entire sidewall which required a new tire. My next set of tires I plan on going with Nitto Trail Grappler, wanting something more agressive for the up coming summer of wheeling.

 

[Mike G.]

They may have been a C load tire, but they were super thin on the sidewall. I have seen way to many pictures and posts on various sites of sidewall issues with this tire, I am going to pass.