Opinions on Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac tires. (9 Viewers)

[UOnlyLiveOnce]

Anyone have an opinion on Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs. I've been leaning toward the KM3's. I have KO2's on my 4Runner and love how they handle on and off road. A concern of mine after looking at snow performance is that the KM3's may not perform well if I find myself snowed in while camping in the Sierra. I know KO2's work well.
My thought is that the Duratrac's would be the in between tire for highway miles, quiet ride, dirt, snow, rock and mud. Siping in the tread is important, especially in slippery or snowy conditions. The KM3 doesn't have that.
I've decided on 35" tires for my 1994 LC.
I'll have to find out how tough the side-walls are on the Duratracs. I know how tough the KO2 and KM3's are with puncture resistance all around. I think they are 3 ply???? Not sure about the Duratrac.
Discount tire says the Duratrac is more expensive than KO2's. Duratrac is a 2 ply tire while the BFG KO2 is a 2-ply but increased by 20% rubber on side-wall. KM3 does have 3 ply side-walls.
Duratrac is a D (light truck) (3,125 lbs per tire at 50psi) while the KO2's are E rated for heavier loads (3,125 lbs per tire at 65psi).

Now I"m thinking maybe just stick with what I know and go with the

Set of 4 all terrains $1285
Set of 4 KM3's $1419

Lots of data here. I trust the BFG KO2's.

One of the most common terrains I drive on while off road is dirt and small boulders/rocks like Anza Borrego Dessert, Mojave Trail, Sierra Dirt roads with granite rocks and roads. Areas out of Bishop, CA. Snow can happen anytime. Rain and mud can happen. One last thing, getting to these areas require 2-7 hours highway time to destination. That is where the KO2's excel because the ride is so nice and quiet.

 

[Douglas S]

Duratrac sidewalls are pretty pathetic, good tires otherwise.

 

[Bogart]

I’m just about to pop for another set of duratracs, been an excellent all round tire here in the very snowy mountains of bc, wear evenly, had a nail puncture and the tire held a plug well. Great on hiway, great in snow. I try to avoid mud so no real opinion other than I’ve never been stuck or slipped

 

[cody c]

My brother runs them on his longbox crewcab GM 2500, he mostly uses it for hunting which means flying down gravel roads all day.

He's on his third set now, hes been happy with the life out of a set of tires, and he's picky about that.

A friend (iggi on Ih8mud) says the set on his 60 series (15 or 16 inch wheels) is great off the beaten path and on icy winter roads..

Whereas the set he put on his fjcruiser (17 inch wheels) are down right scary for icy roads. He will only use them for summer.

How or why they are different, I don't know, but he says they are a night and day difference between the two.

Other members in the local club (RMLCA) run them on 60's and 80's and what not and like them overall.

 

[kruisinkid]

The thin sidewall issues are well known. They are commercial fleet tires that are very good looking if you are into that aggressive look. I dont think they were designed to be off road regularly or really crawled hard with. Lots of folks say they are super grippy and not surprising with the softer compound. excellent in the snow ive read.

I researched heavily before getting new tires for my 80 4 years ago. BFG KO2's had just come out. also snow rated. I will never put anything other than BFG KO2's on my trucks. i bought a 100 that came with them. that certainly sweetened the deal.

 

[BILT4ME]

I have Duratracs on my 96 LC. 285/75-16.

I am a 95% mall/highway driver and put about 15-20K per year on my truck.

I have 57K miles on them and they are at 30% tread yet.

They are quiet at first. You must rotate them every 8000 miles or less or they will get noisy.

In snow and rain, they are fantastic! I have walked through 4 ft snow drifts like they are not there. Interstates in the rain are great!

I have used these one time in the rocks, aired down to 18 PSI and they were not near as grippy as all the other trucks with KO2's I struggled climbing many of the same hills as others with the KO2s.

My Duratracs are E rated, not D rated.

I run 32 PSI in them for a comfortable ride.

I will buy them again.

 

[projectcruiser]

I haven't tested the KM3, but the KM2 was a nightmare in the snow and wet.

I personally switched to Falken and I haven't looked back. They seem to wear a lot longer.

 

[ZackR]

If you like the KO2's on your 4 runner and they are cheaper why duratracs? FYI I run KO2's in the snow and they work great.

 

[ajordan1975]

People love them, people hate them. I've never ran them, but here the sidewall can be weak.
I'm a fan of BFG's MT and AT

 

[COYS]

The French make the best tires in the world today.

 

[UOnlyLiveOnce]

Duratrac sidewalls are pretty pathetic, good tires otherwise.

View attachment 1833271

I have heard about the side wall puncture problems. Thats a big gash. I have also seen for myself how tough KO2's are. I put them through some nasty sharp rocks and slate in the Eastern Sierra and never had an issue. I heard about guys traveling across Africa and Australia and never had one blow out with KO2's but did with other brands prior.

 

[Dork]

I'm going to basically parrot everyone else's opinions. Duratracs are great in snow, they ride nice if rotated, do well enough offroad, and look good. Sidewalls are a concern if you're regularly smashing them into rocks. I had 70,000km on my last set (different vehicle) and they had decent life left when I sold it.

 

[UOnlyLiveOnce]

The French make the best tires in the world today.

Why do you say the French make the best tire? Never heard that before?

 

[baldilocks]

I’m toward the end of my second set of
Duratracs on my dodge 2500 4x4 and I plan to buy a third set. My first set lasted 53k miles. The best I ever got out of KO’s or Toyo’s on this heavy truck is 35k.

The sidewall is rather wimpy compared to a KO but I see Duratracs on Jeeps and Toyota’s running rock crawling type trails successfully.

The Duratrac is a very good snow and ice tire so if you go to the mountains often there is some benefit to be seen there.

 

[UOnlyLiveOnce]

I should probably stick with what I know and trust. KO2's in a 35" tire would be awesome. They haven't let me down yet. Last summer I hit a hard high sharp Rocky Mountain road and the tires just laughed at the rocks and kept on going!!!!

 

[izzyandsue]

Very bad experience with the wranglers. Had them on my wife's LR4, and about 20K miles the blocks began to separate from the tire, all tires. Looked like small cracks first that grew over time.

 

[cody c]

Why do you say the French make the best tire? Never heard that before?

I think he likes michelins.

Nokians are fairly popular here for the winter roads. In this part of the world we will see snow or ice at least 4 or 5 months of the year, so people tend towards all season, or summer tires and often blizzaks or michelin winters for the other part of the year.

I put studs in my 37x13.5R17 Mud grapplers once upon a time, they worked really great for a season, but I left the studs in and they were worn by the next winter for that.

I'd like to stud some big Iroks for snow wheeling and run them as a winter only tire... It may happen late this year, or for sure for the next

 

[cavboy78]

I've had three sets of duratracs and one set of KO2s, and while the KO2s are good...i just bought a set of 315s duratracs. I drive the cruiser through the Rockies every winter to ski resorts (through some awful stuff), daily driven to work and on long road trips, rocky trails here in colorado, slickrock in moab, and a couple of kokopelli trips and cannot imagine another tire that would do so well in all these areas. I have never punctured a sidewall and actually sold my last pair of 285 duratracs on craiglist because i was impatient on waiting for them to wear out. Over 30k and still had half the tread left. You get what you pay for. My .02.

 

[Randy88FJ62]

I run 35" duratracs on 16" wheels and they dominate in the snow. They haven't failed me in any form. They handle rock crawling in the sierras fine. Same with 60 mph gravel roads in death valley with sharp obsidian. Good tire if you don't want to jump up to a mud terrain.

 

[Randy88FJ62]

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