Finally shredded an MTR, what about DuraTrac?

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Brian894X4

Brian894X4

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I've been away from this forum for a long time. Sorry just been way too busy and my FZJ80 has paid the price by being a garage queen this year. But on my last outing, I shredded an old style Goodyear MTR.

Inside sidewall slice on the rear tire. My only guess is that I picked up a sharp rock that got lodged into between the tire and frame and it sliced open the tire. Never had that happen before and it really blows for one critical reason. As we all know, they don't make the old MTRs anymore.

I had a brand new old style MTR spare that I put on there and I'm currently on the hunt for a replacement spare, but I'm considering getting all new tires in the near future.

I always figured I'd just buy a set brand new MTRs, since I was such a fan of the old design, but now I'm not so sure. Besides the extra cost, I have no idea if the new design will perform as well for what I use it for. Basically need a good street tire, with exceptional durability, decent dirt/mud/general off road capacity and snow ability would be a great plus. The old MTRs were awesome.

The Duratracs seem to be fit the bill better and are more similar to the older MTRs. Plus they are snow rated. I'm just not sure if the sidewall is as durable. Any thoughts on the Duratracs or the new style MTRs would be appreciated. The Duratracs seem to be a snow tire by design, but are they OK for expedition style use and desert and dirt road driving in the heat of summer as well?
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Have you considered Toyo Open Country Mt/R's?

Tread very similar to the mtr but last much much longer and look awesome and run much more true to size. The old MTR tires were terribly undersized...a 35 looked like a 33 and measured close to it.

The toyos are extremely durable but they are very heavy tires.

For what you are after I may look at the cooper Discoverer stt's as well.
 
I'm sure you could find a used one if needed to save some $$$

I'd look at the KM2's
 
I have 285 Duratrac's on my 80, and 315 MTR Kevlar's on my 40. Both great tires. Duratracs were problem free on a road trip from the east coast to ID, MT, WY and CO this spring and summer. Excellent in snow, and not too loud on the highway, but didn't get into much mud. MTR Kevlar appears to have solved some problems with old MTR, ie easier to balance now and runs truer, and I am very happy with them. Getting ready to jump 80 up to 315's and the only two tires I am considering are the GY's. I haven't tried Toyo or Nitto yet, but I have run BFG mud and BFG AT, Michelin LTX and Bridgestone Revo, and the GY's have been better.
YMMV!
 
I'm running the Duratrac's in 315/75-16 and have had great luck with them so far. They've held up well through some sharp rocks here in the Sierra's, as well as doing great in Moab, though the slickrock seems to be pretty easy on tires. Nice and smooth on the highway as well.
 
Where are you guys getting the DTs from? They're comparably priced and have great reviews.
 
The Duratrac is a great tire, but it is an aggressive all-terrain. i would think it would not be as tough as your current mt/r's. given your intended use, wouldnt you want to stay with the toughness and durability of a mud terrain or heavier constructed tire? the Hankook Dynapro MT would be an excellent choice for you.
 
I can comment on the durability of the Duratracs. I purchased 5 brand new July 2010, and have had not one, but TWO sidewall blowouts since then. Less than 12,000 km later. I might add the 2nd blowout was on the HIGHWAY.

I will not buy them again.


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I have 10 Duratrac tires. 5 on my wife's truck in 265/75R16 D and 5 on my truck in 315/75R16 E.

Main drawback: gas mileage took about a 10% hit on both vehicles. These are a soft-tread tire.

They're quiet on the highway and very smooth - even at the 50psi I run the 315s at for highway runs.

If you're concerned about sidewall strength, you might consider the E rated version. That said, they are NOT as heavy as the old MTR sidewalls.

I've run my truck with the 315s down in the 15psi range on sand (Great Sand Dunes, CO most recently). The Medano pass isn't exactly a 'hard core' trail, but the tires did fine there. We came into the pass from Colorado Springs (East to West). After we passed the "High Clearance 4x4 Required" sign, 50psi wasn't very fun - so I dropped it down to 35. Stayed at that pressure through to the sand dunes. Fun 1/2 day drive if you stop for lunch and don't get in a hurry.

That was on an 1800 mile round trip - no tire issues at all.

Grench
 
if you want bullet proof sidewalls then buy a michelin XML or Maxxis Creepy Crawler...... most other Mud tires are a toss up. Some have good experiences and some have bad ones.
 
X2 on KM2s
 
lt1fire said:
Maxxis Creepy Crawler......
Click to expand...

hard compound and heavy tire .. not that good in mud but very durable on road .. maybe as good as Toyo's but been Toyo's better at wet road ..

In a side not I don't think MTR are any good in mud ..
 
I'm currently running 305/70R16 Dura traks on my 96 FZJ80. They have about 10K miles on them so far and recently completed a 4K mile loop fully loaded with gear 3 people and our 90 lb dog. They ride nice, but are noisier than the Nitto TG (285/75's) they replaced. They do tend to get small rocks stuck in them often. They have great wet traction and snow traction. The lug design seems to be a nice mix for an 80 they gets highway and limited off road use. The side walls felt a little thin compared to the Nitto's and my other trucks Toyo MT's which are real heavy. I was also happy to see the Duratrac was made in the USA. I think the lugs will get chewed up faster in the dirt due to all the siping. Good luck with your choise, its always a bit of a compromise on any tire.
 
I liked the Duratrac's I had for street duty much more than my current KM2's. I am not sold that the side walls on the KM2 are any better than the Duratrac, and if I remember right the Duratrac's were E rated while my current KM2's are D rated. My KM2's are already chunking and have sidewall cuts while my Duratrac's were mint with about the same off road use. Duratrac's are bad ass in the snow, but I have yet to have the KM2's in the snow. It's a toss up really as both tires have pro's and con's, if you drive the truck on the street daily or in the snow I would go with the Duratrac hands down over the KM2. If you primarily wheel off road and don't mind a loud and rough M/T tire on the street then go with the KM2. I have no experience with the MTR, but when the KM2's wear out I will either be getting MTR's or going back Duratrac's.
 
My experience with the KM2 has been that it was a great tire for onroad use. i purchased KM2s after having a few sets of swampers so i thought it was very quiet and one of the most civilized tires you could buy for onroad use. the only downside is in my pickup with no weight in the rear and a locker i got really no traction on snow and it was awful on ice. a heavier cruiser might have better luck with the KM2 in inclement weather.

A couple of the reasons i went away from KM2s were:

1. the lack of lateral traction. siping in the center blocks would have helped this tremendously. would have also helped with snow and ice traction i think. the design of the mt/r kevlar would be superior.

2. undersized. my 35" KM2 measured 33.5". aired down it was even worse. my 37" Pitbull Rockers measure a true 37".
 
i went from old mtrs to dts (in a roundabout way) and am happy. my old mtrs seemed poor in mud and were noisy. my rig is also a daily driver. got rid of them and went to trxus, which i loved in every way except the soft sidewalls. when i went larger, interco's were no where to be found and were way out of my pricerange, so i went with dt's. i've since wheeled moab, a weeklong expedition through utah and a bunch of local runs and i'm still very pleased.

not loud, balance well, i haven't experienced sidewall issues, but i came from swampers and i don't think there's a tire out there with worse sidewall issues than intercos. i run them around 12-18 off road and 40 on road. some of the off road has been harder trails, a lot has been dirt roads, but the dirt roads have been at around 30mph. for the price, they just couldn't be beat, but i've been very pleased with the off road abilities.
 
I'm running two sets of Duratracs. One set of 285s on my work truck and a set of 315s on one of my 80s. The 285s have over 40k miles on em and have been great so far. Most of the miles are highway but allot of them are off road in all kinds of terrain. The 315s have only about 10k on em and handle great. I've had no issues with them at all but don't put them in extremely bad situations. But... I wouldn't be afraid to take them anywhere.

I will buy another set when needed..
 
They use them on the underground land cruisers up here so they must be decent to survive in that brutal environment.

Have them for my 80 in a 285 and cant say enough about them especially in winter conditions.

D
 
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