Finally shredded an MTR, what about DuraTrac?

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If you stop at your local tire shop and compare the sidewalls between the Duratrac and current MT/R the difference is night and day. I have a set of 315 Duratracs with studs set up for winter driving. I love them. But choose a different tire for summer/wheeling use.

Other than sidewall failures I have not heard much in the way of complaints on the GY DT.
 
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Corbet said:
If you stop at your local tire shop and compare the sidewalls between the Duratrac and current MT/R the difference is night and day. I have a set of 315 Duratracs with studs set up for winter driving. I love them. But choose a different tire for summer/wheeling use.

Other than sidewall failures I have not hear much in the way of complaints on the GY DT.
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I can't find it listed anywhere - but if I remember right from when I had my wife's 265's (Load D) and my 315's (Load E) mounted, the guy commented on how much thicker the sidewalls were on the 315s compared to the 265s. That said - they're all going to be thinner than a dedicated off road tire.

They are a compromise that fits my usage nicely. Great winter traction, very good on-road behavior (I'm 8 hours from anywhere interesting), and very good off road performance - though admittedly not as durable as a dedicated off road tire that would flunk my winter and road behavior requirements.

Previously I had an old-style set of 285/75R16 MTRs on my truck. They were great offroad, but they were loud on road, squirly on hot pavement at speeds over 70MPH and absolutely worthless on ice. Snow, fine. Ice - yikes.

So - I like the Duratrac tires. For me the compromise is about right. YMMV.
 
darwink1 said:
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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What brand and type are you referring to? There are 10 different tires that are being discussed here?
 
GY needs to introduce a load range E 37" Duratrac. I suspect they won't, however, as it would cannibalize sales of the 37" MTR.
 
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Nay said:
GY needs to introduce a load range E 37" Duratrac. I suspect they won't, however, as it would cannibalize sales of the 37" MTR.
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I agree. step up the Duratrac to MT strength, add some kevlar and the MTR would not even be needed in the lineup. the side lugs on the Dura look like there are more effective than the MTR anyway.
 
yOHda said:
I agree. step up the Duratrac to MT strength, add some kevlar and the MTR would not even be needed in the lineup. the side lugs on the Dura look like there are more effective than the MTR anyway.
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Mmm.... no. Turning it into a dedicated MT tire would likely ruin it. A lot of the things that make the Duratrac the right tire for me are things that make it not a MT. Quite, smooth ride, good handling (soft compound). Although I haven't seen any significant chunking - I would expect it to be higher on these than an MTR if treated the same.

The Kevlar would be fine if they could do it without changing the other properties.

A lot is said about sidewall thickness. If they made it as thick as the MTR crowd wants, these tires would likely be as rough and squirly as the original MTR was.

So - I think what you want is a new MTR that has the Duratrac tread blocks on the MTR casings. At that point it's a new MTR, not a Duratrac.
 
The Duratrac is a great tire for what it is. An AT tire for 99% of the end users. Most of us don't really need a true off road tire for our DD trucks anyway. We just choose to for the same reason we buy half the stuff we do. If GY stepped up the DT then they would have to design a new tire to replace it. But I agree, I like the tread design of the DT over the MT/R.

I wish I could have 3 sets of wheels and tires personally.

Winter
Summer
Off Road

Then there would not have to really be any compromises. But in the real world of compromise the Duratrac is a very good solution for most. Better than the BFG/AT IMHO.
 
Agreed Corbet. As for comprimise though, I would rather not have a 4 inch sidewall rupture at 100km/hour. I am also not a wild wheeler... most of the action the cruiser sees are our highways with the odd weekend wheeling.

I'd say its bad luck, but 2 destroyed out of 5 in less than 12,000km does not speak well to me.
 
Grench, i definitely agree with you. I like the Duratrac for what it is. i didnt spend any significant amount of time on them to really fall in love with them. I need a MT so thats what i have. The Pitbull Rocker radial suits my needs perfectly and i wouldnt want them changed in any way, so i get what you're saying about the Dura tracs. with a durometer of 60A, the Rocker is one of the softest MT's out there.

anybody know the durometer reading on the Duratracs?
 
asutherland said:
I'd say its bad luck, but 2 destroyed out of 5 in less than 12,000km does not speak well to me.
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No I would not be impressed with that either. I would guess you did some damage to the sidewall at an earlier date that showed its ugly head on the HWY. I will say one of my local tire dealers will no longer sell the DT to our local oil and gas truck fleets. They had too many sidewall problems and he got tired of warrantying tires. Its MT/R or other for him. A F350 built to 10,000+ lbs will be hard on any tire though.
 
If you're going to head towards Toyo then check out the Toyo M55 if you want a tougher sidewall. It appears that they seem to be the sidewall toughness that the other tire manufacturers try to attain. Not really a mud tire through IIRC
 
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