Goodyear Duratrac Wrangler Review

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DenverLX

DenverLX

10 Year
Joined
Jul 1, 2013
Threads
15
Messages
181
Just thought I'd post my thoughts on my new tires. I have a 2000 LX with lift, spacers and Rock Warrior wheels. I have previously owned several sets of BFG AT's (the old style), and just put on the Goodyear Duratrac Wranglers 285/70r17. The two things I find most valuable in a tire are winter performance and mean looks.

I live in Denver and drive to the mountains most weekend of the year. I had been wanting the Goodyear tires for a while but was finishing off the remaining tread of my BFG's (which feel like smooth glass in snow). I got a online deal on the Goodyear tires online last week and had them installed a few days ago. It just started snowing in Denver and the difference is night and day compared to any tire i have ever had. The grip is crazy good. I can't believe how much traction they have in the snow and ice. I was testing them out yesterday and I could slam the brakes as hard as I could on the slick road and could not get the truck to slide. I have to make a U-turn at the end of my street to park and in the past I have always pulled the e brake to spin around in the snow, with these tires the truck didn't even want to do that. I am very very impressed with the snow performance and they look really really bad ass. Just thought I'd share.
 
I agree they area great tires for snow/ice, quite on dry, good in the wet, meh in mud.

My problems with them are off-road, terribly soft sidewalls. I've had 2 failures due to cutting sidewalls on rocks. I was airing down to approx. 22-25psi. I have read a ton of similar issues concerning the sidewalls. I now do not air down lower than 30psi and so far so good, but I still do not trust them.
 
i was planning to get a set of these. i am currently on ko2 love them but they wear fast. i off road my lc more than i drive it on the streets so i might stick with k02 if the sidewalls are prone to puncher
 
The sidewalls are the only thing stopping me from getting these. I offroad far too often these days and don't want to risk the sidewalls puncture. Some better snow/ice traction sure would be nice though. Maybe I'll just end up with a second set of wheels and tires. :(
 
Lowbudgetlc100 said:
i was planning to get a set of these. i am currently on ko2 love them but they wear fast. i off road my lc more than i drive it on the streets so i might stick with k02 if the sidewalls are prone to puncher
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Have you looked at Kenda Klever? They are MT's and have a 10 ply sidewall if i recall. I have had no issues with them in wet, mud, dry, sand. I dont drive snow so cant comment. But since you drive more off-road i think you would really like them.
 
SurfSwitch said:
The sidewalls are the only thing stopping me from getting these. I offroad far too often these days and don't want to risk the sidewalls puncture. Some better snow/ice traction sure would be nice though. Maybe I'll just end up with a second set of wheels and tires. :(
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I had Duratracs on my Jeep, had 45k miles on them with a lot of tread left when I sold it. Loved Them, so within a few days of getting the LC100 I put Duratracs on it. Like my Jeep I take my LC100 off road once or twice per month. I go to a few places. Big Bear where there is every kind of condition possible throughout the year. Lots of sharp rocks and mud too, along with snow, ice, you name it. I also go to Anza Borrego which has all your harsh desert conditions, rocks, sand etc. Cleghorn ridge which notably has some real nasty mud at times. I often air them down as low as 14-15 psi and I have never had any cuts, punctures or chunks missing etc. These are not a 'mud' tire, but I bet they are better in the mud than any 'A/T' tire. At least I have yet to see an A/T tire that was better in the mud, and definitely not the "popular" BF Goodrich A/Ts. One important detail to point out however. I have only had the 'E' load range, never the 'C' or 'D' load range Duratracs. So maybe the 'E' load is a little stronger in the sidewall area? I do not personally like mud (IH8mud) but I don't avoid it either. I also do not like the noise from a typical mud tire. I prefer a tire that can really tackle most any condition confidently. If there is a tire that can better handle mud, rain, rocks, snow, ice and daily driver duties with equal competence, please point me to them. Really, I will probably give them a run. I think these are the best real "all terrain" tire available.
 
04gto said:
I had Duratracs on my Jeep, had 45k miles on them with a lot of tread left when I sold it. Loved Them, so within a few days of getting the LC100 I put Duratracs on it. Like my Jeep I take my LC100 off road once or twice per month. I go to a few places. Big Bear where there is every kind of condition possible throughout the year. Lots of sharp rocks and mud too, along with snow, ice, you name it. I also go to Anza Borrego which has all your harsh desert conditions, rocks, sand etc. Cleghorn ridge which notably has some real nasty mud at times. I often air them down as low as 14-15 psi and I have never had any cuts, punctures or chunks missing etc. These are not a 'mud' tire, but I bet they are better in the mud than any 'A/T' tire. At least I have yet to see an A/T tire that was better in the mud, and definitely not the "popular" BF Goodrich A/Ts. One important detail to point out however. I have only had the 'E' load range, never the 'C' or 'D' load range Duratracs. So maybe the 'E' load is a little stronger in the sidewall area? I do not personally like mud (IH8mud) but I don't avoid it either. I also do not like the noise from a typical mud tire. I prefer a tire that can really tackle most any condition confidently. If there is a tire that can better handle mud, rain, rocks, snow, ice and daily driver duties with equal competence, please point me to them. Really, I will probably give them a run. I think these are the best real "all terrain" tire available.
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Appreciate the feedback, thanks!
 
I have E Rated Duratracs, the 4x4 club in CO what I belong to has had multiple failures on the sidewalls. At HIH5, 2 of us has didewall failures. The team I was with on Pughkeepsie Gulch had to wait to ascend the Wall due to a Jeep having a failure on a Duratrac, then the rain came adn we were all SOL so we took the bypass. You will find nearly 50/50 results of those who claim to wheel the Duratracs to nubs w/o failure and others like myself that have had the unfortunate failures on the sidewall. All I know is I will not be repurchasing Duratracs for my TLC100.
 
04gto said:
I had Duratracs on my Jeep, had 45k miles on them with a lot of tread left when I sold it. Loved Them, so within a few days of getting the LC100 I put Duratracs on it. Like my Jeep I take my LC100 off road once or twice per month. I go to a few places. Big Bear where there is every kind of condition possible throughout the year. Lots of sharp rocks and mud too, along with snow, ice, you name it. I also go to Anza Borrego which has all your harsh desert conditions, rocks, sand etc. Cleghorn ridge which notably has some real nasty mud at times. I often air them down as low as 14-15 psi and I have never had any cuts, punctures or chunks missing etc. These are not a 'mud' tire, but I bet they are better in the mud than any 'A/T' tire. At least I have yet to see an A/T tire that was better in the mud, and definitely not the "popular" BF Goodrich A/Ts. One important detail to point out however. I have only had the 'E' load range, never the 'C' or 'D' load range Duratracs. So maybe the 'E' load is a little stronger in the sidewall area? I do not personally like mud (IH8mud) but I don't avoid it either. I also do not like the noise from a typical mud tire. I prefer a tire that can really tackle most any condition confidently. If there is a tire that can better handle mud, rain, rocks, snow, ice and daily driver duties with equal competence, please point me to them. Really, I will probably give them a run. I think these are the best real "all terrain" tire available.
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thanks i would get the "E" load tire too.
 
I had Duratracs as my last set, they were a good tire for my family vehicle and I'd recommend them to anyone considering them. We mainly stay on the pavement with our Cruiser but occasionally I'll pinstripe it up on mild trails, often take it roadtripping, load up with 7 passengers, mountains with snow/ice, etc. I got a whopping 65k out of my set and I wasn't really down to the wear bars and likely could have gone further if I had been better about tire rotations and prevented them from cupping (they were also super loud and at low speeds my 3yr old started asking about the bumpy ride - there was a quite nice tire drone at around 55mph that would get my youngest sleeping in a jiffy :clap:)

I did notice the sidewalls were super soft-ish, especially when cornering, but never had any failures personally - likely because I never pushed my non-armored rig into questionable terrain. I never really cared much for the aesthetics of the sidewalls on these - they looked too aggressive and like they're trying too hard and not very functional since they didn't actually beef up the sidewall.

I chose not to replace them with the same tire again, this time I'm giving the newly designed Falken AT3Ws a try.
 
highonpottery said:
I had Duratracs as my last set, they were a good tire for my family vehicle and I'd recommend them to anyone considering them. We mainly stay on the pavement with our Cruiser but occasionally I'll pinstripe it up on mild trails, often take it roadtripping, load up with 7 passengers, mountains with snow/ice, etc. I got a whopping 65k out of my set and I wasn't really down to the wear bars and likely could have gone further if I had been better about tire rotations and prevented them from cupping (they were also super loud and at low speeds my 3yr old started asking about the bumpy ride - there was a quite nice tire drone at around 55mph that would get my youngest sleeping in a jiffy :clap:)

I did notice the sidewalls were super soft-ish, especially when cornering, but never had any failures personally - likely because I never pushed my non-armored rig into questionable terrain. I never really cared much for the aesthetics of the sidewalls on these - they looked too aggressive and like they're trying too hard and not very functional since they didn't actually beef up the sidewall.

I chose not to replace them with the same tire again, this time I'm giving the newly designed Falken AT3Ws a try.
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Curious to know were yours 'E' load?
 
yes, E seems to be pretty standard with the 285/16 size across most manufacturers.
 
Street tires? I think a lot of the community here are looking at aggressive AT and MT tires, for THOSE they mostly seem to be E rated. can't say I've seen a C rated tire in the size yet
 
I've had mine for over 30k and been to the last IHI6 with them on (another '99 that came with me had them on as well). Aired down to 14-16 psi often over sand / clay / mud in Midwest and rocks in Colorado. No problems what so ever... the use will have a lot to do with the side wall issues. Had BFG before and liked them, but would rather buy another set of Duratracks.
 
I'm pretty much sold on the Duratracs for my next tires... I'm in the snow a lot more than I'm offroad and these consistently get stellar reviews on that front. Question: Can anyone with the E rating tires comment on the ride? How harsh is it? Anyone compared E to the C rating?

My wife loves the plush ride in our LX470. But the guy at Discount Tire tried to steer me away from the E's...saying it'd ride like a forklift. Should I ignore and order anyways? Def. don't want a blowout if I can avoid it.
 
I'll chime in since I ran the DT on my modded LC for 40k Miles... lots of significant offroad.... 3 DV trips, 1 Mojave Road Trip, 10 days in Moab, 10+ trips to the sierras doing mild to difficult trails. Snow, Ice and dry streets as well.

No Sidewall failures.

Ride quality was very good - air pressure will dictate ride for the most part. obviously stiffer sidewalls will be less compliant.

285/75-16, 3 ply sidewall, E load

Id recommend in a second.
 
I had 265/75/16 DT's on my '03 Tacoma..many times aired down to 10psi on many trails here in CO. Never once had any sidewall and or tire failures. I had small chunks of the lugs missing from spinning wheels trying to make it over obstacles..but to be expected.

So When I got my lx450 I bought them right away in the 285/75/16 E flavor. Haven't been able to get out on too many trails with it yet, but ive done a few trying ones, and only airing down to 20psi due to the added vehicle weight. Ive experienced nothing but good grip and confidence in them.

I have heard rumors that the tire quality on DT's can vary depending on where you purchase them from... I bought mine from a goodyear shop and on sale. On top of that they comparatively priced them to TireRack with installation. I believe it was $850 out the door.
 
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