Shocking news about popular Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac size (4 Viewers)

[jefo13]

I was shocked to read that out of all the sizes available, the ones I have and I know it’s commonly used, 275/70-18 are excluded from their severe winter certification….
Why? So odd! And is this new?

 

[stonepa]

Thise specific sizes and ratings may be an older design or have a different tread compound. This happens all the time with tire manufacturers. They make several versions of what appears to be the exact same tires differentiated only by the specific model code.

 

[40Man]

Also, sizes that are not as popular may not be tested, as they have to pay to test each size.

The severe snow rating should be able to be accomplished as the test tire they outperform is essentially a summer radial.

IMO, the snowflake symbol is a disservice to consumers as it creates false expectations.

The very hard rubber KO2s, which are just ok for an AT on snow and horrible on ice have the same symbol as a fully studded, soft rubber Hakkapellita or other dedicated snow tires.

There should be a rating system with a range of values based on a comparison between the tires consumers are actually using, not zome outdated summer radial. There is no real data system for consumers to make a choice, and the tire manufacturers seem to like it that way.

A 1-10 snowflake rating system for snow and ice performance would be a much better metric providing consumers with better data. I'd expect the top end of the range to be dedicated snow tires.

Many real world tests show the old Cooper AT3 outperform all other ATs (old test before most modern ATs) on snow, but Cooper didn't pay to have them certified.

 

[Sandroad]

I agree with @40Man . The 3pmsf symbol is misleading at best. The test a tire meets is an extremely low bar, needing only a slight increase in medium deep snow traction on straight line acceleration to earn it. Putting it on non-dedicated winter tires seems a disservice. The Tire Rack has many tech articles about it, including their own tests where some non dedicated winter tires with the symbol have been outperformed in the winter by all season tires without the symbol. The fact that a size or 2 of a particular AT tire doesn‘t have the symbol when other sizes do seems almost irrelevant and IMHO is not a decision point. I think If you need winter tires, get winter tires. Here’s one article.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=125

 

[CJF]

But it's Shocking, I tell you!

 

[CJF]

Looks like the 125Q in that size *is* severe snow rated:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Wrangler+DuraTrac&partnum=77QR8WDT

 

[TeCKis300]

Several great comments here already. If I could add a couple more for clarification:

- The three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) symbol identifies a tire that performs 110% of of a standard reference tire. It's a minimum that at barely 10% better against a baseline, will get you this certification.

- The Wrangler Duratrac lineup in whole likely barely performs well enough to generally warrant the snow symbol. And that the specific 275/70R18 one didn't.

Takeaway is that if you want a good winter tire, Duratracs are generally not it. Just like KO2s that have the symbol, have been known to be poor performers here too. They have redeeming qualities in other uses, and if snow is a distant factor, may be good enough.

 

[grinchy]

I had Duratracs two winters ago. They were bought off craigslist and had 6 to 8/32 tread (nearly to the wear bars).
They were amazing in the snow.

Agree on the uselessness of 3pmsf rating though.

 

[40Man]

I had Duratracs two winters ago. They were bought off craigslist and had 6 to 8/32 tread (nearly to the wear bars).
They were amazing in the snow.

Agree on the uselessness of 3pmsf rating though.

Yeah, lot of snowplow drivers use Duratracs due to their soft rubber and the traction it gives on ice for an AT. Of course, Duratracs are older tech and there (older than the KO2s) are better tires out there now.

Of course the Duratracs chip on rocks and wear fast, and are noisy if you aren't religous about rotations, so the better winter quality is a compromise elsewhere. They still last a long time as they have a lot of tread.

Falken took the soft tread, inproved it with silica for longer tread life.

I was hoping for even better performance from the new Toyo AT3, but have found them to be noiser and not quite as good on snow and ice as the Falkens, although still pretty good.

 

[Str8Laced]

This is similar to what I found on Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLT. I have the 285/65/18 on my LX and they definitely do not have the 3PMSF Symbol and as far as I know Cooper doesn't advertise any sizes to be Severe Snow rated, however I saw this in a Tundra Forum and surprisingly a 275-55-20 clearly has the snowflake symbol.

 

[Str8Laced]

Yeah, lot of snowplow drivers use Duratracs due to their soft rubber and the traction it gives on ice for an AT. Of course, Duratracs are older tech and there (older than the KO2s) are better tires out there now.

Of course the Duratracs chip on rocks and wear fast, and are noisy if you aren't religous about rotations, so the better winter quality is a compromise elsewhere. They still last a long time as they have a lot of tread.

Falken took the soft tread, inproved it with silica for longer tread life.

I was hoping for even better performance from the new Toyo AT3, but have found them to be noiser and not quite as good on snow and ice as the Falkens, although still pretty good.

Has anyone tried the Goodyear UltraTerrain ? They are made exclusively for DiscountTire and have the 3PMSF snowflake, not sold at Goodyear stores. Since no TireRack reviews available is hard to know how well they perform in snow and on ice. They are an A/T but less aggressive than the DuraTrac. I would think they would be a really good snow tire ?

Discount Tire | Tires and Wheels for Sale | Online & In-Person

www.discounttire.com

 

[TheIcemanCometh]

Has anyone tried the Goodyear UltraTerrain ? They are made exclusively for DiscountTire and have the 3PMSF snowflake, not sold at Goodyear stores. Since no TireRack reviews available is hard to know how well they perform in snow and on ice. They are an A/T but less aggressive than the DuraTrac. I would think they would be a really good snow tire ?

Discount Tire | Tires and Wheels for Sale | Online & In-Person

www.discounttire.com

I went and checked them out last fall when I was looking around. I wanted to see the tread pattern in person. I can not remember what they said about the performance. Being E rated I passed on them.

 

[AnyMal]

Yeah, lot of snowplow drivers use Duratracs due to their soft rubber and the traction it gives on ice for an AT. Of course, Duratracs are older tech and there (older than the KO2s) are better tires out there now.

Of course the Duratracs chip on rocks and wear fast, and are noisy if you aren't religous about rotations, so the better winter quality is a compromise elsewhere. They still last a long time as they have a lot of tread.

Falken took the soft tread, inproved it with silica for longer tread life.

I was hoping for even better performance from the new Toyo AT3, but have found them to be noiser and not quite as good on snow and ice as the Falkens, although still pretty good.

I can vouch for the toyo a/t 3 on snow but only in P variant.

Taking even compounds aside I can also confirm that as @stonepa said it is an entirely different tire to its LT counterpart.

We won’t have snow here in TX for another decade so I’ll probably never put my new ones through the paces as last winters ice storm.