Goodyear Duratrac opinions wanted

I would have liked to try to new KO2's but they only come in load E's for 265/75R16 so went with Duratracs instead. I've had them on my 2011 and had no complaints.

 

Lots of people complain about shimmy / vibration because a lot of them come out of round. I had two that needed to be replaced because of too much road force causing vibrations. And wet road traction is kinda of crappy. Other than that they are good.

 

Mine were fine for the 25k miles I ran them, the traction wasent as sticky anymore and needed force balance with the wheels I ran, but they were good for 2 years of use.

 

Duratrac's LT265/75/16 Load Range C going on tomorrow morning, can't wait to get rid of the Dunflops. I was lucky that Canadian Tire found a set for me because they are apparently on back order until December. Before and after pics tomorrow if everything goes smooth with the install.

 

I have that same tire, and like most everybody else said, they are awesome, especially in the snow.

Mine have about 20k on them now, with another 5k to go. (that's a lot of miles on a tire for me)

As they get close to the end of their life, they get loud. Really loud.

But that won't stop me from buying them again.

 

I ran them for 30k on my 09 Prerunner. Better than half tread left when I sold it and no change in road noise. I have run a lot of mudders in my life and Duratracs are quite quiet in comparison.

 

I drive like an idiot, so I don't get a lot of miles out of tires

 

I have on the exact same size as you're interested in. I have only about 15K miles on mine but they still look pretty new. On road, they're relatively quiet and have good road manners. Off road and in the snow, they're very grippy. Can't say much about the "weak side walls" since I have never put the truck in a position with jagged rocks and branches on the road. Also, you may be able to get a cheaper price per tire if you shop around a bit.

Would I buy them again?
Yes. As matter of fact, I have another set in my attic, which I received a good deal on, waiting to be put on.

 

I have beat the living crap out of my LT265/75/R16 LR-C Duratracs while off road. I've had them for (4) years and 40K miles now. They have served me well, and out of the (5) I've owned, at least one had a defect and maybe a second. Both issues did not show them selves until late in life cycle of tire. One has developed torsional cracking around the sidewall lugs, and the other has a ripped sidewall. I'm not certain if the sidewall rip happened from a rock or not. I also poked (5) holes in them, but that can happen to any tire. They are also loud now, but that's true of most ANY worn tire. I don't love them enough to rebuy them, so I'm shopping around now... More tar pics in mah build thread.



Sidewall rip / tear


Torsional cracking around the sidewall lugs

 

Weak sidewalls. That's the biggest issue with Duratracs. They are popular here for the reasons you mentioned about be on sale quite often at CrappyTire (aka Canadian Tire) or other low end shops. People always end up bitching about them either falling apart early or tearing a sidewall on the odd branch or rock where the Kevlar MTR's or Cooper ST Maxx have no problem.

In general with tires you get what you pay for. The Duratrac is a cheap entry level tire for someone who likes to offroad with some quality and durability issues.

The other issue, in just Canada and the northern USA, is that on the Duratrac the sipes go in a little less than half way. So you get good rain and okay winter performance for the first 15K-20K and then shit goes south fast.

 

I only have 45000 miles in 8 yrs owning my truck and have dedicated studded winter tires, so the Duratracs will probably last a long time since I do very little off road. I hope so anyway.

 

Did you already buy them? If so good luck . I do know lots of guys who run them because of the price but if you haven't yet you may want to look into other options. TBH on highway and rain the Hankook ATm you mentioned is a better tire.

 

I've had my duratracks for a while and put them on used from a friend (unknown milage) snow they kick add but I slip on wet roads and wet grass with these more than the stock bfg's. I will not buy a new set. Some scaring on side walls. I'm leaning towards some coopers.

 

Damn, I love and hate this site. Thatnks all for putting doubts in my mind. I hope I am happy with these tires because I'm paying a $1000 bucks for them.

 

I was happy with mine as a 90% highway tire, never had any issues at all.

I switched to BFG AT KO2 and honestly is a better tire so far.

So I would do a comparison on those 2 tires like I did.

The original BFG AT KO are terrible though so avoid those.

 

I hope you enjoy them. I enjoyed mine.

 

Have you bought them and had them installed already then?

In any case, if you do mostly on road driving, for the first 20K you should be very happy with them. When the sipes are good and they aren't being abused they seem to hold up fine. Once those sipes wear out about halfway into the tires lifespan though and if you take them on a trail with lots of rocks/branches you may regret them eventually.

Like I said, in general, you get what you pay for. Then again, you don't really need a heavier tire for just hauling a trailer around and staying on road. IMHO I would of stuck with the Hankook ATm though for that sort of stuff. I've had a few sets of them on different trucks and they hold up extremely well with better tread life than the Duratracs. The only thing the Duratrac has over the ATm is the offroad performance, which is better with the wide open tread on the Duratrac.

 

Going to be installed tomorrow

 

After reading and researching tires for the last few weeks I've discovered that no matter what tire it is, some people love them or hate them. If someone knows the perfect tire speak up. I guess I have to balance the opinions and realize everyone has one... Agreement on tires is like agreement on politics as it seems.

 

Yup. Usually it depends on what people are using their tires for. Like I said, I have a lot of friends that run them. It doesn't sound like you'll be on trails much so the weak sidewalls wont matter to you and, depending on how you drive, it could be a long time until you wear out the sipes.

IMHO someone in Cali where it doesn't rain much would love tue Duratracs. Even here guys like the price so they put up with the shorter life span. It's all dependant on thr driver and the conditions for how someone will feel about the tires.