Goodyear Wrangler DURATRAC's

They work better than a more aggressive MT tire with more tread void and bigger side lugs. And they work worse than an AT tire with less tread void and smaller or no side lugs.

 

Looking at picking up a set this weekend. They would be going on 17in Method wheels. Truck is an 06 access cab with leveling kit. What size would you suggest? 285/70/17?

Thanks

 

My Duratrac tires weird. With light rain when, wet traction is terrible and down right scary. However with heavy down pour, wet traction is exceptional.

 

What psi are you running them?

Maybe try running them around 26 psi front & rear if not hauling, more in the rear if you are.

If you've never run them that low, do it incrementally so you can get the feel of it; it will handle differently.

Edit: guessing the road was extra slick with the light rain and cleaned off for the heavier rain... So the low pressure would be used to get more traction for that condition.

 

My 285/70/17 on a 9" wide wheel:



285/70/17 on 8.5" wheel:





Approximately 2 3/4" of lift!

Both sets of wheels are 4.5" BS!

A 265/70/17 may be a better fit for a leveling kit! (2"?)

 

Just for comparison!

Leveling kit with AAL! 265/70/17 on factory wheels!





Same setup with 1.25" wheel spacers!





Hope this helps!

 

Ended up with this setup. Rubs pretty good driving around town. May have to raise the front

 

Looks good man! Time for some COs!

 

29psi.

It has been raining on and off for the couple of weeks. It was last week there was heavy down pours that gave the tires really good wet traction. When the heavy down pour stopped and the light rain came back, bad wet traction again.

I am really surprised how a lot of people here have 38-40psi or more and say they have excellent wet traction. When I ran on 38 psi wet traction was even worse than having 29 psi right now.

 

Yeah it has sure been rainy, I'm in the same area.

How much tread is left?

A guy on here was happy enough with their wet traction until they got past the factory siping, then he had similar complaints but he was running them much higher and didn't want to lower the pressure.

 

So no traction issue with any wet pavement conditions, correct?

Are they worn past the factory siping?

 

You can change that with a reset it you want to.

 

One theory I have is this: so at higher pressure the center blocks are doing most of the work keeping the tires connected to road, and when the siping is gone the blocks are fairly large giving few biting edges and with the tire compound not super grippy like the fast wearing mud tires so they just don't have much wet pavement traction when overinflated.

I think some high end tires use silica in the compound (or something) in A/S lines to improve wet traction; not sure if they are available in other A/T or M/T lines... But haven't seen duratracs say they have them

 

Awesome! Looks sweet man!

 

I posted to this thread some time back, just after buying mine. Also have a thread of my own on Duratracs (Life with Duratracs) Anyway, here's my updated opinion(s);

I'm running 265/75/r16's, load range C. (On TRD OR stock wheels) Initially, I had problems getting them to balance and ride OK....That was finally resolved by increasing psi to 38 It seemed that they had "flat spots" that would round out with enough pressure. May be an overly simplistic view....but that's what it appeared. I'm 9400 miles in now.....And they ride excellent! I've even been able to air down to 34psi without the "unbalanced" feel. At pressures below that, gas mileage starts falling off badly. I've "chalked" the tires and get an excellent contact surface with that pressure also. Just as an experiment, I have ran them down to as low as 28psi to see how they rode.....No smoother, and very squirrely at speed. With 38psi, I get great mileage (relative to what others report with a DCSB V6/auto Tacoma) Anywhere from 18 on average driving, to 22+ on interstate w/cruise set @ 65mph.

Wet/dry; I've been able to compare them under a variety of conditions. Dry roads, off road (both wet and dry condition) , damp roads, heavy rain, snow and ice. I'm 100% pleased with their performance in ALL conditions.

There is SOME road noise. Nothing that I can't live with.

With any tire that has an aggressive tread pattern, you have to make some allowances. They aren't for everyone. But if you want a great all around mud/snow/off road tire that performs well ON the pavement, Duratracs are a great choice. Next tires I'll be stepping up to 285/75/r16's....Duratracs......

 

I bought my 265/75r16 Duratracs mostly because they were available in a C. I too was concerned with weight. In my case I have the 4cyl and an E rating would be overkill.

 

Am considering duratracs in 265/75/16 load c as my first "real" tires. I drive a lot, and the Cs are 7 lbs lighter per tire which i feel is significant. What type of longevity might i get with these? Daily driver, 66% highway, I keep my tires balanced and rotate every 5k. Would like to hear some real world users with same size in load C.

 

I put these on about a year ago now, and like you most of my commuting is done on the highway. I wanted a great snow tire and wanted an LT because the few times I run offroad to some fishing and hunting spots tire durability is huge.

I've been very happy with these tires. The on road manners aren't bad at all for an aggressive LT. I wouldn't call them too loud either, you can definitely hear them but they are not very bad at all. I have about 12k miles, been rotated twice and so far they still look new and even. Lost about 1-1.5 MPG from the stock P's.

As far as snow performance....they have been amazing. I don't regret my decision at all.

If I was commuting more (this truck isn't my daily work commuter) and wasn't hitting some serious snow covered, rut-filled fields a couple times a month in the winter I would have probably opted for a slightly less aggressive P, such as the Hankook ATM's.

 

TYVM, still leaning towards this tire, today......lol