Goodyear Wrangler DURATRAC's

All the above (except for abs, more so traction control). The best way to describe it is driving up a snowy hill in 2wd. Absolutely no traction.

 

I may have a few suggestion that should help (unless you're doing them already)...

A few more questions first:

Just want verify this is regarding "wet asphalt" traction; not icy, snow covered, or packed snow (we'll get to those later if needed); and your previous comments apply to "wet asphalt"?

Does the front tire lose traction during cornering?

Do you carry anything the cab during typical driving that could add up to 50lbs or more (heavy backpack, tools, chains, etc)?

Do carry anything in the bed?

Which rear tire typically loses traction first?

 

Tires have somewhere around 30k miles on them. One has a bad balancing issue.

Yes, it's just wet traction. Not snow, ice, or even raining, just wet.

Front tires occasionally will 'plow' into turns if wet, but I have adjusted my driving to try and prevent this from happening. As in I go as slow as possible in turns while not creating a traffic issue.The traction control kicks in when it does plow.

Other than my self I probably keep about 30 lbs of equip distributed throughout the cab. Glove box, center console, under rear seats.

Nothing is kept in the bed except some bungees and a bed cargo bar.

I don't think it's one side over the other that's loosing traction. It just depends on the specific conditions at that point in time.

When I start up a wet hill it will immediately loose traction and spin the entire length. Ass end usually starts to fishtail if its a long enough incline. I always throw it in auto lsd mode so I don't loose engine power, otherwise I'd never make it up the hill.

I've tried different tire pressures from 30-38 psi. Doesn't make any considerable difference(for wet traction, snow yes).

I have 13/32 tread left, and as you can see there is plenty of sipe left in the tire. In fact I measured the depth of the sipes and there is still 9/32 depth left in them.

For this thanksgiving snow we just had it was a very wet heavy snow of about 5-6" . I dropped the psi to about 27-28 psi and they did fairly well traction wise.

Like I said before, these tires weren't this bad when they were new. They were never great for wet traction, but not this bad. Noise level was expected to get worse with age, but I didn't expect wet traction to become non existent.

 

It seems like there are a combination a minor factors all skewing things in one direction. But even with that, what you're describing is disappointing to hear.

- the tires are little larger than stock; to compensate the tire pressure will need to be reduced slightly to get equivalent traction. I don't know what the door calls for on the 2nd gen, but start there, then go down. 1st gen is 26psi, so I'm guessing yours is around 30psi for no bed load. With the bed empty I would say don't go below 22psi in the rears for hwy speeds; I'm hoping you'll see a big traction improvement in the 23-26psi range for the rear. Probably 25psi is a conservative safe minimum for the front. Staying above 30psi front & rear, probably isn't going to show much traction improvement.
Sidewalls are gunna compress a little when cornering but that will give you some notice before they lose traction, and they should hang on quite a bit longer before the do. The ride will feel less refined and maybe a little squirmy but should help noticeably with the wet traction problem.

-most of the factory siping is gone, and none of it goes all the way to the edge of the tread; pretty surprising with that much tread left. Sucks! Getting them siped should help significantly with the issued, but I would not go that route until I tried everything else. This seems to be the primary difference from new performance. Pic of the factory siping:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tire...rtnum=67QR7WDTOWL&tireModel=Wrangler+DuraTrac


-Keeping weight in the bed at the tailgate will help traction on the hills; as little as 50 to 100lbs should make a noticeably improvement with hill traction and with fish tailing; technically it should may plowing worse but hopefully an imperceptible amount.

That's all I can think of at the moment, but will add more if I think of it. To me seems like they cheeped-out on the siping, the higher tire pressure is making it worse; gotta get more tread edges contacting the road.

I'd start with 28psi in front and 26psi the rear.... Then go lower if needed, and find the tolerably balance of squishy sidewalls & better traction. I'd be REALLY surprised if dropping the pressure to those levels doesn't help; let us know how it goes.

 

I appreciate what you're saying, but that low of psi would be dangerous. I can feel a significant fight in the steering at 27-28 psi. Any lower and highway speed would be dangerous. Loss of control, etc.

Mpg would suffer massively any lower than 32 psi.
Panel sticker is around 33, but that is for a factory size tire.

To be honest, the answer for me is replacing the tires. At this point they are failing as an every day tire.

 

I would say those psi levels are great for offroad applications and snowy roads. Definitely increases your traction for those situations, and I do use it for those.

But at high speed these tires get real squishy under 30 psi.

 

So first let me say from what I've seen so far I think you and me may be cut from the same cloth(I could be wrong though; just say so). Stuff should work the way it is supposed to, and if it doesn't then; "WFT is going on with this thing..."

So here is what's going on(to me anyway):

Running 265/75r16 load c @ ~35psi on a 2nd gen is a quite a bit overinflated that improves mpg & handling, and traction has been sacrificed quite a bit. Now that they are worn and the siping is effectively gone, the traction sacrificed is a real problem.

Yes underinflating slightly into the 25psi range to improve traction and will sacrifice mpg and handling; everything has tradeoffs.

I'm running these 33x12.5x15 @ 25psi in the front and 22psi in the rear; it's unrefined and sloppy at 80mph but not dangerous; mpg dropped from running them ~ 30psi and it works the engine more [more tradeoffs ]

I run P265/70r16 Michelins @ 18psi on rocky fire roads up to ~ 35mph without issue; it's great and totally smoothes it out.

Duratracs IMO are not a super high quality tire; they seem like a good all around tire (pretty good in mud, snow, & on road) with good tread-wear and priced decently so are a good value. Some sizes are priced unjustifiably high; I don't understand why.

You may want to go with a less aggressive and higher quality tire if you wanna get new tires; if you wanna stick with these and won't do the low tire pressure thing then get them siped (is that legal in PA?)

 

I agree the duratracs are not a quality tire. Between the traction issues and the balancing issues I started having around 20k miles. Definitely the least quality tire I have ever purchased. I was hesitant to buy a goodyear product, as Ive never purchased that brand before. I've always had factory installed Michelins from honda/acura or Yokohamas that I've purchased. I will definitely be getting a different brand tire next round.

I want an all terrain that can handle some offroad, but yet can reasonably deliver on the road. Im fine with a little noise and some performance sacrifice to have a tire that will get me where I need. I havent decided on a specific tire yet. I have a thread in the tire section I started a while back with people throwing in their opinions on different tires to try and get some ideas.

I honestly don't know what the laws are on siping, but I won't throw anymore money at these tires. I'll probably run these tires through the winter and start looking into getting a new set of tires in the spring.

Out of curiosity I'll try the lower pressure (25 psi) when it's wet out again. It's not something I would want to run all the time though. These tires really aren't friendly when under inflated on pavement. Offroad and snow is fine, but pavement is just too sloppy. Plus I really don't want to drop the mpgs that bad. I notice a difference going from 36 to 31.

 

Yeah the lower tire pressure recommendation is only for the rainy season.

I think duratracs are totally decent tires, but are nothing like the quality of Michelins. I have had crap tires, and duratracs aren't like those either. Michelins almost take no weight and it's almost the the same amount for all the tires. Plus they last crazy long; I got 90k miles out of the crossterrains, and have 30k on the M/S2s and hardly see any wear.


My duratracs have a big weight range to balance; one has very little weight, one has a lot, and the others are in between. It tells me there is far is more variability during manufacturing.

Michelin has an AT tire but the siping is limited so it may not be all that much better wet traction at higher pressure than the duratracs (probably better though) they will be much quieter and handle better.

Bfg ATs might do it for you, but it seems like you want a higher quality tire; I think they are a better than duratracs, but not leaps and bounds. I would have gone with them but wanted a more aggressive tire, that wears well, and really good in the snow; so duratracs.

Cooper seems to make high quality tires, so they may be a option. Some of there there AT tires has a lot of siping, so may be able to fit your needs.

If I find a tire that seems to do want you're looking for I'll send it your way.

 

When you go lower do a little at a time then drive it for an hour or two so you can get use to the differences in handling. Maybe start around 30psi drive, then drop a couple more psi and drive more, then drop more... etc.

It will handle very differently; best not to do it all at once.

I think they might grip dramatically better at 27psi in the front and 25psi in the rear, but it might need to be a hair lower...

Also try keeping 50 to 100lbs of stuff in the bed at the tailgate; it really helps them stay connected going up steep hills.

And for new tires you'll wanna have a lot of siping (way more than the duratracs) to run higher pressures and retain more wet traction, and that the majority of the siping goes all the way down so they remain as it wears out. (M/S2s do, but not very aggressive)

 

I just put on a set of Toyo OC AT2's. Of course they are new but wow what a difference! These AT2's are quiet and smooth. My truck drives like new again. They don't look as aggressive but hopefully they will still perform well offroad and in the snow. Wet and dry traction is great. My Duratracs were down to 7/32's with about 30k mi. They still were good offroad but onroad they were very noisy, had some vibration and wet traction was not good. I ran them at 36psi recommended by the tire guys. Same for the AT2's. My truck is a DD so I had to get off of those Duratracs and onto something better on the HWY. I'm very happy now except now I can feel the front diff vibe again. Next is the ECGS diff bushing. Oh and while I was at it I got a set of wheels.

 

I dropped the pressure from 35psi to 32 psi. Surprisingly wet traction improved a lot with dropping a little difference in tire pressure.

 

Getting a set of these installed on Monday. 265/70R17's load C. I was way more excited before reading these last posts!

 

Let us know what you think!

If you have reasonable expectations & aware of the trade-offs of a AT/MT tire (duratrac is somewhat in between), then you should be happy with them especially if pricing was favorable. (In 33x12.5x15 they were about least expensive tire available, so I am VERY happy with them so far.)

Basically they will not perform as well in all conditions on-road as a high quality all-season tire(a tire specifically design to balance performance/comfort/treadlife/etc in most on-road driving conditions) & deviating from the appropriate pressure will compound these differences...

I am of the option the expectations were not lowered for the treadoffs of going with an AT/MT tire... Kinda like being unhappy a tacoma doesn't handle as well as a Camry, or something like that...(IMO)

 

In on my second set. Have never had any issues and over 60k miles collectively on two sets (sold my old truck with still plenty of tread left.) I have 30k miles on my current set. Rotate them often and keep the pressure right.

 

I've had them for a week now and love them! I ended up getting a passenger rated instead of the 'C' range. After seeing (and feeling) them side by side I didn't think they were worth the extra $300. Very minimal difference in tread depth and stiffness.

They ride great, didn't notice much, if any, additional noise. Ride is not quite as smooth as the stockers but still really good (rides more like a truck now really).

I'm in Canada and they've been great in the snow. Noticed a huge difference in that right away. Got them installed for $1000. Couldn't be happier. Also the 265/70R17's fit perfectly with stock rims. No rubbing issues at all and look beefy.

 

I have about 40,000 miles on mine. 275/55/18. Went to American Tire Depot yesterday for a balance since my steering wheel vibes are frightening, particularly while braking. The owner informed me that a balance would be a waste of $60 because my tires are cupped. No way to fix this, just have to buy 4 new tires. Looks like I'll be suffering for a year or so until they get replaced. Thinking Toyo OC AT or General Grabber.

 

Reporting in with 3.5 year old, 33K miles on my 265/75/R16 Load Range "C" Duratracs.

They are loud at highway speeds, and wearing fast! I expect to replace them in Summer (2015) when they hit 40K miles. I will probably try out the Cooper ST Maxx tires in load range D or E, maybe a heavier Duratrac. Not really happy with how fast my Duratracs have worn, but the traction has been excellent. I did not have any balancing issues. Tires rotated and balanced every 5K miles.

Since owning them I've poked four holes in them. I don't blame the tires though.

Here is a picture of one with 33K miles



Compare the above to the day they were bought new:

 

^Thank you. Your comment is helpful. Tires are something I want to get right, as I'm going to have to live with them for years.