Duratrac vs KO2

I know the comparison of these two tires has been brought up numerous times in the forums, but for those of you that have owned BOTH, I have a few specific questions.

1) Wet Asphalt: My KO2’s are not great on wet pavement. How are the Duratracs in these conditions?

2) Very Few Snow Miles: Are Duratracs a smart choice if you do not see a lot of snow? I live in a warm region, but see snow occasionally when on long trips.

3) Tread Life: I believe the Wrangler tread would be slightly better in mud conditions, which I see a lot of, but if the Wranglers see a lot of pavement, am I going to wear the tread out extremely fast?

I love the look of the Wrangler, but I need to make a smart purchase. I can live with another set of KO2’s, but I think I can see better performance out of another tire.

I would consider Ridge Grapplers, but I need 285/75r16’s, which is not an option with the Ridge Grapplers.

Thanks

 

Duratracs suck on wet pavement as well due to the nature of the LT tire and lack of weight in the Tacomas rear end. It would snap loose if I was treating it like a car around corners in the wet on my 16.

Duratracs and BFGs both wear poorly unless you rotate them regularly but the duratrac starts with more tread, hence they look more "aggressive".

I found that BFG's when new perform much better than duratracs in cold climate. But offroading I always prefered the duratrac for traction.

 

I will be trying something different from BFG KO2's! Wait until you truck turns into a sled in a little snow down a hill that you watched others go down with little trouble. I don't mind the look of the stock BFG's on my beadlocks but they are horrible in snow or even just wet conditions. I try to get going on an on-ramp or at a light when the pavement is wet and I all I do is spin even with a couple bags of sand in the back year around. I live close to Seattle so always wet here but I am convinced these tires caused me a fender bender and some close calls. Seems like the tread is okay but it is like the compound used to make the tire is harder so it doesn't grip right in wet conditions. This could be just a bad compound batch but after reading some of the comments in this long thread I totally agree if you are in wet or occasional snow conditions (like me) I would steer clear of KO2's. I have had BFG's for over 2 decades and on 3 Tacoma's (94,98, and 14) but this is by far the worst set on my 2014. I did have a different brand on my 98 for a while and liked them before trading for my 2014 Baja. Just got my truck back from the body shop and I will be shopping for tires since I knew this set had issues in the wet conditions here. Just one final add is I lived in the midwest for most of those 2 decades and in dry conditions I never had issues but most tires wouldn't. I will be looking at the Duratracs while I am doing research. Thanks and just my experiences in wet conditions or going up the mountains in the snow areas for skiing.

 

I live in New England and put 80,000 miles on the duratracs I had. I barely used 4x4 in the winter, I highly recommend them. I now have a set of st max in 255’s... I’m curious how they will compare over time.

 

Sounds like a 50/50 split with the pros/cons

 

Yeah, I put Duratracs on today. Just depends on where you live I guess. I am not going to run BFG's like I had in snow again and I didn't like them on wet pavement either. Quarter throttle, while already moving forward, in just misting wet conditions my truck was spinning at stop lights or on ramps. Now, I didn't notice the wet conditions as bad in the midwest, to be fair, so it may have to do with other factors (ie moss) here in the northwest. Pavement and driveways get moss and more of a slim coating around Seattle I have noticed. Moss is everywhere here, even on roofs, and they even have to clean it off the roofs here which was crazy to me come from the midwest. I would think Hawaii, although I don't know, would have its share of moss and be raining a lot too but maybe not. Just a thought.

 

Yes mostly rain, sand and the notorious red dirt (clay) that stains everything as well as being incredibly slippery off-road.

 

Like your Yota history btw.......my first vehicle was a toyota truck. A 1972 Toyota Helix that I rolled on its side several times out playing in Kansas. The truck was impossible to blow up or stop except I did have to put a clutch in but I could leave it in second and wind it up like a jet. Yeah, I know it was bad looking back on it but I was a teen with the hand me down dump trip truck for driving to school. I had to make the best fun out of it. I have had many others since then and treated them much better......except for the time I was almost in a lake with my 94.

 

Just picked up a set of duratracs for wife's 17s. $699 shipped for some 255/70r17. Never ran them and hope she likes them. Been running treadwrights ko2 knockoffs for years and they do great.

 

My experience with both tires on the same vehicle, a '15 4runner trail edition.

- 255/75R17 "SL" Duratracs. At low speeds, I fricken loved these tires. Around town, the ride was very compliant, every bit as cushy as the stock Dunlops, with tons of bite. Did some light wheeling with them and was very impressed. Snow/ice/hard-pack traction was excellent too and surprisingly quiet. Above 55 mph though, was a different story. They really liked to drift. I was constantly making steering wheel inputs back and forth to stay in lane, regardless of PSI. At 70 mph +, they were down right scary. Not sure if this was because of the SL load rating with a pretty tall sidewall??? Got rid of them after 4k miles. When I traded them in at Discount tire, manager was very surprised to hear my complaints with them, he spoke very highly of them, maybe I just got a bad batch??.

- LT265/70R17 "C" KO2s. Great all around "dry" tire when balanced correctly, but getting them balanced was a challenge at every rotation. Quiet riding, smooth, great durability without being too harsh. Excellent traction off road, felt very controlled at highway speeds too. Great snow traction, but disappointing ice and hard-pack traction. They also seemed to hydroplane more frequently than they should. I think the KO2 could really benefit from a center channel to deal with wet conditions.

 

Okay, so I put Duratracs "E"'s on my 2014 Tacoma. Mine drives great on highway and side streets.

Specifics: I put on 265/75/R16 E on Beadlocks that come with the Baja package. Look great and fit with no rub (not even very close at all so probably work on most fine) on stock Baja setup (same as Pro suspension and height setup since the trucks are the same except called Baja in 14 then Pro in 15). If SL has a 4 ply and E has 10 ply then I could see how it would feel looser if you had SL or anything other than E's with going to a taller sidewall than the stock BFG, especially on corners and highway. Mine drives great and the traction in wet weather is awesome. These tires have not spun on me yet and I have even been trying to get some spin on wet pavement with no luck down to 1/2 pedal. My BFG would have been spinning out of the gate at a light at 0 to 1/4 pedal which was really frustrating living near Seattle. I picked the "E" rated when ordering due to reading this thread and a couple of the posts recommended "E"'s if going with Duratrac. Can't wait to try in mud and snow but if they perform as well in those areas as they do on light icing, wet, and dry (these are the things I have driven on after getting them mounted) then I am completely happy. I do think they will run great in mud and snow too.

Next, I am doing an add a leaf ($89 for the pair, soft ride, for 2" rear increase) since I don't like how the taller front suspension of Baja/Pro makes it seem like your looking upward or the feel that the backend is lower like it is setup from the factory. This has nothing to do with the tires above. This is just going to level out the truck to more of how I like it to be which will give me barely a downward tilt rather than an upward one. Not looking to go tall or fit 35's or anything. I already like the look at the height it is and I don't want to hurt the mileage or throw off speedometer.

 

Stay with the Dura tracs

 

So what's your experience? What are you using now?
Thanks!

 

i came from the jeep world and about 75% of jeep owners run duratracs .i loved them on my jeep best tire i ever had in the snow.i cant wait to upgrade once thes tires i have now wear down( geolanders ). a nice quite tire on the road but poor traction in the snow

 

After a long, arduous search, I decided to give Duratrac another try. LT265/75 R16 "C" Load....

 

So, after one day of ownership, I'm happy to report that this set is NOT exhibiting the same high speed "wandering" that my original set (255/75 R17 Standard Load) did. They were balanced correctly the first time, and are surprisingly smooth around town and on the highway. I'm running them at 40 psi, which is a tad high for no load, but they are not too firm and are actually giving slightly better mileage than the stock OEM Wranglers did at 35 psi. So far, I'm really happy with them. I realize these are notorious for changing dramatically for the worse after 25k - 30K miles, but we shall see. And I'm really glad I went with the White Letters Out. I've always chose the black sidewall out in the past, they look really good in person. Can't wait to trail test them, expecting big things!!! ;-)

 

I had 265/75/16 KOs on my 2007 FJ Cruiser and had a horrible traction/sliding experience with them on six inches of snow on the highway. It was so bad, I won't buy another set of KOs. Granted, it could have been the type of snow too. I have had two sets of Duratracs. My first set were 285/75/16 that I initially ran on my FJ Cruiser, and then I transferred them to my 2014 Tacoma Baja, with eight thousand miles on them. I had both the FJ and Tacoma in four+ feet of snow with no issues. My third winter, I got my Tacoma into three and a half feet of snow, with 68,000 miles on the tires and 8/32" tread left. Based upon my treadwear, I estimated I might have gotten up to 92,000 miles out of the Duratracs if I ran them to the wearbars. I bought a new set of Duratracs, sized in 235/85/16 in March, 2017. I immediately noticed a jump in fuel economy, likely due to losing two and a half inches of tire width. I also noticed that the 285s felt like I was riding on pillows on the highway, while the 235s felt like I was riding rails. I was skeptical, though, if the skinny tires would do as well in fresh snow as the wide tires did. This winter, I've had my Tacoma in three feet of snow on multiple occasions. I have noticed the skinny tires don't quite "float" as much as the wide tires did, but I have quite a bit more power and more predictable steering. During the dry season, I have had no issues with sidewalls while off roading. I won't be looking for a new tire design for a long time, as the Duratracs have been more than I could have ever wanted.

 

Would you mind throwing up a couple pics? I'd like to see the 235/85/16's. That's the tire size I'd like to run. Any lift on your Baja?

 

I'll see if I can drop some tomorrow. I'm going wheeling in the snow again tomorrow and I might get some more than what I already have. I'm running a 2 3/4" lift.

 

Am I the only one that can regulate their speed just based on the sound their Duratracs make?

I really enjoy my tires, I must have over 50,000 miles on mine at this point.
I'm running 265-75-16's and they fit fine on my stock truck. All I had to do was swap out my factory front mud flaps or some aftermarket brand that moved the flaps away from the tire.

I just purchased another set of Duratrac's, got them for $700 and free shipping.
I have two sets of rims so I plan on running the old tires in the winter, they still have plenty of tread left, and the new tires on the summer.