Duratrac vs Ultraterrain

I'm currently running Falken Wildpeaks for most of the year and dedicated snow tires in the main winter months.

My wildpeaks have worn out a bit fast and in the interest of trying something different I'm leaning toward the Ultraterrain. However, I'm curious about the Duratrac. In the info I can find so far they sound very similar to the UT but each has slightly different strengths/weaknesses.

I'm also curious about airing either down. I currently don't bother airing down as I haven't really had much need and I don't have a compressor yet anyway. Are these generally durable when not aired down on trails like in the pic below? Or should I plan to start airing down?

If you have used both or know more about them, any reason to go with the DT over the UT? I do drive in the snow but won't be getting either studded or siped. I may leave these on year round. Not sure yet. Kind of getting tired of the annual swap.

Also, regarding size, my snow tires are stock size and my Wildpeaks 265/75/16. When I put the snow tires on last winter I noticed a bit more power that I didn't realize the larger Wildpeaks were sapping. I think it might be weight - at least in part. For some reason, the 265/75/16 Ultraterrain is listed as lighter than stock size on Discount Tire's website. Is that just an error or is there some reason these would weight less than stock size?

 

^Duratracs are one of the first "rough terrain" tires sitting between AT and MT, with commensurate compromises to on-pavement grip and noise. Duratracs are similar to the Falken Wildpeak R/T. Ultraterrains are more of a traditional AT tire, similar to Wildpeak A/T. Which Wildpeak do you have?

Almost any 3-peak snowflake-rated tire will wear down faster due to the softer tread compound. Pay to play, as they say. I spend $150-$250 in fuel on each wheeling trip, so treadwear is a negligible factor in the overall scheme of things for me.

 

AT3W I think. I'm okay with softer rubber but barely 30k is unimpressive. My nokian winter tires did better.

So DTs would be worse on wet roads? Not sure that's a compromise I want to make.

 

I have duratracs (265-70-r17) on my GX. They look cool, wear reasonably well with regular rotations and traction is good in most if not all situations for me but holy hell do they get loud as they wear. I doubt I'll get another set when these bite the dust.

 

Yes, expect the Duratracs' performance on wet roads to be worse than your AT3Ws, though in my experience still acceptable. This is in contrast with MTs which can be scary on wet pavement due to lack of siping.

I ran Duratracs year-round for 39,000 miles before selling them with 13/32nds of tread remaining.

 

Little late.... but...

On my second set of UTs.
Had issues getting my AT3Ws to balance... other than that, no complaints.
DuraTracs...
Have had plenty. Went through a set a year on average in the Quigley(miles, damage, etc), and a few on my lighter trucks.
Get noisy as the wear(mentioned), really not worth the trade-offs. They ready aren't noticeably better in mud than a regular AT.
Did pretty good in snow, both on paved roads, and sketchy 2track.
Between DTs and UTs, I chose to run another set of UTs.

 

Duratracs are the fleet contract tire I have to buy currently. They're...fine, I guess, for the contract price we pay. I certainly wouldn't pay retail price for them. Your Wildpeaks are a far better tire.