Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac/Hankook Dynapro ATM/Falken Wildpeak AT3W Comparison

Updated 3/23/20

This thread will be a work in progress and is intended to be as much a comparison thread as a straight review of each.

Hankook Dynapro ATM
Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac
Falken Wildpeak AT3W


My last tires were Hankook Dynapro ATMs. I logged in over 60k miles on them and did frequent updates, which were all very positive here and here.

My general feel of tire reviews is that everyone loves their tires. Also, a lot of people have a tendency to review a tire within a few days or weeks of owning it which is a bit silly. I think it's important to be constantly reviewing a tires performance throughout it's life. It's not a popular opinion around here but BFG AT's are excellent example of this. For the first 10-15k miles they are great. After that you start wearing into harder and harder compounds and they get hard and slick. I found them to be near useless after 30k miles on anything except gravel roads or dry pavement.

There are lots of posts and threads of people wondering about going from a true AT, in this case the P rated Hankook, to the more aggressive AT Duratrac in a load C or E rating. The Cooper ST Maxx is also a popular choice in the aggressive AT category. I would assume some of the properties would be similar when going from a standard AT to either of the more aggressive AT's. A good thread on the ST Maxx can be found here.

First off price:

P rated Hankooks can be found regularly in the $150.00 range.
Duratracs run from $180 to $225 for a SL, C and E rating.

Summary of my experiences with the Hankooks:

As of now, these have been the best AT tires I have run. When I took them off after 60k miles I still had tons of tread left and could have easily gotten another 10-15k miles. My main reason for swapping was that I wanted better performance in snow, specifically our wet thick pacific northwest snow which shares many of the same qualities as wet concrete. To make it clear, the Hankooks were great on ice but in deeper snow they filled up and just couldn't get me anywhere. Also, I drive around 75-80 miles a day on the freeway for work which was why I chose Hankooks from the beginning. We recently purchased a Prius that I now drive and so I wanted to get a more aggressive tire for the truck.

As a family we do a lot of camping and weekend trips to the Washington Coast. We also spend a lot of time in the snow with our kids. The Hankooks have seen plenty of Sand, Gravel, Ice, Snow, Lt. Mud, Wet Roads, Slushy Roads etc.

Hankook Ratings: 1-10 (1 being bad and 10 being the best) Also these rating are AT ratings so a 8/10 on wet pavement is considering that this is an AT tire and obviously doesn't grip pavement as well as a performance tire.

Pavement - 9
Wet Pavement - 8
Forest Roads - 10
Sand - 9
Snow < 4-6" - 7
Snow > 6-8" - 3
Ice - 8
Deep Slush - 4
Light Mud - 7
Rocks - 8.5
Deep Mud - No experience... Have to drive this truck to work

I did not find that these ratings changed much over the life of the tire which really impressed me.

Pictures for a feel of the terrain I am grading these tires on:

Snow: This is on top of Mount Pilchuck near our house. The base of the road is about 20-30 minutes east of me. This is our regular take the kids up to sled location. There use to be a ski resort at the top so there is a road, 7 miles long, that winds to the top. It is gravel in spots and paved in spots. During the winter the road will have snow the whole way with a good foot on the ground at the parking lot where the picture is taken. The ATM's got me to the top of this without many issues time and time again. If I ventured off onto a side road in over 6-8" of snow.. not great. If it was really cold and the snow was powdery it would be ok. If it was near freezing, which is more common, then I wouldn't get very far.


Video of me pulling out a 3/4 or 1 ton Chevy. The snow depth is a little deceptive. There's a lot of snow on the ground, 6-10" I'm mostly floating on it while he keeps sinking down. He had Michelin LTX AT2's. This was in the Hankooks with over 40k miles on them. It took a couple tugs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqY1iFxiIUY&list=UUnjaRUs0UbJ6u3V1DadJi0A

Sand:
See sig. This is Ocean Shores on the Washington Coast. Miles and Miles of beach driving on the Pacific. Never got stuck and pulled TONS of people out with different AT's and Mud tires. I also regularly didn't air down.. just slow and steady on the gas.

Forest Roads:
Typical forest roads. This pic was taken in Oso, WA. I'm a few hills over from the one that let loose in the mud slide.


Duratrac Ratings: 1-10 (1 being bad and 10 being the best)
These ratings may change as the miles pile up on the tires

Pavement - 5
Wet Pavement - 7
Forest Roads - 10
Sand - 8.5
Snow < 4-6" - 9
Snow > 6-8" - 9
Ice - 8
Deep Slush - 8.5
Light Mud - 9
Rocks -
Deep Mud -

My first impression... like first 100 miles. They are definitely not as tame on the pavement as the Hankook's. I can feel the bounces a little more and feel a bit more like a MT than an AT when compared to the Hankooks. They are also louder, quiet but constant hum. This may also be about the LT C load rating vs the P on the Hankooks..

They seem to grip the wet road just as well as the Hankook's. I'll test this more soon.

Update 1/2/15: We took a trip up to Leavenworth over Hwy 2, Stevens Pass. We decide to venture down Icicle Creek Rd which is a favorite summer camping spot of ours. The road is about 20 miles long with the last half being gravel and very twisty. On this trip there was a ton of snow. Ice and snow. I took a couple of videos further in the thread. There was easily 8"-12" of snow and the Duratracs amazed me. I've never seen an AT grip and clean like these do. The one video which is of a straight shot up a steep short hill ... that had 12" of snow and we made fresh tracks the whole way, turned around, and recorded the second pass. Wow. I'm impressed. I did knock down the Pavement score from a 8 to a 7 .. they're just not nearly as smooth on the road. You can definitely feel the more aggressive tread and C rating.

Videos of Icicle Creek here and here

We should be up in the snow very soon, so I'll update those ASAP.

Update 5/10/16:

As mentioned in a post I am having issues keeping the Duratracs balanced. I rotate my tires every 5-7k when I change the oil and by the time a rotation is needed I am also having Discount re-balance the tires. I get a noticeable vibration between 60-70 after 5k miles.

According to Discount Tire it's a Tacoma issue and not a Tire issue...I disagree. I may head back to Les Schwab for the next set.

However, I have somewhere around 25k miles on them and they still look and perform great off the pavement. They are wearing exceptionally well.

Last update on these 3/23/20

The last 10-15k miles have been brutal. There is still plenty of tread on the Duratracs but I am getting a set of Falken Wildpeaks on tomorrow. The Duratracs no longer keep a balance for more than a few hundred miles and are very loud and not tracking very well. There's no noticeable issues with the tires, excessive wear or damaged treads. There's always a bad vibration somewhere around highway speeds... it seems to wonder from 52-56 to 60-65. In the end is was the best all around off road tire Ive ever run and what started as good or acceptable on the road but ended as bad.

New Falken Wildpeak AT3W

I'll review these as they wear in...

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I honestly think the Hankook's are my next tire.

 

You're welcome, let me know if you have any questions.

 

It's good do do an in depth review. I can share my experience with the Duratrac.

I have Duratrac LT tires, in load range C in 265/75/R16 size. I've run them for (3.5) years and 32K miles. I will replace them in another 8-10K due to wear. I don't know what peoples expectations are for the Duratrac, but in my case it looks like 40K and the tires are done. 99% street / highway and 6-12 trips weekend warrior camping in the back country per year.

My rotation schedule is every 5K miles, and I run 32 PSI all around.

I will take pictures and add to this post.

 

Thanks for the info. What was your rotation schedule on the Druatracs and what at PSI did you run them?

 

Update:

I added some snow numbers in for the Duratracs as we took some friends on the Mtn. Loop Highway on Friday. At the end of the day we took them up to the top of Mt. Pilchuck which is where the snow picture above was taken with Hankooks. The conditions weren't as severe as the first trip, we got into the snow about halfway up the mountain and at the top there was 8" or so.

I'm very impressed with the snow handling of the Duratracs. They dig better, clean out better and were way more confident then the Hankooks. I also gave them a 10 on forest roads, they were great... I may have to take the Hankook down from a 10 as the Duratracs, on the first trip, seemed to grab the gravel better. On really steep inclines with little to no weight in the bed the Duratracs gripped better.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't the hankooks made in china? The duratracs are american made, i have them on my 4runner and taco and i love'em.

 

http://youtu.be/vRJiQboNM2Y

 

Hankooks are made in Korea If If I recall...

 

damn it's been years since I was up Icicle creek. Would love to go there in the snow.

 

They're certainly a Korean company. Not sure where they're made though.

This is on Wikipedia:

They do have factories in China too it seems, as well as Korea.

 

We spend a ton of time up there camping in the summer and a few snow trips in the winter. Love it up there.

 

http://youtu.be/OsOx9ilR2n0

 

I'll be adding some numbers later tonight for the Duratracs

Edit: Tweaked some of the numbers for snow, deep snow and pavement for the Duratrac.

 

Here is a picture of my Duratrac with 33K on them. I beat them in the rocks this last week, drove 200 miles off road @ 25 psi, and poked two more holes in them. I plugged both holes to save myself the trouble of changing to the spare tire while off-road.

 

If I rarely drive in snow would there be any Reason not to go the Hanooks?

 

Nope, the Hankooks are better on road imo. A great AT tire in anything but mud and deeper snow.

 

Happy plugging! lol. Are those SL, C, or E? It's kind of hard to tell but how much more life are you expecting out of them?

Thanks for the pics!

 

Cooper AT/3 will out perform those Korean hankooks... Get ya a true AT tire...