Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac

[greengreer]

Many of the "E" load range DuraTracs do in fact have 3-ply sidewalls.

You are in fact right sir. Excuse my misinformation. The 235/85/16's i run are indeed 3ply (doh!). Still would like to try the kevlar and see if theres a difference.
Looking on tire racks website they list two duratracs in that size, one says "new" and is a bit cheaper and a few lbs lighter than the other. Anyone know more about this? Seems like I might need to give Goodyear a call and find out.

 

[stioc]

I too have Duratracs with 4k miles on them, they've been great for long highway driving, desert, rocks etc. The only and the biggest complaint I have is about their squishy sidewalls (C loads here) which seem to also not be very resistant to cuts. I already have a hair line cut on one of the sidewalls- right where the size is embossed on it. For my next tire I really want to go 32", will it be a Duratrac or a tire with better sidewall protection like maybe the Coopers? It remains to be seen - as much as I want to get the 32s like right now these have a lot of life left so hard to justify

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Squishy sidewall is a complaint of mine... primarily for when I'm driving a mountain road partly aired down! :Wow1: (reasonable speed of course, connect trails)

 

[bahndo]

I'd have to add that I had them on my '07 Dodge 2500, loved the way they handle sand/snow/dirt, decent road manners. Mine were 35"12.5" on 17" factory rim. The only negative was I drove over a "pointy rock" (about the size of a soft ball) and the tire more or less de-laminated inward. You could not see any damage on the outside of the tire but the inside was shredded. I was pretty disappointed with just how badly the tire failed (wish I had pictures...). At that point I had about 20K on them ( about 65% tread compared to new) and was ready for a change, plus Les Schwabe wanted ~$400 for one tire and I didn't have time to shop around/get something shipped. I still have the other 3 for sale (CHEAP is anyone wants them *shameless plug*). I think my duratrac days are behind me.

 

[Abel Villesca]

I'm not happy with the side walls. I had a tiny piece of stick (probably tamarisk) puncture the side wall on the Hole in the Rock trail this past week. It was only about half an inch long and less than a quarter wide, but it was enough to cut all the way through and create a leak. Load range E.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Another trip down and my Duratracs still performed well for me, minus the squishy sidewall mentioned earlier. But, yet another couple of BFG All Terrain tires on the trip received fairly decent sidewall damages.



While I really like the Duratracs, I'll probably go to something more aggressive when I move up to a 35" tire. Unsure of what that'll be yet.

 

[stioc]

I'd have to add that I had them on my '07 Dodge 2500, loved the way they handle sand/snow/dirt, decent road manners. Mine were 35"12.5" on 17" factory rim. The only negative was I drove over a "pointy rock" (about the size of a soft ball) and the tire more or less de-laminated inward. You could not see any damage on the outside of the tire but the inside was shredded. I was pretty disappointed with just how badly the tire failed (wish I had pictures...). At that point I had about 20K on them ( about 65% tread compared to new) and was ready for a change, plus Les Schwabe wanted ~$400 for one tire and I didn't have time to shop around/get something shipped. I still have the other 3 for sale (CHEAP is anyone wants them *shameless plug*). I think my duratrac days are behind me.

I'm not happy with the side walls. I had a tiny piece of stick (probably tamarisk) puncture the side wall on the Hole in the Rock trail this past week. It was only about half an inch long and less than a quarter wide, but it was enough to cut all the way through and create a leak. Load range E.

I'm curious what you guys replaced the Duratracs with? If I went with another tire the only option I'm seeing for myself at this time is a Cooper or some other tire with Kevlar sidewall or something. I'd prefer to stick to all-terrains...but more aggressive all-terrains than the BFGs.

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

I know you didn't quote me, but I'd probably go with the ******** Cepek FCII to maintain similar traction characteristics to the Duratracs.

I've noticed in A LOT of http://www.4wdaction.com.au/ articles, the trucks will be running the FC-II or the Mickey Thompson MTZ tires.

I really like the MTZ...

 

[bahndo]

I'm curious what you guys replaced the Duratracs with? If I went with another tire the only option I'm seeing for myself at this time is a Cooper or some other tire with Kevlar sidewall or something. I'd prefer to stick to all-terrains...but more aggressive all-terrains than the BFGs.

I went with the Toyo open country AT. Not in the same category as the Duratrac at all but it was in stock and the price was right (again, I was in a pinch and in stock was a major deciding factor). I will let it be known that I did just recently order a set of Continental MPT81's on custom Stazworks 20" wheels... While the tires are more expensive then the duratracs I think they are going to be a little tougher, time will tell.

 

[stioc]

I really like the MTZ...

Why do they look so similar to the Cooper STTs? I know Cooper makes tires for a few different brands so maybe they're one of them? They're muds though not all-terrains but it seems the gap is getting small between the two i.e. the all-terrains are getting more aggressive and the muds are performing much better in the rain/snow.

I went with the Toyo open country AT. Not in the same category as the Duratrac at all but it was in stock and the price was right (again, I was in a pinch and in stock was a major deciding factor). I will let it be known that I did just recently order a set of Continental MPT81's on custom Stazworks 20" wheels... While the tires are more expensive then the duratracs I think they are going to be a little tougher, time will tell.

I went from Toyo ATs (previous generation than the current) to Duratracs, they're not in the same category as you said...still a great tire though- Toyo makes good tires in general. No idea what the MPT81s are, never heard of them but I'll have to look at them. However, on 20" wheels? here I thought the word 'bling' in the offroading world meant ARB fridges and snowpeak cookware lol

 

[Abel Villesca]

I'm curious what you guys replaced the Duratracs with? If I went with another tire the only option I'm seeing for myself at this time is a Cooper or some other tire with Kevlar sidewall or something. I'd prefer to stick to all-terrains...but more aggressive all-terrains than the BFGs.

I haven't replaced them yet. With the exception of the side wall puncture they performed really well. They were on the car when I bought it. I lent the car out to a buddy to run the Hole in the Rock trail with my club. We all followed the same path through some dry tamarisk and the Duratrac was the only tire that ended up with a puncture. The puncture is really close to the tread belt on the side wall. I plugged it and my buddy ran the tire throughout the remainder of the week without any problems or loss of air pressure. It has been retired to spare tire duty.

 

[bahndo]

I went from Toyo ATs (previous generation than the current) to Duratracs, they're not in the same category as you said...still a great tire though- Toyo makes good tires in general. No idea what the MPT81s are, never heard of them but I'll have to look at them. However, on 20" wheels? here I thought the word 'bling' in the offroading world meant ARB fridges and snowpeak cookware lol [/QUOTE]

The Conti is an industrial tire. They are used on the Earth Roamers and other heavy expo trucks. I opted for the smaller ones which are ~37"x10.5". They only come in a 20" rim size- don't worry, no spinners I went with double beadlocks to keep the bling factor to a minimum. Oh yeah, no chrome either. I'll post up pics when they get here, not expecting them to ship for 4-6 weeks though (it's nice to not be in a hurry this time!)

 

[Redline]

snip... I lent the car out to a buddy to run the Hole in the Rock trail with my club. We all followed the same path through some dry tamarisk and the Duratrac was the only tire that ended up with a puncture .

You are a generous and trusting friend

 

[Abel Villesca]

You are a generous and trusting friend

Perhaps. He was my driver when we were deployed and I had a pretty fair assessment of how well he'd do. In any case, I bought that truck to encourage my friends who didn't have a capable off-road vehicle to get out and explore.