Good ol' tire discussion - considering 2 options

[nwoods]

I have never heard of a person putting Duratracks on a second time. I have lots of experience of people saying how much they love them shortly after purchase, but after a few years, they must do something undesirable because no one seems to stays with them, they all switch back to BFG or try Falkiens. That is a decidedly unscientific, non-quantifiable statement, but it has been my personal observation.

 

[SVTRIT]

I have never heard of a person putting Duratracks on a second time. I have lots of experience of people saying how much they love them shortly after purchase, but after a few years, they must do something undesirable because no one seems to stays with them, they all switch back to BFG or try Falkiens. That is a decidedly unscientific, non-quantifiable statement, but it has been my personal observation.

We used them on work trucks in mud and gravel. I pulled them off of mine after 20k miles due to noise. Great traction though.


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[Bobzdar]

I had the KO2's on my JLUR and have the Falken wildpeak at's on my JTR. They performed similarly off-road, the falkens are better on road. They also seem to have slightly less cupping, where the KO2's would start to have visible cupping on the fronts before rotating, the wildpeaks don't. Rotation took care of it with the KO2's, but you could start to feel/hear the tires were going off when it was close to time to rotate where the falkens don't seem to. Both were stock 33" size.

 

[Jpfan]

I have never heard of a person putting Duratracks on a second time. I have lots of experience of people saying how much they love them shortly after purchase, but after a few years, they must do something undesirable because no one seems to stays with them, they all switch back to BFG or try Falkiens. That is a decidedly unscientific, non-quantifiable statement, but it has been my personal observation.

I thought I was the only person that wasn’t a fan of Duratrac’s with all the praise I’ve read about them.

I didn’t find them that good in the winter when they were new, and once they were worn down I didn’t find them good in any situation.

 

[Chorky]

I didn’t find them that good in the winter when they were new, and once they were

its so intersting to hear different perspectives. I wonder how much of that is due to different environments and different vehicles they are on?? I'm not sure. All my work trucks have them and they have been great. My F350 has them and they have performed well. So I'm thinking that route also for the jeep. but it could be different peoples opinions on what is good and bad no doubt. I do like the idea of the KO2's but have heard more bad than good about them from various sources which sucks cause they offer a 33 in 10.5 width which is desirable.

 

[zgfiredude]

You'll also want to pay attention to the load rating of the tires you choose. Likely the Duratracs that you've used and had experience with are load range E. You do not want to use E's on the Jeep if you want any kind of "normal" ride on road....It's just too light. You'll be happier with load range C tires on the Jeep.

I am in a bit of the same quandary, as I'm looking for a 33" tire, load range C, and no wider than a 10.5 also with the three peaks rating..........It's a struggle!

 

[Chorky]

You'll also want to pay attention to the load rating of the tires you choose. Likely the Duratracs that you've used and had experience with are load range E. You do not want to use E's on the Jeep if you want any kind of "normal" ride on road....It's just too light. You'll be happier with load range C tires on the Jeep.

I am in a bit of the same quandary, as I'm looking for a 33" tire, load range C, and no wider than a 10.5 also with the three peaks rating..........It's a struggle!

Good point for sure. A E rated tire on a TJ would not be so fun ha. Both the duratracs and KO2's are a C range though in the 31x10.5, 33x12.5, 33x10.5 (ko2 only), and even.

It is such a surprising struggle to find many 33x10.5 options especially considering how many people want that size. Maybe some tire engineer will chime in here and say why? I'm thinking there has to be a reason behind it.

 

[jadmt]

You'll also want to pay attention to the load rating of the tires you choose. Likely the Duratracs that you've used and had experience with are load range E. You do not want to use E's on the Jeep if you want any kind of "normal" ride on road....It's just too light. You'll be happier with load range C tires on the Jeep.

I am in a bit of the same quandary, as I'm looking for a 33" tire, load range C, and no wider than a 10.5 also with the three peaks rating..........It's a struggle!

i can tell you a Falken 255/80-17 which is marked 33x10-17 E rated rides better then most C rated tires. I have had C rated in Cooper AT3's, BFG KM's, several sets of Toyo's most recently Toyo at3's in C and you can not beat the Falken for a smooth and quiet ride and is pretty true to size.

 

[Chorky]

i can tell you a Falken 255/80-17 which is marked 33x10-17 E rated rides better then most C rated tires. I have had C rated in Cooper AT3's, BFG KM's, several sets of Toyo's most recently Toyo at3's in C and you can not beat the Falken for a smooth and quiet ride and is pretty true to size.

I'm still running a factory 15" rim. which only has a 12.5 width unfortunately. But it is nice to know that is an option and that the ride good!!

 

[Battle]

I ran 33x10x15 KO1s and KO2s on a mildly modded XJ and honestly hated the KO2s in comparison to the older style (not that I liked those to begin honestly). I could get more tire flex out of the KO1s when aired down and they seemed grippier on rocks. The problem I was having was similar to yours - the selection of 33x10.5x15 tire is dismal but good ole' BF makes KO2s in just about any size you can think of - and they're relatively cheap - so I kept bought them when the KO1s died. They are fantastic street tires though - really smooth, quiet, long-lasting and great grip in the rain. I did not like them off-road though. They were too slick in the rocks, not aggressive enough in the mud, and not squishy enough for snow/ice. If I wasn't twin locked, I would have been stuck a lot more often.

While living in upstate NY, I just gave up on trying to find a "year-round" tire and stuck with true snows for the winter and was so much happier. Now, I'm in the south and run MTs on my dedicated wheeling rig.

I've personally be a big fan of Yokohama Geolandars - both the older and more aggressive AT/S and the current G015s. I've run them on Subarus and my current daily driven/occasionally wheeled light-duty XJ. The road feel is sharper, they balance easily and are surprisingly grippy off-road despite looking very tame.

Mickey Thompson makes a load range c ATZ all terrain in a 31x10.5x15 that I've always been interested to try.

It took me MONTHS to buy my last set of tires and I'm still to this day a little apprehensive about my pick. The perfect tire just doesn't exist.

 

[vtsoundman]

I think I'm somewhere around 6 or 7 sets of Duratracs between my Jeep, the Sprinter, and some of my other trucks. The biggest issue with Duratracs is maintenance. You must rotate and balance those tires religiously... Your alignment has to be spot on as well. I don't find them to be any more or less sensitive to rotating balance and alignments then any other aggressive tire...Otherwise they will get loud, be hard to balance, and once badly worn past a certain point, are hard to get back to a well-behaved state.

Duratracks have been around a long time and are not a sexy/fancy/super attractive tire. knock on wood, but I've never torn a sidewall off road. I've lost a few tires over the years due to steel punctures through the sidewall on the interstate but no tire is going to withstand that.

If you regularly drive in all types of harsh terrain inclusive of snow, it's hard to beat the Duratracs. They're on all sorts of cop, public safety, public works, oil patch trucks all over the west all over California and the Sierras...
Not that I'm a total fanboy the tire, but I've tried a few different types of tires invariably I always come back to Duratracs... Multiple cross-country trips in the snow in the winter along the northern route and rain... It's a damned hard tire to beat.

I've got a set of Falcon all-terrains on the Jeep now because I got a really good deal on them. We'll see how they go. The price is the duratrax have also gotten out of control... So based on that alone, I'll be less likely to buy them unless the price is reasonable.

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[billiebob]

I do like the idea of the KO2's but have heard more bad than good about them from various sources which sucks cause they offer a 33 in 10.5 width which is desirable

I've had them twice, 33x1050R15 KO2s are a fabulous tire, new or bald. I've never had balancing issues and I run them til they are bald. On pavement bald KO2s are like racing slicks on a TJ. Love 'em.

I've also run 255/80R17 MT2s on the TJ, Harder ride and more expensive but still a great tire.

A/B/C Ratings are way over blown for differences in ride on a Wrangler. Honestly yes, there is a difference but it is not a night and day difference. Regardless of the Rating, I just ran them at 26psi which I think is more relevant than the tire rating.

 

[NitroExpress]

These are showing as "Severe Snow Service" rated on Tire rack. I would double check that, as I couldn't corroborate that on the General Tire site. I've got them on my '82 Jeep CJ, and really like them a lot. Keep in Mind I'm in Texas, and have never shopped a tire for it's winter rating. They have good on-road manners and seem to be holding up very well off road as far as punctures and side walls. I regularly run them at around 12 psi and have had no leaks or failures yet. I don't have a ton of miles on them, so longevity is an unknown for me. I do indeed love the size, and with very few available, (especially since I don't consider BFG tires any longer, after many troubles) the General was worth a try for me.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=General&tireModel=Grabber+X3&partnum=305QR5GRX3RL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

 

[beef tits]

The KO2s are a solid, all-around tire fi you are off road often, but the wear life is not good. I've seen 30k miles tops, typically. I've also never found KO2s to be great in mud.

Never found BFG MT's to be great on snow/ice. Wear life is even worse than KO2s. Very noisy.

You can't win them all. I went with Falken Wildpeak AT3s recently. First time I have not bought KO2s in a long time. The Falkens are way quieter than any BFG I have ran and supposedly they last twice as long.

 

[Jeep or Tacoma]

I ram the ko2 on my jlur ina 315 70 17 and I found them to be very good I sold the jlur boughtba gladiator rubicon and the fallen wild peak At arecexcellent they are a 33 a lot of gladiator folks are putting on 35s or 37s so you may be able to get used ones very cheap I also understand that bfg. Makes a 34 x10.5 in the all terrain. Just to throw fuel on the fire. ? I had 30 k on them with probably 40 % tread life left