Sorry to resurrect an old thread and ramble on a bunch, but I thought I should weigh in with some thoughts and some of my experiences:
I have run Duratrac 255/55/19s for 2 years; they have 50,000 miles on them and are about 2/3rds worn (ish). I have occasion to do a lot of miles over every kind of terrain -- however, I am not much into the rock crawling thing, so the tyres have not had much in the way of that sort of activity. My rig is set up for expedition and is quite heavy; it includes a FR roof rack (which is invariably loaded to the gunnels), two kids, a dog, and all of the accoutrements for that kind of stuff.
I live in ice-ridden Alberta, and for 6 moths of the year I run on pretty much solid ice and snow; the other 6 months of the year I run mostly on tarmac, gravel roads, and greasy slippy mud or muskeg. The performance of my LR3 has been dreadful on everything but pavement when compared to my '81 RRC. On mud, the tyres clog up quickly (but do clear), and she just sits there; on snow and ice, the tyres just spin up, and she just sits there; in deep snow, she starts off with great gusto...... then just sits there like a big fat beached whale. In fact, other than on the highway, she is generally as nimble as a blue whale in the Sahara. Now, I think that this is possibly a function of her weight, but also of the tyres (I have never had a Land rover -- and I have owned 42 -- that has spun all tyres up on 4 inches of snow on a slightly rutted field and had to winch out). I had the occasion to hit up a slightly boggy mud/gravel road yesterday, and was scared to death that she would strand me in the middle of a 6" puddle of water with a muddy bottom. I have never before felt unsure about the performance of a Land Rover product. For sure, this is probably part technique and a lack of experience with the TRS and the LR3, but I have driven 2,000,000 miles in 147 countries and competed in the RTV nationals for three years in the running -- so I am not new to this.
What I can say about the Duratracs is that they clear mud out pretty well (though that doesn't seem to always help much in the forward motion department) and spit muskeg out with great velocity -- as they do gravel and shale. However, they become much poorer in mud/snow when the corners are nocked off; by 1/3rd worn they become less good at clearing and generally quite unable to bite into much. On snow and ice, they are a general liability unless aired down to 20 psi or so. Though the snow and ice setting of the TRS is pretty good for ice and the forwards backwards traction is not terrible on new tyres, cornering is much less successful; LR3s seem to be less gifted in terms of steering.
In short, I am terribly disappointed in the performance of the LR3, but also know that part of this issue is that I make compromises in that I really need two sets of tyres (winter and summer) and in the knowledge that one tyre does not well suit every terrain. What I can say about the Duratrac's, is that they wear really well, do not suffer from aqua-plaining, are great on the pavement and in the mountain roads in the summer, are pretty unstoppable on stony or firm and dry ground, and look super.
I am moving to a 20" tyre this week -- and am quite hesitant to go to the 275/55/20s due to my concerns that a greater tyre width will compound all the areas in which the Duratrac is bad (namely, snow, mud, and ice). I am also concerned at having to make the heater hose and liner mods in order to make 275/55/20's fit. The new rim (photo enclosed below) is a 20x8.5 RRS rim with a 950kg load rating and a +47mm offset. I am hoping to run with only 1/2" electronic lift -- if that. Out of preference, I would go to a 255/65/19 -- but that isn't offered. My girlfriend also really likes the look of the 20" over the 18" (as do I).
I would like to stay with the 255 width -- but also would also like a slightly bigger sidewall to balance the aesthetics of the 20" rim. I need a snowflake and mountain tyre (so my options are, therefore, also restricted), and I hate BF Goodrich's KO pattern (I ran the original pattern 20 years ago in the UK and found it dreadful on all surfaces -- including pavement). I have been considering a Cooper, Nitto, or Falken tyre with a snowflake on them -- but, and to be frank, I shall probably end up back with the Duratrac, as have not read anything in this extraordinarily comprehensive and interesting thread that would change my mind. This is compounded by the fact that the tyre size I really want is a 255/60/20. What I need is a 255/60/20 BF Goodrich Trac Edge (what an outstanding tyre they were) :smiley_drive:.
