Dang, I'm impressed. Nothing gets past you guys unnoticed!
Yes, the training wheels are off and the pizza cutters are on- Duratracs again.
235 vs 245
The width, 235 vs. 245
There were a few reasons for the upgrade. One I wanted a bit more clearance, and it seems even in the Expo world 32s are the bare minimums while most people here are running 33s on their FJs, 4Runners, Monteros etc which I thought about but would've required too much trimming of the front bumper, fender flares and potential gearing change. Also, the C load Duratracs have very soft sidewalls, almost like the P rated tires and for the harsh desert and rocky env here I wanted the extra protection vs more width (265s). The 235s also have less rolling resistance than a wider tire. I intended to go with a different tire and considered the Cooper STT or Firestone Destination MTs which are excellent tires and better than KM2s but the price and the fact that Duratracs are an awesome all-terrain, they're snowflake rated and have phenomenal traction I decided to stick with them. The downside is that I believe they tend to run smaller than the advertised height vs other brands. I don't know if this is just the Duratracs but my 245/75/16s in real life were only 29.5" tall vs. 30.4" advertised size. I was really hoping the 235s would be very close to the advertised 31.7" but they're not, they're just a touch
under 31", let's call it 30.9". Compared to say the BFG ATs which Mortonm I believe you said yours were 31.4"? I know it's splitting hairs but I wanted to throw this out there and I'm curious if it's just the Duratracs that tend to run almost an inch shorter than the advertised size or if most tires are the same way +/- .5"? All in all, I gained .75"+ from the ground to the edge of the fender over the last set so I'm happy about that.
I've only driven on them 5 or 6 miles so I can't say much about the driving difference but so far I haven't noticed anything obvious other than the turn-in feels better and the truck doesn't lean into the corners like it did with the soft C load Duratracs. I haven't noticed any drop in the power or even braking with the larger and heavier tire so far, the truck doesn't seem to care. The shop filled them up to 36psi but I'm thinking 40psi is probably what I'd want on the streets/highway?
I'll see how they do on the highway this weekend- we're going camping (not offroading).
Cost? About $200 out of pocket after selling the previous set and a couple of other small items that were collecting dust :ylsmoke:
