Goodyear Duratrac's going on!

saluki1 · 05-11-2009, 03:47 PM

Ordered these things today and should be on by the end of the week. I really hope Goodyear did their homework on these things because I was very nervous to try them. I haven't had the best luck with GY's in the past on my trucks. I like the looks because they look close to an M/T but are supposed to be fairly quiet on the road. We will see about that!

Anyway I will post up after I get them on with pics. They are the 295/65/18's and the Titan is my daily driver.

**Discount Tire** · 05-12-2009, 01:09 PM

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saluki1 · 05-14-2009, 04:17 AM

Well these are on and first impressions are that these things look great! They are so much more aggressive than the stock BFG Rugged Trail. So in the looks department they get a 9. I need to take them back and have them re-balanced because they are just not right. I am getting a shimmy at around 65 and that needs to go away! The shop that put them on were your typical dip****s that just wanted to go home at 5 pm and rushed the job. I am contemplating taking them in for a road force balance and just paying the extra. As far as noise, they are definitely louder than the stock BFG's but not too bad. They are not silent that is for sure, but nothing that I can't live with. Just a nice little hum cruising down the road. I am not sure if that will change once they are balanced out and the truck is aligned which will happen Sat. morn but we will see. The ride is great on these things. I really cant tell too much of a difference between the stock, and for a 10 ply tire I am very happy with the comfort level. No rubbing at all on these witch I didn't expect any from them to begin with as they are 295/65/18 and I have SAW's and PRG UCA's. I do notice a slight power/stopping difference between these but not bad at all. Maybe it is just psychological, but I feel like both are hindered slightly. All in all I am happy and I will take some pics on Sat. and post em up.

*adamdude04* · 05-14-2009, 04:24 AM

Can't wait for the photos. Curious to see what they look like. How many miles are "expected" from these tires? ..and I guess we'll know the true results in about two years lol

saluki1 · 05-14-2009, 01:51 PM

Yeah, no tread wear warranty with these of course so I am just gonna have to see. I know some A/T's wear like iron but who knows what will happen with these. I had these road force balanced today and I am still not sure if the shimmy is in the road or the tire so I will have to put some more miles on to see. I sure hope they wear well since they are kinda pricey.

COscooter · 05-14-2009, 06:21 PM

I run the Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors and was at the Goodyear shop yesterday and saw the Duratracs. First impressions they are much more aggressive with larger lugs and channels (I'd love to try them out in mud or snow). The side walls are more aggressive and they look like a mild (very mild) Mickey Thompsons. Haven't seen a BFG Mud Terrain in awhile but that is what they reminded me of.

LoveHammer · 05-14-2009, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saluki1

Yeah, no tread wear warranty with these of course so I am just gonna have to see. I know some A/T's wear like iron but who knows what will happen with these. I had these road force balanced today and I am still not sure if the shimmy is in the road or the tire so I will have to put some more miles on to see. I sure hope they wear well since they are kinda pricey.

Your new tires are 80psi load range E LT tires. They'll have a pretty stiff sidewall, especially if you aired them up a bunch. The Rugged Trails are P metric tires that have squishy sidewalls and a much lower psi rating. The shimmy you feel is probably the difference in ride quality between sidewalls, air pressure, etc. Perfectly normal.

Please post pics as I think I will buy these tires in the same size you did. I didn't know they made that size tire, thanks for posting.

duckndog · 05-15-2009, 06:56 PM

Hope you have better luck with them than I did. I put a set of 275/70/18's on my '08 Pro-4X cc and kept them on for a week. They looked fantastic, but I hated the ride, decrease in power, and reduction in mpg. I went from 13 mpg city to 9.5. The power decrease was the biggest drawback. It felt like I was towing my boat around everywhere. The rolling resistance on those tires really took it's toll. The good news is that the local Goodyear dealer swapped them out for the Silent Armors and I've been pleased with them. My mileage is back up to about 12 mpg in town. I'll try to post pics of the Duratracs vs the Silent Armors on the truck.

saluki1 · 05-16-2009, 06:32 AM

Yeah, no doubt the rolling resistance has increased but not too bad for me. I had to get these things road force balanced again to get them right. The most weight one tire took was about 4.5-5 ounces which by my book isn't too bad for a tire this size. I really have very little faith in these tire guys at various places. I am sure they are not all bad but it seems that no one takes any pride in their work nowadays. I mean why can't they get them right. The guy who got them right said they all balanced very nicely for that size. Took three different dudes to get it done right. Service these days really sucks. Anyway, the jury is out on these and I will run them another week or two to see how I like them. The Goodyear dealer said that I have a 30 ride guarantee with these so that is good news. I love the way these things look especially on the Pro 4X, but if they are going to be a ***** to balance and ride like crap I will go with something else. Decent so far, I just hope they stay that way. Pics to come but the rain is impeding things this weekend.

saluki1 · 05-17-2009, 03:08 PM

Here are my pics as promised. They do look awesome on your truck Duck.

LoveHammer · 05-17-2009, 04:20 PM

Man, those tires look great on your truck(s)!

It is hard to get good service nowadays...

Please write an update in a month or so and let us know how they are working out.

**Discount Tire** · 05-18-2009, 02:59 PM

Looking good saluki1. Thanks for the update and review. Any plans to dirty these up?

offthehookfishing · 06-24-2010, 03:54 PM

Well now you've got year of riding on these tires.. How are they holding up? I believe that I am about to buy the same tires. Also do you have 2" PRG's in the front? what about the back?

motoxer913 · 06-28-2010, 02:08 PM

I have about 7000mi on my 285/70R17 duratracs now and I've been please overall with them. They were amazing this past winter in snow and ice, by far the best winter tires I've had other than dedicated blizzak's. The noise is very low for such an aggressive design. They have amazing traction even on dry pavement...even full braking at high speed it's difficult to lock up the tires.
There are some cons however. I'm now up to 50psi front and 40psi in the rear to help front end from wearing too quickly on the outer edges from cornering. And also to make the tires stiffer so that they don't squirm so much during high speed cornering or emergency type maneuvers...these things can be scarry at 35psi in an emergency trying to swerve at high speed. My gas mileage has gone down, as expected with such a beefy tire, but the dude claiming 9mpg...I call BS...he must drag race light to light or something. I'm track my mileage using Road Trip on my iphone and I average 15.24 mpg with my low being 12.6mpg where I was heavily loaded with gear in the back and pulling a small motorcycle trailer weighing about 2000lbs loaded. I'm getting about 17mpg hwy with a load in the bed (no trailer) 75-80mph. My truck has the tall gears in it FYI...did not come with the tow package. I did notice a slight decrease in power, but keep in mind I have the tall gears in my truck which came with tiny pizza cutter 245's from the factory. If you have the tow package and lower gears in your truck I can't imagine the power difference being noticeable assuming you are running the same size tire as your previous tires.
If you want an aggressive tire without going to a full blown mudder then I would definitely recommend the Goodyear Duratrac's. I'm guessing mine are going to go about 35k-40k miles before wearing out.

motoxer913 · 06-28-2010, 02:18 PM

oh, I have the Icon (formerly Donahoe Racing) adjustable coil overs and rear shocks on mine lifting the front end about 2.5". Amazing setup, so much better handling over the OEM suspension especially off-road and at speed. Amazing coil overs! I got really lucky and scored mine used for a fraction of the cost of them new...a deal I could not pass up. If I could have got a 305 duratrack rather than the 285 I would have, but that size isn't available.
If you want a more AT type of tire then I really liked the Nitto Terra Grappler, I had a set of those on a Dodge Cummins and really liked them. If you want a bulletproof all around tire then the Michelin AT2 can't be beat....too bad they don't look more aggressive, just too boring for my tastes.