Duratracs again Yay or Nay

I had them on my Superduty some years back. Over they were a great tire when newer. As they wore, they got harder and harder to balance. The wet traction was great with them but then again that truck had a limited slip diff.

 

I have had all 3 and would put them in this order.

Cooper
Falken
Goodyear

The Coopers are awesome all around and made in the states.

The Falkens were awesome but they held onto gravel pretty bad and would not eject gravel until around 35+ mph. Though they cleaned themselves of mud at much lower speeds.
The Falkens are made in Thailand and didn’t stay black. They turn brown I noticed this years ago with another tire made in Thailand I had on a Mustang.

The Goodyears were the best hands down for about 10k miles but got hard and performed very poorly after that and got very loud. And for a tire to go to crap that quickly in this category is unacceptable.

It is Cooper for me here on out.

 

I had them on my Titan for 135K. I've had them on my Gen 3 both in 18" and 17" for 100K. I only get about 45K miles out of a set because they get too loud. I do lots of highway plus a little dirt and mud while hunting/exploring. When my current ones get too loud I'll go back with another set.
295/65/18
285/70/17

 

Duratracs are good, but there are just as good options out there. Cooper's are nice, but they are definitely a cult item on this forum. I currently have Cooper St Maxx's, which are essentially the duratrac version from Cooper. They are nice, but they are loud, not good in snow, and they wear super super fast. Like 50% worn in 10k miles.

I would take a long hard look at the Toyo Open County ATIII. You really think the Toyota of tires (Toyo) makes a bad product? Btw, the whole made in the US thing that people rave about re Cooper is incredibly moot. Every single US bound Toyo or Nitto is made right in the good ole USA too.

 

Really? I’ve had my Cooper AT3’s for a few years and have monitored the reviews. Can’t say I’ve seen balancing being an issue. I have seen a lot of balancing complaints about KO2’s.
The Coopers are great but not as aggressive for off-road as the DT’s.

 

I'm 7k into Kumho AT51 Roadventure and enjoy them. Rated for 55k
have been quiet on my 2002
has 3 peak mountain symbol
live in ME. This winter has been pretty mild, however. RWD only for me
saved QUITE a bit vs duratracs
came from BFGs

 

I didn’t even know I was in the Cooper cult! I’ve had a couple sets of Toyo AT’s before, they are excellent and you can easily get 60k miles out of them. I went with Cooper AT3’s this time due to the price and reviews. Can’t go wrong with either of them.

 

My Falken tires are brown. Not sure that’s a negative. I also don’t do much to try and keep them black. Interesting observation.

 

For function not an issue aesthetically yes. I am guessing it has something to do with the raw materials used in production in Thailand.
For my Expedition it was less of an issue as it was muddy most of the time.
As for the Mustang made the whole car look like crap and since it was always clean it was a problem.

 

Seemed like it was hard to find anyone on the 4Runner forum without highway wobble issues with their Cooper tires. Then again, 4Runners, especially 5th gen, are very sensitive to tire balance and alignment.

Sounds like they’re pretty different then. DTs are excellent in the snow (3peak rated) and can last a very long time (see post #2–80k miles and 50k miles out of two sets). They’ll wear early if you run lower pressures or if you don’t rotate them frequently though.

 

I'm not saying Duratracs are bad. I'm stating that Cooper tires are a mixed bag.

 

Thanks for the info now I'm on the fence.
I only drive my truck like 5k a year. Mostly to tow my boat and travel in the winter which involves snow or rain or rocks on the highway
I thought the duratracs would be pretty decent since they put them on all the chevys and some of the fords.
I am not new to snow driving either. I am about aggressive look yet functional. I dont want a MT either

 

That's crazy you don't like your ST Maxx's. Sorry your experience hasn't been good. (Not calling you crazy, just unfortunate you don't like them. Maybe you got a shitty batch.)

I had them on my first gen and they were fantastic. They wore like iron, and I thought they were extremely quiet. I never got any humming like I did with my old school BGF KM1s I had on before them. And living in the NE, I always though they did great in the snow. They aren't 3 peak rated like the Duratracs are, but I would definitely get them again if they came in the size I wanted.

 

I like the Duratracs a lot. Of all the truck tires I’ve run they suit my uses the best. I’m not a fanboy, and don’t think they’re the best tire I’ve owned tho. That’d be Toyo ATs. I just put a set of Duratracs on last fall, and while the Toyo AT3 was my first choice, they weren’t available up here. So, I went with what I knew and had been happy with in the past. The Duratracs do what I need a tire to do the best, of the tires I’ve had and that were available.