Do you recommend using DuraTrac in summer?

Your input will be appreciated.

My local mechanic who does all the maintenance work for us recommended that we get summer tires and save GoodYear DuraTrac for winter for my wife's 1-ton Nissan van (it currently has DuraTrac). We still have her stock tires (street tires--not good in winter) in the garage, so all we have to do is get a set of wheels.

I keep my Nitto Trail Grappler all year around since I drive less than 3k a year. My wife drove less than 5k this past year, but she is expected to drive probably 8k or so per year from now on.

She really likes the look of DuraTrac and finds the ride comfortable.

Her van require tire rotation every 6 months so we will have no additional expense (beyond buying some wheels) if we go with two sets of tires/wheels.

But at the rate she is driving, I am not sure if tread wear will even become an issue. But then again, I read DuraTrac tends to have softer compound and her van is heavy.

At this point, her tires still look brand new (after a few thousand miles).

What say you? Should I just keep DuraTrac all year around or should I save it for winter use?

 

I rock my duratracs year round... keep up on the rotates and ensure a good alignment. U should see 30-40k miles. Ain't gonna see no 40-60 like other tires but it shouldnt be a big deal given their performance in the winter. My .02

 

I live in the south, where there is no winter, and have run Duratracs for about the last 150K. Maybe a couple thousand of that was in the snow while visiting other parts of these great United States.

 

Find a good price on some rims and use up those stock tires, they're just taking up space, or sell them and ignore me(which could be best ;-)). Like the two of you, I don't put a great many miles on my vehicles. I have two sets of wheels, one for summer and one for winter. My rational may be different though. I run studs in the winter due to the ice I encounter. In the summer I run some Cooper Discoverer LSX Plus that were on the truck when I bought it in 2014. I've recently noticed that the Coopers are actually starting to show some weathering on the sidewall due to age and I may actually wind up replacing them due to age rather than them wearing out. I may even try to find a softer, quieter all season summer tire for the next set and try to find a happy medium where they'll start to show their age at the same time they reach the end of their tread life. Speaking of quieter, having the summer tires means I don't have to listen to the stud noise, and there's the obvious saving on them and the softer compound winters. But that's just me....YMMV.