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Duratracs or ?

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My wife has a 2dr Rubicon and I'm about ready to upgrade tires and looking for recommendations. It's her daily but I will be taking it off road as well. Size will probably be 315/70R17, maybe a 35x12.50/17.

I had Duratracs on my JK Rubicon and loved them. Wheeled the piss out of them and they never let me down. I was leaning towards those but they are expensive and surprising to me, not seeing the greatest reviews from people for off roading and wet traction. Many seem to be complaining of the weak sidewalls which I didn't expect to see. I was hard on mine and they always did great. I never had a sidewall issue until I moved up to 37" Toyo MT's and sliced a sidewall my first time out. Did I just get lucky with how well my Duratracs held up or are they getting a bad rap because that one person had an issue and everyone repeated the same story?

What I'm looking for.... I want something that will hold it's own off road but since my this is my wife's Jeep, I want something that will serve her well on road. Something not too loud and good in wet and snow since we're in PA. As for off road, trails up here are in the woods and generally see a decent amount of mud. I avoid the mud bog style holes but wet trails are part of the gig. I also like to play in the rock gardens and climb rocks anytime the opportunity presents itself. Posted a couple pictures below of my old Jeep to show some of the normal conditions I would be wheeling in.

In the end I want something I can have fun with but knowing it's her daily driver, I want whatever I choose to take care of my wife.

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I hear good things about the nexen roadian mtx, but don't own them. I have the bfg ko2s that came on the jeep, and those seem to work well for me on and off road. Also fairly cheap if you want a take off set. Tougher to find in 35 size though.
 

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I had duratracs on 3 different Jeeps and recently switched to Toyo open country a/t and I have nothing bad to say about them. I think they are my new goto. Look into them...

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I hear good things about the nexen roadian mtx, but don't own them. I have the bfg ko2s that came on the jeep, and those seem to work well for me on and off road. Also fairly cheap if you want a take off set. Tougher to find in 35 size though.
Thanks. Looked up the Nexen and that's a full out mud terrain, a little much for the wife. That's why I'm leaning towards some of the hybrids. Nice looking tire though.
 
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I had duratracs on 3 different Jeeps and recently switched to Toyo open country a/t and I have nothing bad to say about them. I think they are my new goto. Look into them...

2B70679D-9CBD-4064-9E1B-EB5929E8D913.jpeg
I looked those up and see they come in a couple different styles. I like the look and will have to do some more digging on them. I think they look to be a good option. :like:
 

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I have Duratracs on my 2008 Wrangler. When I first got them, I remember thinking they had a nice hum to them on the hwy. My 2019 has 35in ProComp Extreme M/Ts. They were just installed about 2 weeks ago and are not that loud at all. I have a lot of miles on the Duratracs and they have held up very well, it will be interesting to see how the M/Ts wear.
 

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After 2 sets of Duratracs on 2 different vehicles, I will never own them again. Weak sidewalls and horrible in the rain. They were so so in the snow. I got 3 punctures in my Power Wagon on a gravel road of all things. Most ATs will be better than Goodyear’s. I bought them for my JK Rubicon because of the stellar Jeep reviews. Boy was I wrong to listen to people justify their purchase. Waste of money.
 
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My wife has a 2dr Rubicon and I'm about ready to upgrade tires and looking for recommendations. It's her daily but I will be taking it off road as well. Size will probably be 315/70R17, maybe a 35x12.50/17.

I had Duratracs on my JK Rubicon and loved them. Wheeled the piss out of them and they never let me down. I was leaning towards those but they are expensive and surprising to me, not seeing the greatest reviews from people for off roading and wet traction. Many seem to be complaining of the weak sidewalls which I didn't expect to see. I was hard on mine and they always did great. I never had a sidewall issue until I moved up to 37" Toyo MT's and sliced a sidewall my first time out. Did I just get lucky with how well my Duratracs held up or are they getting a bad rap because that one person had an issue and everyone repeated the same story?

What I'm looking for.... I want something that will hold it's own off road but since my this is my wife's Jeep, I want something that will serve her well on road. Something not too loud and good in wet and snow since we're in PA. As for off road, trails up here are in the woods and generally see a decent amount of mud. I avoid the mud bog style holes but wet trails are part of the gig. I also like to play in the rock gardens and climb rocks anytime the opportunity presents itself. Posted a couple pictures below of my old Jeep to show some of the normal conditions I would be wheeling in.

In the end I want something I can have fun with but knowing it's her daily driver, I want whatever I choose to take care of my wife.
I've ran Duratracs on my JK and JL now for the past 6 years daily driving. They're an excellent tire. I haven't had any sidewall issues but admittedly it's their weakness as plenty of credible users over the years have had issues there. It's not a tire to play in rocks a lot with. Your own experience is what's most important though. Given what you said I think you should get some Duratracs again. I'm glad I did. I agree they're expensive but for the most part you do get what you pay for in life.

not seeing the greatest reviews from people for off roading and wet traction
This is why I ignore almost everything opinion related online as most of it is not credible in any way. Duratracs are very good in mud, but more importantly they are an excellent tire in wet conditions. They're easily the best A/T for snow/slush and it's not even close. They do great in rain too but snowy conditions is when they really shine. I doubt the validity of any opinion that says differently to be honest with you. I've driven them enough to know.
 

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On 3rd set of DT's on the JK. Have wheeled it hard in the mud and wooded trails. No sidewall issues and they do stellar in the mud and wet. Great snow tire as well. Never have had a sidewall issue like some report but this is not a Moab type rock crawler. Has withstood roots, small rocks, stumps, etc. Well worth the money.

Went with the KO2's on the JL. Great tire but lacks in the mud and trails. Went to Firestone MT2's over the DT's because I wanted a true mud tire and also wanted something more durable since the JL is driven harder.
 

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One of the key differences between the GY Duratrac 315/70R17 and 35 x12.50R17 is the load range, D vs E.

I’ve owned C, S and D and while I have a lot of respect for BFG and other manufacturers, the GY Duratracs won me over.

They are the BEST handling tires that I’ve ever owned in terms of wet weather, snow and everyday pavement driving. Not only are they close in size to the advertised size, they wear very well and soak up the road bumps very nicely.

I recommend going with the D range as it’s not as stiff a tire as the E load range.

As far as side wall strength goes, I’ve never had any issues. Of course I’m not a rock crawler and the lowest I’ve had the tires down to is 15psi. Even at that pressure rating, they still felt planted and there wasn’t any surprise on how they performed.

I keep mine at 32psi cold and feel like they’ve made a difference in how smooth my JLU is compared to the stock tires that came with the vehicle. Plus I really like the tread pattern in between the lugs on the tire.
 
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I think I've decided to stick with the Duratrac. Served me very well and I wheeled them pretty hard. When I had them I normally took them down to 10-12 psi off road and never had any issues. Sounds like I'm not the only one who has had good experience with them. Going to call around tomorrow and see what people can do for me on some 315/70-17's.
 

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Best thing anybody can do for sidewalls is to air down. I wonder if some who have had sidewall issues didn't air down or didn't air down enough. Think of it like popping a balloon. If the balloon is at or near capacity, it doesn't take much to puncture it. If aired down to much less than capacity, they become hard to puncture.

I've been thrilled with the KO2's in every condition, but I've got friends with Duratracs and they love them. One was with me in Moab and he never had an issue in the rocks. They looked beat up, but they did the job and he's got probably 50k on them now and they still have good tread life. He raves about their snow traction.

In the end, tires are subjective, and punctures are random. I could have the best tires in the world and if I get sidewall punctures, I'm going to be likely to blame the tire and move on to another. You can own two sets back to back and drive the same trails, but it still won't really be the same hazards to which they are exposed.

The key is confidence. If you ran Duratracs on the JK and they served you well, I'd say get them again because you have high confidnece in them. The odds are they will keep you very happy.

On another note, whenever we get new tires of a different brand, most of the time we'll love and rave about the new tire. Why? Because they are new and we're comparing them to the last tire, which was worn. The worst new tire will almost always perform dramatically better than the best worn tire.
 

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I have two friends in TJs that run Duratracs. Neither have had traction or side wall issues off-roading, and they perform well in the ice and snow. Yes it’s apples to oranges, but it’s also another data point.

I don’t DD my jlu in the winter, but I would strongly consider a Duratrac if I did. IMHO a very good “do it all” tire for those in snowy areas
 

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I loved the duratracs on my JKU. From N Ga mountain trails to Moab and even to ice. When Atlanta had that snow thing back in 2014/15, I was towing stranded cars and large SUVs uphill on ice no problem.
disclaimer: refer to the towing capacity of your Jeep before towing shit. :)
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