Battle of the Goodyears: Duratrac vs. MT/R

The classic battle, and the immediate one (at least it should be) after you get your offroad chariot…what tire should I run?  After nearly 65,000 miles on Goodyear Duratrac All-Terrains and now about 7,000 miles on Goodyear MT/R Mud-Terrains I’ve formed some opinions on these 2 excellent tires.  Unfortunately, there is no clear winner for everyone.

The Goodyear Duratrac (265/70/17 Load Range C and 285/70/17 Load Range D)

I originally ran Duratracs in a stock-replacement size (265/70/17) for about 10K miles before I installed my suspension lift and upsized to 285/70/17 Duratracs.  I obviously liked the Duratracs enough to stick with them through 2 sets (and the first set I was able to sell for good money secondhand!).

Duratracs served me faithfully for 2.5 years and 55,000 miles

Things I liked about Duratracs:

• Aggressive tread design (for an AT) – the tires were grippy and pretty confidence inspiring on the trail, and I ran these things everywhere (Mid-Atlantic, New England, Colorado, Moab, etc…).  They also looked great!
• Light-ish weight for the size –  the 285/70/17 Duratracs were relatively light at 54 pounds and only cost me about 1.5 MPG versus the stock Dunlops.
• Longevity – I got ~55K miles out of my second set of Duratracs and offroaded on them until the very end!  They lived a hard life.

Things I didn’t like about the Duratracs:

• Limited effectiveness in sloppy/wet terrain – in sloppy situations (especially in Vermont) I was winching while guys with mud terrains were plowing through the muck.  To be fair, I doubt any other AT would have been better.
• Soft (relatively) sidewalls – to be fair, before I switched to MT/Rs, I didn’t realize the “mushiness” in the Duratrac sidewall and the loss of feel in turn-in, especially in more spirited trail runs where you were able to open up to more than a crawl.
• Got loud as they wore in – late in their life, the Duratracs got louder than I expected.  Not terrible, but not great either.

Goodyear MT/Rs (285/70/17)

When the Duratracs wore out, it was time for change.  Since getting Duratracs, I had really stepped up other areas of the truck’s capabilities, and after seeing how well mud terrains faired in Vermont, I decided to make the switch.  I chose the Goodyear MT/R because I had such an awesome experience with my last 2 sets of Goodyears.  I also liked that they had Kevlar in the sidewalls for more puncture resistance.

I’ve been living with the MT/Rs now for about 7,000 miles.  So far, so good.

Things I like about the MT/Rs

• Unstoppable offroad:  These tires are confidence inspiring and have tons of grip in mud, dirt, rocks, pretty much everything.  This is no doubt due to the aggressive tread blocks and large tread voids.
• Stiff Sidewalls:  The MT/Rs feel more stiff than the Duratracs, especially on turn-in.   They are awesome on quicker fire roads and low-to-medium difficulty trail runs.  The feel is great in conjunction with my suspension.
• Quieter than I expected:  so far, these things don’t seem louder than the Duratracs I took off, which means they’re either quiet or the Duratracs got really loud!

Things I don’t like about the MT/Rs

• Big Fuel Mileage Hit: Each of these tires weigh 4lbs more than the Duratracs (in the same size), and I lost ANOTHER 1.5mpgs when I made the switch.
• Hard to Balance:  The MT/Rs were tough to balance and felt “lumpy” at higher speeds for the first ~1,000 miles but smoothed out afterwards (mostly).
• Not as good in Ice/Snow:  Not saying they are bad, but the Duratracs with all of their siping are incredible in the white stuff.

Either way, both tires have pluses and minuses:  on one hand, the Duratracs are an excellent offroad/daily driver compromise, but on the other, the MT/Rs  provide a livable (my opinion!) bias towards peak off-road performance.