Canadian Hummer Club Forums

Tires are always a tough recommendation since it really depends what you as a buyer want for the vehicle. The Duratracs are definitely a popular tire, good street manners for sure and with a good amount of off road capability. They are a good balanced tire.



If you don't want to off road I'd say pick something more of an All Terrain / Highway tire, if you want to hit the trails frequently I might suggest going to a true mud terrain.



If your 3 sees a lot of street miles you may want to stick with a stock size tire, whereas if you want to put on a lot of trail miles you might consider upgrading to a 35" tire. I have a 35" mud terrain on my H3 (Toyo Open Country M/T) and while I do like the tire, it definitely killed my around town mileage. Highway mileage went down a bit but not too bad, I see about 20 liters/100km in town driving (12mpg estimated) and 12-13 liters/100km highway driving (18-19mpg) so combined is somewhere in the 13-14 range for what I drive. My Toyos were about $1400 for 4 if I recall... so no full size spare.



That said though I save the H3 mostly as a weekender and for trail riding so it's not a big worry to me, but with a larger diameter and heavier tire your mileage will definitely drop so that's something to be aware of.



Long story short though the Duratracs are definitely a nice tire and definitely the 'right choice' for a certain group of people! I just don't know if that group includes you specifically... LOTS to choose from out there though so definitely take a look at everything before settling! For a person who cares what a tire can do, which obviously you do since you're asking, picking a tire for a 4x4 isn't always an easy decision... (always an expensive one though, haha).

You can try to estimate the effect on fuel economy but unfortunately unless someone else has gone with this same tire it's really impossible to say for sure... Things to consider though 1) the weight of the tire and 2) the tread pattern. A heavier tire will take more force to push around and mileage will suffer a bit due to that, and the tread pattern all a guy can do is really guess here, but with the bigger tread blocks the tire has more rolling resistance so again mileage will suffer in this case as well. A mud terrain usually has that heavy-duty construction so quite the weight penalty and even more so if you go with a 35", and also big blocky tread so you get hurt again with that...



How much mileage will suffer is just a best guess scenario unless again, someone has that first hand knowledge... I'm no expert of course, but... in my mind I doubt that the Duratracs would be all that bad for your mileage!



So consider the weight of a stock Bridgestone Dueller 285/75R16: 53lbs

And the weight of a same size Duratrac: 58lbs



You're looking at an extra 5 lbs per tire, plus a meatier tread (but nothing TOO crazy), and I'd say you can reasonable expect your mileage to drop at least a little... It's a crap shoot but my reasoning tells me mileage would drop only marginally. If we guessed and said it dropped say 5% and you spend $70 a week on gas right now, then you'd be spending like $73.50 a week after the new tires. My math says that's an extra $182 per year.. That's the best guess I can come up with!



My Toyos are 76lbs each with a real blocky tread so mileage definitely went to the crapper with those!!

Dura Tracs are an awesome tire! I have done a few reviews on them on other forums. I have had mine now for about 14 months and I could not be happier. I went with the 315's (35's). I have had these tires in every condition imaginable and they have performed great. Where they really shine is in the snow and winter weather. I would not want any other tire on my truck. I previously had numerous sets of BFG AT's and I always thought that was the best all around tire for me, but I was wrong. These DuraTracs kill the BFG AT's. They are only slightly louder, have awesome road manners for such an aggressive tread and tire wear has been great.

Was that price you were quoted for 4 or 5 tires? and what size? If it was for 5 then that is a great price. Remember you have a full size spare and you need to have all tires the same size with our full time 4wd trucks. If you are going to spend the money on new tires you should definitely think about getting 5 tires and replacing the spare. Not all tires are the same diameter even if they are tagged as the same size and you don't want to run the risk of messing up your transfer case.



let me know if you have any specific questions about the Dura Tracs and I can help you out.

[quote name='largemouthbass' date='07 October 2010 - 05:56 PM' timestamp='1286495778' post='21723']

Dura Tracs are an awesome tire! I have done a few reviews on them on other forums. I have had mine now for about 14 months and I could not be happier. I went with the 315's (35's). I have had these tires in every condition imaginable and they have performed great. Where they really shine is in the snow and winter weather. I would not want any other tire on my truck. I previously had numerous sets of BFG AT's and I always thought that was the best all around tire for me, but I was wrong. These DuraTracs kill the BFG AT's. They are only slightly louder, have awesome road manners for such an aggressive tread and tire wear has been great.

Was that price you were quoted for 4 or 5 tires? and what size? If it was for 5 then that is a great price. Remember you have a full size spare and you need to have all tires the same size with our full time 4wd trucks. If you are going to spend the money on new tires you should definitely think about getting 5 tires and replacing the spare. Not all tires are the same diameter even if they are tagged as the same size and you don't want to run the risk of messing up your transfer case.



let me know if you have any specific questions about the Dura Tracs and I can help you out.

[/quote]



That is a pretty nice looking tire for both worlds..... only question I would ask is how are they wearing? I used to Run Goodyear and have sworn to never touch them again as they wear so quickly! But that is a nice looking tire and I like the tread pattern!

Black Rhino sits on Kumho Roadventure KL71 mt only change in size was from p265 to lt285 recommended alternate size for H3's no real hit in milage after they were broken in. some noise and vibration ( nice massage on long drives). Nice tires cost about 1800. for five

I was a little worried when I first noticed how soft the tread seemed on the Dura tracs compared to other tires I have had, but tire wear has been very good. Like I said before I have had them on for about 14months and put about 21k km's on the tires and they show barely any signs of wear. I do rotate my tires religiously and always rotate the spare in so I know this helps with wear.



I looked at the Kumho KL71's and I read good reviews and considered them. The main thing that turned me off those tires was that they are directional.