by bartonmd » Tue Sep 23, 2014 4:53 pm
I recant what I said earlier about getting Duratracs, or any Goodyear product. Got Duratracs in the same 245/70-17 size that I had in the BFG AT. Originally, one of them came in with a hole in the sidewall, before it was even mounted. They found it when they seated the beads. One of them was scalloped on only half of the circumference of the tread, where they'd obviously did a shitty shave job on an out of spec tire at the factory. They warrantied that one for me.
Every single one of the damned things on there right now is out of round with no load on them. They've been balanced 4 times, are out of balance about an ounce every time (and good when they leave the shop), and still have a vibration or two from 65-80mph. I got so facking pissed off at Goodyear call center lady, today. She said they can't do anything about the ride if the problem is above the speed limit. The speed limit here is 70mph in Indiana. I questioned why the tires are rated at 100mph if they're only warrantied up to the speed limit in the state where you live? I explained that this vehicle goes all over and the speed limit in Texas is 85mph. She said I should drive to Texas and have a shop look at them, then. Went back to the tire shop I bought them from (Tire Barn), who are quite obviously sick of seeing me. They did a real road-force balance on them, and they're better than they were, but still not right. Well, they were even fine at speed until they got warmed up, then out of balance on the interstate, again. I said I give up, and would like to return them on the 30-day ride guarantee. Turns out that the Duratrac in LT sizes isn't covered by the Goodyear ride warranty, and they'd only exchange tires for me if I went to the stock size and load rating in like an All Terrain Adventure or Silent Armor or something. So at this point, I'm stuck. Hopefully they get better as they wear in more, though (they've got like 600 miles on them right now), because the flat spot was like 1/4" deep when they were new and it's only like 1/8" deep right now. We will see.
I'm pretty certain that the out of round issue is compounded by the low pressures (40psi) for a tire that's considered in spec if it passes at 80psi. I think what's happening is that the out of round part flexes out and becomes round at 70mph+, and it's out of balance, because the balancer only goes up to 60mph, which isn't fast enough to flex out the low/flat spot. I'm //// done with the whole issue right now, but I may see at some point if 80psi is enough to flex out the flat spot and get a good high speed balance, then go back to 40psi (the book says 42psi for this tire with this amount of load) to run them. I thought about it on the way home, or I'd have brought it up when I was there. As for Tire Barn, we've exchanged some words about our difference of opinion on some things, but they have worked with me, and I know I'm a pain in the ass when I know I'm right. They're OK in my book.
So the moral of the story is, no more Goodyears for me. I should have taken the hint from the Jeep owners out there who had problems with their MTRs.
As for these, I'll probably run them (if I can handle it) until I finish wearing out the ones on my 3/4 ton (that are 1/3 down the tread with 10,000 miles on them, albeit most of those miles are towing or hauling), then maybe score some factory 17" wheels and throw these on there, where I can't feel shit because of the 9200# GVWR. Or, I may sell them. Who knows... I'll then get a set of the new BFG KO2 that'll be coming out this winter for the TB.
Mike
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