Tire Choice...Moving form GY Duratracs

dwebb944t · **Posted:** Mon Jun 10, 2013 12:28 pm

Hi All,

I have a 2008 Liberty KK with a Daystar lift, I put the lift on in 2009 along with 245/75R16 GY Duratracs, they lasted 60K miles. Unfortunately very few of those were off road miles except for dirt/forest roads to get to camping sites etc.. I should mention I live in Phoenix. The Duratracs were great tires except for noise and ride comfort, pretty much had to rotate them every 3-5K miles to keep the noise down. Since I know my use moving forward for my KK is daily commute and a few long, I mean long 4K mile cross country trips I am looking for a quite and nice riding tire. I would go with an A/T (not as aggressive as the Duratrac) if they were quiet.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Dan

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Jun 10, 2013 12:36 pm

Firestone Destination ATs
Goodyear Silent Armour

DirtyKK · **Posted:** Mon Jun 10, 2013 1:15 pm

Another for Firestone Destination ATs

dwebb944t · **Posted:** Mon Jun 10, 2013 1:21 pm

Destination A/Ts definitely on my list however I am concerned about noise. Anyone have any experience as compared to Duratracs?

Saw the BFGoodrich Rugged Terrain T/A, it looks cool but also seems to be similar to the Duratrac as far as tread design.

jjohnson1892 · **Posted:** Mon Jun 10, 2013 3:05 pm

I've had Goodyear Silent Armor tires for about 5000 miles now and they're great. Not noisy at all and the ride is solid too. Perform well off road as well. I picked them over Duratracs because I commute 25 minutes a day and do a lot of highway driving. I would definitely recommend them :2cents:

DirtyKK · **Posted:** Mon Jun 10, 2013 4:17 pm

I had the Destinations before my Duratracs. They make minimal road noise if any IMO.

rangerr47 · **Joined:** Thu Jan 10, 2013 3:03 pm **Posts:** 71

I got some Cooper Discoverer AT3 not long ago, love em

dwebb944t · **Posted:** Mon Jun 10, 2013 4:48 pm

DirtyKK wrote:

I had the Destinations before my Duratracs. They make minimal road noise if any IMO.

cool, that's the feedback I am looking for... Question though, what do you think of your Duratracs road noise and how many miles do you have on them?

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Jun 10, 2013 6:02 pm

Ran the destinations back in 05 on mine, very quiet tire, much quieter than stock i thought. As far as Duratracs goes, not loud at all, just hear them is it. Louder of course than the Silent Armours or Destinations but not bad and I have over 57,000 on mine now

dwebb944t · **Posted:** Mon Jun 10, 2013 6:24 pm

tommudd wrote:

Ran the destinations back in 05 on mine, very quiet tire, much quieter than stock i thought. As far as Duratracs goes, not loud at all, just hear them is it. Louder of course than the Silent Armours or Destinations but not bad and I have over 57,000 on mine now

Interesting, my Duratracs are worn out, but ever since they had 10K on them they howled at 45-55 MPH, now they are unbearable. I admit though I did get tired of rotating them so for the last 20K I have only rated them once. They would quiet down for a 1K miles or so after being rotated.

I just don't want to a tire with lesser performance off road unless that tire has the benefit of being very quiet on road, otherwise I would buy new Duratracs.

das4x4 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 11, 2013 9:47 am

rangerr47 wrote:

I got some Cooper Discoverer AT3 not long ago, love em

I've been running the AT3's as well and am very happy with them. The Firestone's and GY's mentioned are great tires too.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 11, 2013 11:22 am

Any tire can make noise,alignment once a year(at least) and 3-4k rotations is a must for any tire.

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Jun 11, 2013 11:54 am

Yes maybe its anal, but mine are rotated every 3-4000 as well
Never have an issue with them or any tire I have ran rotating them like that
matter of fact its on todays list :wink:

dwebb944t · **Posted:** Tue Jun 11, 2013 12:20 pm

tommudd wrote:

Yes maybe its anal, but mine are rotated every 3-4000 as well
Never have an issue with them or any tire I have ran rotating them like that
matter of fact its on todays list :wink:

Hmm... You guys are making me think my tire noise problem was due to me not rotating often enough and doing alignment often enough. I only did the alignment once after the lift and new tires and then again just now 4 years later ready for new tires.. :oops:

So for the rotation do you guys use the factory recommendation for rotation, which I think is fronts straight back and rears crossed to the front? (LF to LR, RF to RR, LR to RF, RR to LF)?

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 11, 2013 2:03 pm

Yep even though they don't state it you should get a alignment done at least once a year,every 6 months is better.You'd be suprized at how much it can move in a short time,more when lifted with IFS.If you have a Firestone nearby they offer a lifetime alignment package,$180, and get it aligned every week if you wanted for free.As far as rotations you should rotate at least every oil change,more agressive tires require rotations sooner.I rotate(and balance) my 35" MT's every 1500 miles and check my alignment at the same time.

dwebb944t · **Posted:** Tue Jun 11, 2013 2:25 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

Yep even though they don't state it you should get a alignment done at least once a year,every 6 months is better.You'd be suprized at how much it can move in a short time,more when lifted with IFS.If you have a Firestone nearby they offer a lifetime alignment package,$180, and get it aligned every week if you wanted for free.As far as rotations you should rotate at least every oil change,more agressive tires require rotations sooner.I rotate(and balance) my 35" MT's every 1500 miles and check my alignment at the same time.

If I understand correctly on our Liberty's only camber and toe are adjustable. I used to use a string method of checking alignment on my race cars. I assume that could be done with the Liberty also.

Anyone use the old string method of alignment/alignment check?

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Jun 11, 2013 3:17 pm

dwebb944t wrote:

tjkj2002 wrote:

Yep even though they don't state it you should get a alignment done at least once a year,every 6 months is better.You'd be suprized at how much it can move in a short time,more when lifted with IFS.If you have a Firestone nearby they offer a lifetime alignment package,$180, and get it aligned every week if you wanted for free.As far as rotations you should rotate at least every oil change,more agressive tires require rotations sooner.I rotate(and balance) my 35" MT's every 1500 miles and check my alignment at the same time.

If I understand correctly on our Liberty's only camber and toe are adjustable. I used to use a string method of checking alignment on my race cars. I assume that could be done with the Liberty also.

Anyone use the old string method of alignment/alignment check?

Camber,caster,and toe are all adjustable on the front end.Since the LCA has the cam bolts,both mounting bolts are cam bolts,it will be almost impossible to get it correct,or even close as just moving one cam bolt will move all 3 angles.It's a delicate balance to get camber/caster into spec on a KJ/KK when lifted.

DREDnot · **Posted:** Wed Jun 19, 2013 1:45 pm

I'm running Michelin LTX AT2
Quieter than stock.
Rides better than any AT tire I've ever had and is aggressive enough for any Arizona use. Trust me.

dwebb944t · **Posted:** Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:00 pm

Thanks. Love the two "Cherokees"

Gageraid · **Posted:** Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:43 pm

DREDnot wrote:

I'm running Michelin LTX AT2
Quieter than stock.
Rides better than any AT tire I've ever had and is aggressive enough for any Arizona use. Trust me.

Gotta say that's a nice KK if I haven't before. Notice any change in gas mileage with those tires?

Tire Choice...Moving form GY Duratracs

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