Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac vs. Wrangler Silent Armor

Blairh · #1 10-06-2009, 09:54 AM

The stock tires are bald and its time for new ones. I have narrowed it down to the duratracs or the silent armors. I was just looking for opinions on which I should choose. I will be doing a majority of highway driving but I want to be able to go offroad if necessary. So any opinions and input are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Blair

javlin101 · #2 10-06-2009, 09:58 AM

I put Silent Armors on my Dakota last year & am very happy with them. Great winter tire & also quiet on the highway.

Morbius131 · #3 10-06-2009, 10:07 AM

Hey Blairh,

I actually just put brand new Silent Armors on my truck this past Friday. I have about 200kms on them so take what I have to say for what it is worth. Fountain Tire has them on sale (4 for 3) sale right now. I have been to various retailers and talked to various sales guys about different models including both the tires you are asking about and when it was said I went for the Silent Armors. Two of the guys actually had them on their truck and allowed me to look at them and see the Black wall out or white wall out. They said they have phenominal ratings (I confirmed that online through reviews) and I said I would be using them for hunting, 4x4 and a lot of hwy and street driving. The guys said you can't go wrong with the Silent Armor. Over the last 200Km I have had them on I have tested them a little bit and they have been really good! Compared to what I have used in the past these are much better and I am very happy with them. They also look awesome on the truck which is always a bonus.

I have always heard good things about the BF All-Terrain T/A and Michellin LTX M/S. Regardless what you buy people are going to have problems with them or really like them. It is all based on your personal preferrence.

Morb

cdrabb · #4 10-06-2009, 10:24 AM

Silent armors are a great tire. we use them on our fleet and get good mileage out of them. They are solid and carry a good load and are good in wet and snow/ice conditions. The larger the tire the more the tread spacing, so the bigger they are the more aggressive they become.

honda450 · #5 10-06-2009, 10:34 AM

Yup them Silent Armors are good. Had them on 3 trucks now. Ya get free rotation at Fountain too. Recommend this for a longer life tire.

mangler · #6 10-06-2009, 10:45 AM

Silent Armour's are the fastest wearing tire I've ever owned.

I'm back to using Michelin's, and happy with the decision.

surhuntsalot · #7 10-06-2009, 10:04 AM

10 years ago I swore I'd never use Goodyear again, then about a year ago when I needed tires the tire shop sold me on the praises of the Silent Armour Pro , so I decided to try them. JUNK...JUNK...JUNK ! All the same problems I had with the wranglers years ago. Only got 50k out of the treads, Had more flats than I can remember, on one they actually found the peice of gravel in the tire that went through the lug. and as usual the flat couldn't be repaired because the sidewalls instanlty self destruct before you can stop. Two of my friends had them as well and said Never Again.

Alot of better brands to choose from, BF, Hankook, Toyo... etc.

Faststeel · #8 10-08-2009, 05:06 PM

I don't do any off roading, but a lot of hiway and some towing,the silent a's have been good on my F150 .The only real reason I went with them was the buy 3 get 4 deal. Mine are 18 inch and them tires can be on the expensive side.
FS

The Rog Man · #9 10-08-2009, 05:15 PM

Well I called Fountain Tire today and found out the Dura Tracs are not part of the three for four sale but i am still leaning towards them over the silent armour's.

Blairh · #10 10-08-2009, 09:11 PM

Ya, I will be going home this weekend and looking. I am also leaning towards the duratracs so I have the off road capability.

Canuck44 · #11 10-08-2009, 11:07 PM

I put a set of 285 duratracs on my 3/4 ton about a month ago, I have just over 2000km on them and have used them for a mix of hiway gravel and offroad including 6" of slick snow and mud last weekend coming out of the bush. I bought them because of the siping, e load rating and the decent void space which should make them ok in the mud. Tires like the michelin at's, bfg at's, and the stock offerings have left me disappointed with their offroad and mud traction in the past and durability and wear have not been great either, I have been very happy with two sets of swamper Trxus Mt's I have run in the past with the exception of poor treadlife (never over 50,000km) and thought I would try something else. Silent armours were not on my list to consider, tires I was considering were the Trxus, Mickey T Mud Terrains and the similar Dick Cepeck offering.

The Duratracs seem to be relatively quiet on the highway but are a little squirmy probably due to the deep tread and the tall sidewall on the 285's. On gravel they are fine but expect them to throw more rocks than some due to the big void space, this can be a downer if you are hauling a trailer that you don't want to get full of rocks on gravel. Offroad they have good directional control and the knobby sidewalls seem to help them bite quite abit to get out of ruts. They seem to clog up on the center of the tread a bit but do shed the junk out of the outer lugs to give some bite in the mud. When we left camp on Saturday my hunting partner was sure we were going to need the winch to get out some steep mud slick, snow covered hills and the duratracs made it look easy, the old stockers wouldn't have made it.

I can't comment on milage but they seem to be fairly soft and I would be happy to get 60,000km out of them. Pricing was $1220 for a set of 285/75/16's on the truck tax in.

hope this helps.

Blairh · #12 10-10-2009, 09:48 PM

Thanks for all the input, I ended up buying a set of the duratracs, I guess they done make the silent armors in the size I need, and the duratracs are suppost to be alot better on the ice. So far Ive put them through a couple tests and as far as im concerned they are great, at 100km they drive perfect, not much noise at all and they dont slide much at all.