Tires & Suspension on Jeep JK

[HouseTiger]

The time came for new rubber and replacement shocks on the 2016 JK 2D. It came down to a tossup between BFGoodrich K03, and Goodyear Duratrac RT to replace the Yokohama Geolanders. So last week, I ended up with the best deal on the Duratracs. Shocks, well, that had come down to between the Rancho RS7MT and Billstein 5100 for shocks and steering damper. I got the Ranchos based on many years of experience using them. (thank you, Rock Auto).

The Duratracs blow the Yokos off the road (IMHO). We've had some deluges here and they track like they own the road. Going off road, the difference with new shocks and steering damper was very noticeable. The rest of the suspension parts were in very good shape, so between new rubber, and the new shocks and damper, the old girl feels like brand new.

If someone is running a 4X4 and using it off road to any degree, I suggest they look at the Duratrac RT. I'm also very pleased thus far with the Rancho RS7MT series.

My two cents worth.

 

[AZjeff]

Tire size?

 

[barkingspider]

I agree the GY Duratrac RT are top in its class. And I’ve never been disappointed in Bil 5100s.

 

[AdmiralYoda]

Interesting. I was unaware of the Duratrac RT. My 2021 GMC Canyon came stock with the "regular" Duratrac's and they were super noisy! Wet traction and noise got worse and worse and I replaced them with about 40% tread left. They were so loud I was convinced I had a hub bearing on its way out!

They did look awesome though and the RT's look almost identical.

I was considering the BF Goodrich K03's for my next tire but might consider the Duratrac RT now.

 

[HouseTiger]

Tire size?

255/70R-17, sorry, neglected to include that.

 

[HouseTiger]

Interesting. I was unaware of the Duratrac RT. My 2021 GMC Canyon came stock with the "regular" Duratrac's and they were super noisy! Wet traction and noise got worse and worse and I replaced them with about 40% tread left. They were so loud I was convinced I had a hub bearing on its way out!

They did look awesome though and the RT's look almost identical.

I was considering the BF Goodrich K03's for my next tire but might consider the Duratrac RT now.

There's subtle tread changes in the current Duratracs. These run rather quiet compared to the Yokos that were on it.

 

[Not Sure]

I am currently running a set of Toyo MT‘s on my JK. Had them on it for about 8 years now and they have been amazing compared to the BFG KM2s I ran previously. Definitely going with them again when I get a new set of tires later this year.

For one thing they don’t dry rot like the BFGs, they wear much more evenly, are much much tougher and can shrug off stuff that would rip the BFG open.

Now there are a couple downsides to these tires first off they are substantially heavier then the BFGs and the ride quality is noticeably worse on road. Also due to the weight gas mileage dropped a couple MPGs. They don’t spread out nearly as much as the BFGs did when you air down. That being said I am running beadlocks and can air them down to 2-3 PSI to get a decent contact patch despite the stiff sidewall.

It’s hard to judge traction between the two tires unless you can try then side by side on the same day in the same conditions ans on the same or an identical vehicle. Some days I feel like the BFGs had better traction in everything from mud to sand to deep snow and others I feel that the Toyos have better traction. There are too many different types of snow, mud, and sand to be able to say what tire worked better. The one thing I can say is the Toyos are better on plowed roads then the BFGs were. The BFGs needed at least 6 inches of snow to bite into. When you have a plowed road with an inch or two of snow on it they were absolutely horrible. The Toyos are noticeably better on plowed roads, not AT tire good but close enough.

These are the only two tires I have run in this Jeep so they are the only ones I can say anything about.