Durango XTR: Not the Best for Us

When we purchased our truck it needed a new set of tires.The seller offered to get us a deal using his discount at a small local tire shop.We accepted his offer but were limited on selection because of the size of the store.We ended up with a set of Durango XTR tires.

Cooper makes Durango.These tires are supposed to offer good tread wear and be good for off and on road use.Seemingly this is exactly what we needed for our truck.

The first thing I noticed about these tires was the amount of road noise they made.This is normal for beefy tires like this so I just crank up the stereo. The ride is also not like what you would get from a standard vehicle tire.These are purposed for 4 wheeling so expect some bump and vibration.

The tread is thick and knobby.They're made like this for off-road application.When you need grip in mud, gravel, or on wet boat ramps this is what you need.

In the beginning these tires seemed great.They looked spiffy and worked well for pulling our boat out of the water. In either dry or wet use I have only experienced minimal slip pulling our boat up out of the water as long as two tires remain dry.If you're on a soaked, muddy ramp you will skid if all 4 tires are wet.

We have used the tires on sandy beaches.They are not highly effective and the grip is almost completely lost in unpacked sand.They are useless without using the 4x4 here.You will get a lot of spin and dig action.If that's what you're looking for have fun, but hope someone is nearby to pull you out.

I cannot tell you how these Durango XTR tires perform on snow because we don't get a lot of that here.However, on ice you will get a lot of slip and skid.It's best not to drive on ice anyway.

The tread wear is probably the worst I've seen.We have less than 15,000 miles on these Durango XTR tires and the tread is more than half gone.They were rated for 50,000 miles when we bought them.I sense we will need to replace them way before then.

I really expected better wear from these tires.My husband is completely dissatisfied.He's already started shopping for other tires.

Update On May 07, 2009: We did have to replace these tires sooner than expected. One on the tires started to split and buldge, so we replace all four. The guy at the tire shop was surprised we made it to the shop (hubby did not feel like hooking up the spare). I will review the new set once I get a feel for them.