Duratrac E load no longer a 3 ply sidewall

Inyo_man

Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining.
I ordered a new set of Goodyear Duratrac 265/75/16 E load tires before I left for a trip to AZ over New Years with the plan of having them mounted before leaving three days later for a wheeling trip. Everything seemed to be working out fine, the tires arrived and were ready to be installed. The fellas at the shop installed them this morning at 8:00 am. I went to leave and decided to take a closer look at the new meats.
To my surprise, they only had a 2 ply sidewall. I asked the rep. what was going on, and showed him my old set that they had removed with the 3 ply sidewall info clearly printed on the tire. He didn't have an answer and called the distributer. I called a customer service rep. at Goodyear to clarify what was going on... she called me back and stated that when Goodyear first produced the Duratrac, the E load came with white lettering on one side, as many tires due. These tires were produced as a 3 ply. However, recently they changed the E load tire and now it only comes with black lettering. When Goodyear make this switch, they also started producing the E load in a 2 ply sidewall only.
Very disappointed, I told the rep., and the fella at the shop, that I won't be purchasing Duratracs any more. They were a very solid tires with over 60K miles and excellent performance on and off highway, but I need the piece of mind of the 3 ply sidewall.

Long story short, they took the tires off and I now have a new set of Cooper S/Maxx 265/75/16 E load...with a 3 ply sidewall (made in the USA).
 
Last edited:

EMrider

Explorer
Well done on catching that before you drove away.

I have been very pleased with the Toyo open country ATs, also with an E load rating.

Recently, Toyo introduced a 'new' version of this tire, the AT2.

Reading carefully, however, I noticed that the max load rating of this tire in the E load rating is considerably less than the 'old' ATs. It went from about 3970lbs at 80psi to about 3195lbs at 80psi in the newer tire. I cannot get a clear/straight explanation from Toyo on why this changed, but it would have been very easy to miss.

Fortunately, I was able to find a new set of the old ATs.

Not sure what I will do when I need new tires though.

R
 

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