Testing how loud my Goodyear Duratrac are...

[RBA]

There’s been a few tire threads and the Goodyear Duratracs always come up as a possible option. Some love them, others have mixed opinions but most agree that the tire is loud once it gets a little older. Well, I was one of those that complained about the noise...My 2013 LR4 w/HD package gets used Offroad so I wanted an aggressive tire in the stock size. My tires have about 25K miles on them and were rotated on a semi-regular basis. Meaning that it wasn’t done every 5K miles but every 12K. I also own a 2017 Ford 150 with BFG AT/KO2 and the Ford is exceptionally quiet so I wanted to compare just how loud the LR4 was. I downloaded a dB meter for my iPhone and drove both vehicles over the same stretch of highway near my home. The Ford F-150 registered between 55-58 dB at 75mph, the LR4 was 83-85 dB at 75 mph. Varying my speed by 3-5 mph didn’t make any noticeable difference is sound volume.

While I knew the LR4 was louder I didn’t realize just how loud the truck has gotten. Now I understand why I hate driving it for long distances. Those that say their Duratracs are quiet are either using new tires or low mileage, kidding themselves, or been incredibly lucky...I don’t know, but I’m changing these tires out even though they have plenty of thread left.

 

[BrandonM7]

That's pretty huge. 85dBa is where OSHA requires mandatory hearing protection in the workplace. Considering db is a log base 10, every 10 is not 10% louder, it's 100% louder. So your LR4 is 8x as loud inside as your F150, which is on all terrain tires, too. Amazingly Ford manages to make control arm bushings last more than 50k miles, too.

 

[cperez]

Appreciate you taking the time to provide an evidence-based objective comparison.

 

[ryanjl]

I've been on-record stating that my Cooper Zeons were relatively quiet at about 7,500 miles, but, based purely on my subjective hearing, they seem to have gotten a little louder after I rotated them. Still nothing too bad--I just drove from KC to Colorado, all through Colorado, and back, to the tune of probably around 1,700 miles, and I could live with them. Wonder what that's about?

 

[Pfunk951]

I just made a 900 mile round trip Colorado run on Duratracs, freshly rotated and about 8k on them.. I heard them, but didn't consider them loud- certainly not 85db.. Maybe I'm just deaf...

Mike

 

[catman]

Not deaf, just not enough miles on them yet. Wait until they have 20-25k and report back

 

[Richie04]

Many thanks to all, as I am looking for tire replacement on the LR4( 20" ). I will be interested how the Goodyears work out on sound and mileage.

 

[TCM75]

Many thanks to all, as I am looking for tire replacement on the LR4( 20" ). I will be interested how the Goodyears work out on sound and mileage.

There should be some good info for you on this recent thread: https://www.landroverworld.org/threads/michilin-goodyear-or-nokian-19.30357/


Running with 20s, it seems the Michelin Defender LTX would be a viable option, but then again it depends what type of tire you are looking for.

FWIW, I have 35k miles on the Duratracs and I'm ready for new tires, primarily because of the noise, but I would like some more tread going into winter as well. I need to focus a bit more on snow traction (I wasn't overly impressed) and I don't really need an A/T tire as much as I love the rugged looks.

 

[cperez]

I don't really need an A/T tire as much as I love the rugged looks.

That sums up my situation. Looking for that road tire that's also got a little swagger. I keep coming back to the Nokian WRG3s and will almost certainly go that route soon.