I am seriously considering the Duratracs for my F250, but am a little concerned about them throwing rocks like NDSportsman mentioned. I tow an expensive boat and am worried about beating it up. For those that have them, do the Toyo CTs throw rocks as well? I am also looking at the Cooper ATIII. I have heard good things about their traction. It looks like they might just throw smaller rocks haha. I am not really concerned about the tread life, just want something that will grip and not beat up my vehicle. Thanks.
Loved Duratracs on my F150. HATED duratracs on my F250. To me they felt like driving on marshmallows, even up to 80# of air pressure.
On my '06 F250 I had:
BF Goodrich LongTrail (factory): Great on road, didn't throw a lot of rocks. Shitty on the ice/snow.
Duratrac: I took them off in less than 1Mo. The worst was driving on 55-65MPH 2-lane roads with enough curves that there are posted speed signs to slow for the curves. IMO, very unpredictable as to when they would "set" in a corner.
BFG ATKO: Great traction in all conditions, ONLY downside, they throw a lot of rocks.
'11 F250:
Continental Conti trac (factory): butter-smooth and quiet on-road w/good MPG, shitty traction on anything other than dry pavement/concrete.
Nitto Trail Grappler: Great in mud, wet, wet/heavy snow. Shitty on ice/packed snow. Loud, robbed mileage (~2MPG on Hwy.), and threw rocks.
BFG ATKO 2: Traction even better than originals, still throw rocks.
Nitto Exo-Grappler: Best packed-snow/ice traction that I've had on either F250. Very stable, even w/only 65# of air. Maybe 1 MPG mileage loss over factory street tires. They don't throw a lot of rocks, but, sometimes they'll throw some pretty decent sized rocks. Cannot speak to longevity, however, I've got ~20K on them and still have 13-14/32nds. They are noisy. They're 10ply rated and have 3 sidewall belts instead of 2 like most tires so the ride is firmer, but, IMO/IME that also makes driving (cornering in particular) more predictable/stable. I have these on a set of rims and run them Oct-Apr.
Nitto Terra Grappler: Underwhelming. Throw just as many rocks as ATKO2, traction isn't as good. MPG is good and noise isn't bad. I can't speak to longevity yet as I only have 1 summer on them. Have to run them @ 75# or more air or they're squishy feeling. I wouldn't buy them again.
I realized lots of Nitto tires on the list. Nitto is a USA subsidiary of Toyo. I consider Toyo to be a top-tier tire manufacturer. Nitto tires are Made in USA so I tend to look there 1st.