Discovery Goodyear Wrangler Duratec 5

The Goodyear Wrangler Duratec Tyres: Extreme Adventures

So, I tested the Goodyear Wranger AT Adventure tyres. I was super impressed with their off road performance. Could the Goodyear Wrangler Duratec tyre be more impressive? The test vehicle for the Duratec tyres was the latest Discovery, of course, it’s a hugely capable car so pairing it up with the tyre was a great test.

An Introduction The Goodyear Wrangler Duratec Tyres

The Goodyear Wrangler Duratec tyres are a purely off road focused tyre. They have been optimised for maximum grip off the road. Looking at the tyre you will notice that it has a sharper shoulder of the tyre. It works as a biting edge providing additional grip over a rounded tyre.

Goodyear Wrangler Duratec

The tread pattern has been specifically designed to have a self cleaning element to the tyre. This means that once the tyre is full of mud, the blocks will flex as the wheel rotates. The flex assists by removing mud, dirt and stones from the tread. So, this is perfect design for an off road tyre.

Testing Out The Goodyear Wranger Duratec Tyre

I jumped into the seat of the latest Land Rover Discovery to test out the tyres off road. The Discovery is one of the best off road cars made to date. Hence, it was perfect for the testing. How good are the tyres going to be?

Getting the car on to the rough roads of course seemed like little bother. The first part of the testing involved driving over various rough tracks and then up one steep, damp, muddy hill. I thought this might cause the tyres some bother. Surprisingly, the car went straight up with no problem at all.

On this steep hill, the instructor advised me to stop the car and then try getting the car moving again. The car had complete control of the grip on this surface and just started moving again, with no drama whatsoever. This was a perfect demonstration how the right tread pattern and compound usage ensures maximum grip.

Now let’s get really serious. Look at the picture below. Get an idea of the the muddy ruts that we were able to take the Discovery down. There is no way I would ever consider driving an SUV down a road like this without having a professional instructor with me.

The path was just sheer mud, wet and sloppy. This was the perfect test for the Duratec tyres. You could feel the car easily gripping the surface and happily forcing the car along the muddy ruts.

Complex Conditions…

Very quickly things got a lot more complicated. The muddy ruts got very deep and had a mixture of rocks sticking out. We suddenly had to take caution. Some of the rocks were so sharp that a normal tyre wouldn’t cope. Hence, I was happy to know that the Wrangler Duratec were a Kevlar reinforced tyre. No punctures for us!

The Next Chapter

For me this was the most complicated section of the drive. As an amateur driver I managed to get the car stuck temporarily between two rocks. The loss of momentum and slippy surface made it very difficult to get traction. But the Duratec tyre helped me break free from the rocks.

I kept the power down at around 2,000rpm and allowed the tyre to hunt for traction. The tyre was able to flex and spin out mud from the tyre tread because of its self cleaning design. Secondly, I used the sharper shoulder edge of the tyre to stick in to the rocks. Thankfully, I got the car moving.

I felt the grip, worked the steering left and right to use the tyre shoulder. Finally, I was able to get the car free.

The Verdict

Without a doubt, this was my most challenging off road experience ever. It was because of the Goodyear Wrangler Duratec tyre that I was able to take on such extreme terrain and maintain a safe and successful journey with the car. I’m very impressed with the capabilities of the tyre. It will be sure to meet the needs of many off road drivers for both commercial use and off road enthusiast drivers.

Off-Road Video

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