Duro HF 243 Testing Swimming Ability and Review

[Bennett20200]

I've seen a few different posts over the years about Duro HF 243's and similar tires (strykers, wollyboggers, etc) discussing their potential to be a budget tire. With Argo tires currently costing $3,500 CAD for a set of 8 in my area, the Duro's are very appealing coming in at about $800 after taxes and shipping. For those of us with older machines, its especially tempting because they are available in the smaller 22 and 20 inch sizes that fit our 8 inch rims. So this spring I decided to bite the bullet and do a bit of testing to see if they are worth being budget tires, and to see if they are capable of swimming or not. Below is my assesment of the tires so far after ~10-15 hours use vs runamucks.

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Mudding: Really impressed with their ability to turn through mud (for a small flotation tire). There is no contest here between them and the older runamucks. Thick or thin, the Duro's are better in muddy terrain. The only advantage the runamucks had here is that they are better swimmers if you lose traction with the bottom, but we'll talk more about swimming later.

Turning/Skidding: Surprisingly, this one also goes to the Duro's. Even though they are a more aggressive tire, the only point of contact on hard terrain is the chevrons, the rest of the knobs don't come into play unless you're on something very soft, or the tires are being smushed by large rocks while climbing. The smaller contact patch on hard terrain makes turning easier with the Duro's. The runamucks on the other hand were so soft that the entire tire made contact with the surface, not just the paddle, and turning was harder as a result. This could be because my tires were very old though.

Ride Quality: This one is a tossup. You can get the Duro's in 2 or 4 ply, I got mine in 4. I don't notice the ride being any better or worse than my runamucks which were 2 ply. I run mine at 3-3.5 PSI without tracks, they seem to conform around objects almost as well as the runamucks did.

Climbing: Duro's win again. The chevrongs bite better when climbing up rocks, and the little knobs on the side of the tire make contact as the tire forms around rocks and objects providing an extra boost. The runamucks were okay by comparison, but they wore very fast on hard rock and lacked the serious bite needed to climb steep angles. Both tires preformed well on loose packed rock.

Swimming: I know this is what you're here for, so lets not wait any longer: Do the Duro's swim? Shot answer: Yes! they will swim. After a bit of testing, I have found the best way to get them to swim is to have them orientated in the "normal" direction as seen above, vs many other tires which swim better when oriented backwards. You also must be light on the throttle, maybe 1/4 throttle seems to be right for my '88 magnum. Steering is done by leaning one way or the other on the machine. I'll take a GPS with me to monitor my speed next time I'm out, and maybe a camera for context. They are slow for sure, but it's enough speed and control that I would have confidence crossing a small river or pond, or doing a bit of fishing. Too much acceleration will actually cause your machine to stop, or even go backwards (regardless of if you are in forward or reverse, or what way the tires are orientated). I am aware of a "swim modification" that some members here have done to their tires that involves removing some of the knobs between the chevrons to allow the paddles to do their thing a little better, maybe they can comment below how well that worked for them. I had originally planned on doing the same myself, but considering they swim well enough for me at the moment as they are, I may keep the extra knobs so as to not lose any mud performance. We will see.

Overall, I'm very happy with these tires. For those of us with older machines running 22 or 20 inch tires who don't want to spend more on tires than the entire machine is worth, they seem to be an excellent choice. If I do decide to perform the "swim" modification, I'll update the post with new info. A great budget tire in my opinion.