Another thing I forgot to mention...if you are going into snow country, in order to be legal (and not run chains), your tires will need severe snow rating. (Mountain peak symbol). Some will say this is a non-issue and some will say it is an issue...
For the Nittos, I am looking a the Exo Grapplers - severe snow rated. I drive all over the place regardless of the weather. Nitto has a great reputation and is known to have really smooth & tough tires. The Nitto reps claim their Ridge Grappler is as good in the snow as the Exo grappler but prod mgmt opted not get the severe snow rating for anyhting but the Exo series (since the test costs money and they did not want to compete with the Exo series.) However, the Exo tread compound is supposedly softer than the Ridge.
Nitto uses a much smaller belt in their tires - so they claim it gives them more control (better balance and roundness), higher strength and lighter weight than their parent Toyo (and others in the industry.
The Duratrac is an old tire with old mfr techniques...I'm just ready to try something different.
Also, I will replace the tires when they have 30% tread life remaining as snow & mud performance tends to get quite a bit worse much beyond that. If I am feeling motivated, I will sell them at 50% life and get a new set...
I'll have to measure the wear on the Duratracs to give you a good answer - the wear is quite noticeable in the 10k miles or so I have put on it...however, to be fair, I should qualify that remarks a bit. I like a on a very steep residential road with multiple full lock to lock switchbacks. Tire scrub happens all the time...and I can also spin a tire/lift a wheel coming into my driveway, so this will also impact tire wear. As noted above, I am running a 35/12.50/17 on my 144 - and finding a wheel that is the correct width for our vans & this tire width has been problematic. I'm running a 7.5 or 8" Method 301 -I forget - anyhow, it is too narrow for a 12.5 tire and it tends to round/buldge the tread a bit. I run 38-40# in the tire to maintain even tire wear as a result of this 'rounding' - I could theoretically run 35# at times given the light weight of my van...
Onefin's comments about weight over the rear axle is correct...and his comments about the BFGs are spot on - a generally good tire, just not great at anything. Expedition Portal did a shoot out on tires (although no duratrac was included)...and they gave Cooper the award.