The Firestone Destination AT2 and the Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 3 are although both all-terrain (A/T) tires, they are more aligned towards pavement performance.
Being a tire engineer from my perspective, the Firestone Destination AT2 is a better tire for wet traction, snow traction, fuel consumption and gravel/stones. The Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 3 on the other hand deals with rocky terrains slightly better, provides longer tread life, and is great on dry asphalts. It’s snow performance is also not too far off, even though it’s not 3 peak mountain snowflake rated like the Destination AT2.
Table of Contents
Tire Sizes
Both tires comes in 16 to 20 inches (rim sizes) and have speed ratings going up to T.
The load ratings for Firestone Destination AT2 however is lower as they stay in SL and XL, whereas the Bridgestone Revo 3 gives you C and E rated sizes as well.
Learn speed rating: https://tiredriver.com/speed-rating-on-tires/
Learn load rating: https://tiredriver.com/load-index-range-and-ply-rating/
That’s why with larger range of load ratings availability, the tire also has weight range of 30 to 60 lbs, whereas the Destination AT2 only goes up to 45 lbs (from 29 lbs).
So weight wise, consider them both equal (on average).
Lastly tread depth is larger on Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 3 where they are seen with either 12/32″ or 16/32″ whereas on Destination AT2 all sizes have 12/32″.
Inner Make-Up
Inner construction of the tire is just as important as outer. This is because off road a tire encounter a lot of objects which can pierce through easily. And they damage the sidewalls first.
In order to deal with this both tires have 2 ply polyester casings, with 2 belts and a single cap ply of nylon.
With higher durability weight of the tire increases exponentially, so although these tires compromise a little bit on their inner construction, they get to be very light in weight that enhances their steering response on highways.
Tire Design
The Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 3 presents 4 circumferential ribs where the inner two are thicker.
These inner fat ribs are actually made out of a single unique (shaped) block having deep notches, siping and biting edges on sides.
The make a curved inner longitudinal channels while the outer ones are as straight as it gets.
With reinforced foundations underneath all these ribs the tire although look aggressive, it offers a very on road oriented design with firm directional and lateral stability.
The shoulder lugs are even more tightly packed and even the small lateral grooves aren’t full depth because of the continuous secondary layers running underneath.
These lugs other than that make deep “4” shaped siping pattern and notches having stepped edges in them, providing amazing snow biting (though the tire is not 3 peak rated).
Towards outer edges, although the tire does not make proper sidewall lugs, they are still better in comparison. But its shoulders are not staggered.
Firestone Destination AT2 on the other hand does not make significant lugs on sidewalls.
But they make shoulder lugs which are staggered on themselves.
Towards inner edges, the tread offers squared off shoulder lugs with small biters at the end and straight siping pattern.
These lugs get divided with zigzag longitudinal grooves which are similar to inner two, though they are slightly more aggressive as they have arrow shaped stone ejectors in them and covering notches form both sides.
The inner most rib is made for all rounder purposes. It’s continuous which improves contact patch with the road, hence enhanced grip. It has countless sipes, so enhanced wet grip as well. And it’s biters offer off road traction as well.
The surrounding ribs although have secondary layers underneath them as well, they are still divided a little bit with lateral grooves.
For Your Info: The unique design of Firestone Destination AT2 allows it to have the best fuel economy in the list of top all-terrain (A/T) tires.
Performance on Highways
All-terrain tires mostly lack on highways and pavements, but these tires here stands aside from the crowd with their better on road manners.
I am personally in love with how vocal they are even on sharp turns, there’s a very little lag, grip is great and handling offers ample lateral traction.
Let’s discuss them all in detail.
Grip Performance
Dry grip deals with directional traction, so here braking and acceleration is involved.
A tire with greater capability here would have a more rubber area meeting with the pavement, which is why Bridgestone Dueler Revo 3 offers better performance as its tread is not eaten away with a lot of notches and it’s grooves are less in number with it’s fat blocks.
Firestone Destination AT2 on the other side has 4 longitudinal channels (instead of 3 in Dueler Revo), so although it’s material is sticky it lacks in grip comparatively.
Ability to corner
For handling shoulders are considered as they meet up with the road the most (as the tire turns), so here again the Bridgestone’s boy is superior.
And it makes a lot of sense if you consider it’s tread design (see image above).
The tire is externally packed together over there. You see this kind of arrangement in passenger tires.
That’s why it’s handling lap times are better (almost 1.5 seconds on average where compared with similar sizes, under same conditions).
Turning Feedback
All-Terrain tires are infamous for their slow response, that’s because with stronger durability (more no. of cap plies) they get heavier.
And the heavier the tire gets, the more susceptible it gets to over-steering.
The good thing about these two tires is that, although the are both tough enough, they don’t weigh too much so there is less time taken between over and under-steer controlling.
Wet Traction
Wet traction is different and here other variables are involved, which includes siping, tread’s composition, internal construction composition and so on, which all have to do with how flexible the tread features are to wipe water away.
Let me explain.
Basically water has to be removed underneath the tire, otherwise, there would be no traction. That is done by two tread features, siping and grooves.
Sipes suck water particles in the slits and grooves lets the excess water to evacuate, so a tread has to be softer in order to provide them with flexibility.
The Firestone Destination AT2 is actually great in all these factors.
It has numerous sipes, a flexible tread and more no. of channels for water to get removed, so the tire is not only better compared to Bridgestone Dueler AT, its one of the best performing in all terrain tires.
Which reminds me, the tire is also “the best” in fuel economy as well.
Fuel Economy
How much fuel a tire consumes energy depends on how much friction it makes with the road.
The Firestone Destination AT2 make a good compromise between these two.
It offers good enough grip where it softer rubber wants to stick on the surface, while the foundations supports help it’s tread in leaving off.
The tire is also very light in weight and even that weight is very well optimized as each part of the tread takes on the pressure of the weight evenly, as a result it consumes the least amount of fuel in all-terrain tires.
Comfort
Comfort or tire’s ability to soak up shocks, has to do with rubber composition and internal built.
So tires with lighter/spongy cap plies and tread rubber do good here.
So here, the Firestone Destination AT2 with softer rubber takes on more vibrations of imperfections of the road.
Whereas, the stiffer tread of Dueler A/T can’t offer similar abilities.
Winter Performance
Snow performance here is a big question mark. Let’s solve it.
The Bridgestone Dueler AT although does not have this sever snow rating, the tire is surprisingly good, and let me tell you 3PMSFR isn’t everything as well, it’s just an acceleration test.
Some people think its also related to handling and braking its not.
That’s why Firestone Destination AT2 is better in directional grip on hard snow, but Dueler AT still does great in terms of braking and handling, especially with slightly deeper snow, as well as ice.
Off Road Traction
Off road one of there’s mud, dirt, stones, rocks, the list goes on. But in order to explaining the performance of both tires quickly I have divided them in to 3 main areas (following).
On Mud
Mud is very hard for all-terrain tires, as they get packed quickly with thick slimy composition, and the only escape is faster mud evacuation.
Although both tires are having compact tread blocks which don’t allow proper mud escaping, the Dueler AT still has wider grooves which deal with mud slightly better.
Recommended Read: Are A/T tires good on mud?
On Rocks
Sidewalls are very important on rocky terrains. (I am talking about climbing big rocks here).
Bridgestone AT Revo 3 though has very thin sidewall lugs, its still better compared to Destination AT2, which has none.
So with lowered air pressure, Destination is not able to get no extra tread print.
On Sand
On sand you need soft tires which can offer a lot of contact area to meet up with. You also need a lighter tire which would not put too much pressure on the sand, where main focus in moving forward, not digging in.
So although both tires are lighter in weight, the Bridgestone Destination AT is still 10 pounds lighter so it does better on slopes.
The tire also has the advantage of softer edges, so it does not dig in more and focuses on moving forward.
On Gravel and Dirt
With roads filled with dirt, gravel and sharp stones, you need a tread which is not prone to these getting lodged. So stone ejectors play a big role.
The Bridgestone Revo 3 lacks in stone ejectors so it’s tread is more prone of dirt/stones getting lodged, this not only limits the directional and lateral moving ability, it also damages the tread, even though the tire is chip resistant.
The Destination AT2 on the other side, has wide outer circumferential grooves filled with multiple arrow shaped ejectors so it’s less prone to getting stuck with stones.
Conclusion
The Firestone Destination AT2 and Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 3 are both on-road oriented tires as they are not as aggressive as most all-terrains are on average.
Yet still the Dueler AT offers better off road performance, whereas the its better in dry on road grip as well.
Firestone Destination At2 on the other side, is simply amazing when it comes to fuel consumption and wet performance.
This tire is also 3 peak mountain snowflake rating unlike the Bridgestone Dueler AT.
