Both the Firestone Destination AT2 and the Toyo Open Country AT3 are all-terrain (A/T) tires which are although very on road oriented, you can still expect a decent rugged off road experience with them.
Being a tire engineer from my perspective, the Toyo Open Country AT3 is a great choice for dry pavements as the tire performs there best, with it’s firmer rubber which is also very silent even on high speeds and produce great overall mileage. The Firestone Destination AT2 on the other hand, is better with wet roads and is the most fuel efficient AT that you can get. It’s spongy rubber also offers better traction on snow, despite both branded with 3pmsfr. Off road things are slightly better with Toyo AT3.
Table of Contents
Tires’ Info
The Toyo AT3 offers better overall specs and features, that because the Firestone Destination AT2 gives you…
- 30 sizes going from 16″ to 20″.
- Speed ratings availability of either S or T.
- Load ratings with SL and XL only (missing LT).
- Weight range of 30 lbs to 45 lbs.
- 55k miles warranty on all sizes.
Whereas, the Toyo Open Country AT3 provides…
- (More sizes) 148, ranging form 15 to 22 inches.
- Better speed ratings of Q, R, S, T and even H.
- Better load ratings of C to F.
- Weight range of 30 lbs to 72 lbs.
- Tread depth ranging from 12.7/32″ to 17/32″.
- 65k miles warranty.
Tread Pattern
Toyo AT3 offers an off road design with on road capabilities.
The tire offers S shaped ribs in the middle with sharp edges and biters, surrounded with F shaped ones with full depth traction notches.
All these although offer off road traction, their compact arrangement keep things great on pavements as well.
These lugs make a web of grooves having narrower width compared to outer longitudinal channels where they meet out.
Let’s talk about shoulder lugs of the tire, which are prominently separated by outer two wide circumferential channels.
These lugs although carry similar full depth siping and lateral spacing, they are made less aggressive, or should I say on road oriented with ridge placements in between them.
They also have reinforced foundation supports like the rest of the blocks which provides lateral highway stability.
In comparison, the Firestone Destination AT2 offers a classic old school design.
Starting things off form the middle, here 3 columns are seen.
The middle most (with white line on it) has continuous design which offer barking grip, uncountable sipes, which provides wet grip, and traction notches which give off road and snow performing capabilities.
The surrounding two ribs are although not seemingly continuous they still have secondary layers underneath them as well.
They are also equipped with similar notches and siping as seen in the middle (most).
Towards sides, the notches stay the same, but siping differ a little bit, as it’s more straight.
And if we go further, then you see that each shoulder lug is staggered on itself.
Durability
All-Terrain tires need to be tough. As they are designed for off road performance as well, and there a tire meet’s a lot of terrains filled with sharp objects that can pierce through the tire easily.
That’s why these tires have chip resistant rubber and tougher sidewall construction compared to passenger tires.
Our tires here consist of similar inner construction though, they have 2 ply polyester casing having 2 wide steel belts on top and single cap ply of nylon.
So both offer 2 ply sidewalls, yet keep in mind that the Firestone Destination AT2 offer spirally wound nylon cap ply, whereas the Toyo Open Country AT3 gives you slightly thicker sidewall lugs which also protect the sides in their own way.
On Road Performance
The Toyo Open Country AT3 has jaw breaking on-road performance and it really is surprising as it’s design doesn’t look that aligned with highways.
The tire is better with directional grip while on par in handling traction (discussed below, separately).
Directional Traction
A tire with better grip would do good in two things, acceleration and braking. They both come in directional traction and it’s separate from lateral traction values.
Here with closed blocks arrangement and optimized biters, the Toyo Open Country AT3 offers better efficacy.
The lugs in the middle take on even pressure from all sides and ensure a lot of rubber stays in contact with the surface, which results in grip.
The Firestone Destination AT2 is also great here with continuous running ribs (compared to other all-terrain tires), but here it lacks slightly as Firestone’s main focus with this tire was fuel economy which the tire achieves by limiting it’s dry grip.
Turning abilities
Tires with compact shoulder lugs do good with handling. This is because handling is just tire turning and with turns most of the tire’s weight is pressured upon the shoulder lugs.
So it makes sense why Firestone Destination AT2 does not lack here as much which its closed up sides and reinforced foundations.
The Toyo AT3 although has larger lateral gaps, this tire also has connected-to-each-other shoulder lugs and minimal tread features which allows it to be on par with Destination AT2.
Handling communication
All-Terrain tires usually don’t offer too good of a steering response, and this is mostly because of their weight. The Firestone AT2 that’s why does great here as its not coming in LT sizes, that why it’s maximum reaching weight is 45 lbs compared to Toyo AT3’s 72 pounds.
With more weight, actually the tire over-steers more, and this take some time to recover, increasing the tire feedback lag.
Wet Traction
On wet highways, hydroplaning is the main one which is often underrated. And of course you also have to consider the overall gripping capabilities of a tire as well.
Let’s talk both.
Wet Grip
Wet gripping is different. As it depends on sipes a lot.
When a tire meets the watery surface, most of the water is channeled out of the tread with the help of grooves, whereas the left over water comes in between the lugs and the surface.
Basically, sipes have slits which suck in the water particles, so those lugs can grip properly, that’s why Firestone Destination AT2 with so many uncountable sipes every where does an excellent job here.
The Toyo Open Country AT3 on the other hand, is not impressive here overall, even when compared to other AT tires.
Hydroplaning
Water is not compressible so it needs to be removed otherwise it would come in between and a tire would float on it (which is what hydroplaning is).
Toyo AT3 lacking on wet is also explained with this as well.
The tire due to its closed up shoulder lugs with ridges in between don’t allow sideways travel of water, and less the water leaves, the more work is there for sipes.
Firestone Destination AT2 is also lacking here, but again with numerous sipes it deals better.
Fuel Consumption
Fuel is used with higher rolling resistance. It’s simple, as the more resistance to roll a tire has, the more energy (in the form of fuel), is required.
But what causes higher rolling resistance values in the first place? Well there are two main reasons. One is the tire’s weight and the other is the it’s ability to stick.
The Firestone Destination is good in both sections, it’s very light in weight and with closed up arrangement, all lugs have to carry a very small amount of weight.
Moreover, the tire’s lack slightly in grip as well and it’s continuous ribs can’t stick on the surface for too long.
In comparison, the Toyo Open Country AT3 is slightly lacking, as it’s overall also a good tire for fuel, with its stiffer composition and uniform lug pattern in the middle.
Tread Life
How many miles a tire can cover in it’s life time is also dependent on the rolling resistance. With larger values, more rubber gets burned (as it’s generating more friction).
But here tread structure also plays a key role as well.
That’s why with deeper voided tread having a stiffer composition the Toyo Open Country AT3 lasts for a longer time comparatively.
Ride Quality
Noise and Comfort are the two main ingredients of ride quality. Let’s talk both.
Noise
Noise of the tread is generated by a lot of factors, which include, the treads texture, the surface texture it’s on, tread’s composition, internal make up of the tire, the list goes on.
It’s a complicated subject, but lets make things easy here.
Both tires does great here overall, as with closed up shoulders (from where most noise/air comes in), so there’s less chance for air to strike around to generate noise.
Still if you have to pick one, out of the two, the Firestone Destination is quieter.
Comfort
Comfortable tire has to have a softer make up which can soak up the shocks. And it has to be that way both internally and externally.
The Toyo Open Country AT3 although has similar internal construction, the stiffer rubber on top is not able to soak up the bumps as efficiently, in comparison.
Winter Performance
Both tires here have 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake and M+S ratings so snow performance is going to be good on both.
But still which is better out of them?
Well here in terms of packed snow, or you can say, on-road snow the Firestone Destination AT2 is better suited overall, whereas with bigger lugs, and notches, the Toyo AT3 deals with deeper snow in a better way.
Off Road Traction
When it comes rougher terrains, there are a lot of variables which judge the overall performance.
I divided them in types of terrains, let’s discuss them.
On Mud
Mud is all-terrain tire biggest enemy, but why? Well because on mud you need a balder tire, and AT tires are still pretty closed up for this terrain.
That’s why mud tires exist and they are named that way.
Although both tires have pretty closed up shoulder lugs which don’t allow mud to leave out easily (especially sideways), the Toyo Open Country AT3 is marginally better with it’s wider grooves.
The tire also has proper staggered shoulder lugs which act as traction scoops on sides.
On Rocks
On rocks you need durability and sidewall lugs, and although both tires lack in durability, and have just 2 ply sidewalls, the Toyo Open Country AT3 offers staggered shoulder lugs and better sidewall design which offers better lateral and circumferential grip comparatively.
This is because the tire has notches facing in all directions.
On Sand
Sand is a weird terrain which requires your tire to have a good contact patch available to meet up with the sand. That’s why balloon tires do so good here.
But have you ever heard about paddle tires, they are great on sand as well. The reason being their powerful scoopers in the form of lugs which push the sand backwards to build forward momentum.
The Toyo AT3 offers better efficacy on this terrain as well.
The staggered shoulders and sidewall lugs offer a larger footprint on sand when pressured down.
The Firestone Destination AT2 is also good enough but only on inclines where it’s lighter weight helps it.
Conclusion
The Firestone Destination AT2 is not suitable overall for rugged terrains, as the tire is not available in LT sizes, I’d update if anything changes.
But for now, these tires are great if you are only doing light weight off-road driving like going on gravely roads, or minor off road filled with dirt.
The tire is also great on snow and can handle up to 1 feet, though both tires are severe winter symbols (3pmsfr).
On roads, the tire is a champ, but it shines the most on wet ones, whereas the Toyo AT3 does great overall in dry conditions.
