Firestone Destination X/T is an aggressive version of all terrain tire, which is going to look great on Chevy Silverado, Ram 3500, and of course Ford 150 (because everything looks good on Ford). Let’s see if it would look good on your ride.
Being a tire engineer, from my perspective, the Firestone Destination X/T provides a very well balanced traction on and off road, where it’s grip on both dry and wet roads is going to impress. Due to smaller weight, it offers a very quick dynamic response and cornering abilities. But in order to perform better on snow, the tire has to compromise a little in the wet lateral traction, but that compromise is not for nothing, as now you get one of the top performing all-terrain tires for snow.
Let’s start with quick run down on this tire including quick facts (below).
What’s to like on this tire?
- Ride quality is excellent.
- Snow traction (has 3pmsf rating).
What can be improved?
- Wet traction can be improved (even though it’s better than Toyo AT3).
- Tread noise becomes prominent if these tires are rotated properly.
Table of Contents
Quick facts on Destination X/T
- One of the best tires for snow, it’s 3 peak mountain snowflake rated.
- Dry grip is on par with pavement oriented tires.
- 50,000 mile tread life warranty for all sizes.
- Sizes come in 15 to 20 inches (wheel diameter).
- Speed ratings stay in R and S.
- Load ratings available are C and E.
- Weight – 35 to 60 lbs.
- Tread depth comes in 14, 15, 16 and 17/32″
Also the tire is very well known for it’s economical fuel consumption.
Tread Appearance
The symmetric tread pattern looks like the focus of Firestone was mostly on the winter traction. That’s why you can see so many biters on this tire.
The shoulder lugs with deep slits although optimized for snow, they are not too aggressive for other off road terrains, as they form a very blocky design.
Other than this, these ribs features full depth straight siping, and towards middle they have supporting ridges (for handling stability).
Towards the middle, the tire makes 2 outer longitudinal grooves which have a ton of biters, (they are also called snow vices).
These grooves contain F and S shaped blocks in between which have interlocking full depth siping (which provide directional wet traction).
Towards the outer edges, the tire makes U shaped lugs which offer tread print when you run the tire with lowered air pressure.
You can check out the sides of the tire by scrolling to the top, I added the image there.
Find all A/T tires compared to Destination XT.
Durability
The Firestone Destination XT is although marketed to be more aggressive than AT (with X in it’s name), the tire provides you with average inner construction common with all terrain tires.
This tire has 2 ply sidewalls, which is from the inner most casing of polyester.
On this casing, there are wide 2 belts, made out of steel cords, and then these belts are reinforced with 2 layers of nylon, which are also called cap plies.
Overall you can say the tire brings average overall durability comparing with other all-terrain (A/T) tires, with it’s 2 ply sides and cut resistant rubber.
Pavement Performance
On highways, you need a firm contact with the surface, as things are smooth. But the thing is the texture of off road tires are no smooth, so overall performance gets limited.
But with engineering, tires are made to be better, so that they can still offer better steering response, grip and lateral stability. Let’s check all these factors one after another.
Dry Traction
I am combing both the grip and handling in one, as they both join together to form traction.
For grip, mostly the central area of the tread is considered, and for handling the tread sides are examined (as they make the most connection with the surface while cornering).
Firestone Destination X/T offers a decent grip values, but only on lower speeds, as the tire only yields limited speed ratings going up to just S (which is below average for an all-terrain tire).
Though it’s handling performance is slightly better, as it’s squared up shoulder lugs provide a lot of lateral traction (measured with G forces).
Steering Response
The Firestone Destination X/T is great on steering communication, as it performs more than expected.
The tire’s softer rubber ensures the rubber sticks, and the supporting ridges keep it restricted as well, so it makes a great under and over-steer balance. Meaning you get a perfect amount of grip, not a lot and not limited, this also ensures rolling resistance stays at bay.
The snow vices on the outer longitudinal channels also offer a great bite when turning and adds to the tire’s responsiveness overall as well.
Wet Roads Performance
On wet asphalts, there are two dimensions to worry about mostly. Hydroplaning and the Grip. And together they form overall wet performance values.
Let’s talk about them in details.
Wet Traction
On wet roads, you need two main things sipes and grooves, as both of them clear out water. Sipes do it by soaking water up in it’s slits, and the grooves does it by pushing the water out of the tread (through provided channels).
Firestone Destination X/T supplies good directional grip and stability, but handling wise, the tire loses a little friction needed, though it’s overall traction is still better than Toyo AT3 (review) (to give you a perspective).
So why is this tire good in directional grip?
Well, it offers a better siping design in the middle, and central part of the tread meets the most with the surface, that is, when tire moves on a straight paths.
Here the interlocking sipes remain flexible when the tire is braking or acceleration and water is wiped away faster.
On the other hand, on shoulder lugs, the sipes are rectilinear, and although tread’s silica rich tread compound offer elasticity, these sipes still harden up on corners, lacking in overall handling times.
Hydroplaning:
Hydroplaning is when a tire floats on water and its a crucial part of overall wet traction.
To avoid this, grooves are made on the tread which provide channels for water to leave out.
The Firestone Destination X/T is pretty good here as it offers a pretty bald design, so water finds a very easy path to leave out as soon as possible.
So overall, you get to have good float speeds (which tells, how fast a tire can roll over water).
Winter Performance
On snow all-terrain tires improve their capability by copying features of winter tires. So the tires focusing on this terrain are made soft so they can endure the harsh winter temperatures, they have a lot of sipes and their notches provide snow grabbing (very important).
The Firestone Destination X/T offers a very spongy rubber which remains flexible even with extreme winter conditions, that’s why the tire has 3 peak mountain snowflake rating symbol on its sidewalls.
Moreover, the tire is equipped with snow vices on it’s outer longitudinal channels (see the image above in tread pattern). This allows a very effective snow grabbing, which is important because for winter performance, you need to make snow to snow contact instead of rubber or tread exposure.
So with trapped snow, the tire offers better traction.
The shoulder lugs also do the same thing, where the slits that you see trap in the snow particles and enhance handling performance.
Quality of Ride
The overall ride quality is dependent on two factors, noise and comfort.
Noise is just air and it comes in through groves and strikes around to generate unwanted sounds which mostly include high pitched humming and wobbling (in worst case).
Now the Destination A/T2 offers pitch sequencing for noise reduction, where it’s blocks varying in sizes generate different tones when air hits on.
All these tones have different wave pattern and they try to cancel out each other.
Though with wear, the tire starts to loose this ability and you start to hear more tread noise, especially if you don’t rotate these tires after every 4 to 5k miles.
If we talk comfort, which is tire’s ability to soak vibrations, the Firestone Destination AT2 offers a combination of various polymers in it’s tread and these basically allows the tire to mold, converting mechanical energy of the bumps and dampening them down effectively.
So the tire is very comfortable overall.
To put things in to perspective, the most comfortable tire (in AT category) is Yokohama Geolandar A/T (review) and Destination AT2 comes in as a close 2nd.
Tread Wear and Fuel Usage
Both the tread life and the fuel consumption of the tire depends on it’s rolling resistance, which is then dependent on the tire’s weight and composition.
Firestone Destination X/T offers a softer rubber which although wants to stick to the roads, the added ridges on the ribs (supports), don’t allow these ribs to stick in more than needed.
So the tire gets to have good enough grip with out a lot of rolling resistance.
So less fuel energy is required for it to roll.
Though the rubber of the tire with softer composition is not very good in terms of wear, even with less overall weight (reaching up to 60 lbs).
Nonetheless the Firestone offers 50k miles warranty for all its sizes.
Off Road Performance
Off road there are some terrains you may want to considering before landing on the tire. Here the most rugged terrain is mud (the sole reason why M/T tires exist), then comes sand, where you need driving skills as well, and in the end, comes, rocks.
Rocks is a general term and it includes a lot, like climbing on big rocks, dirt traction, gravel handling and so on.
Let’s check them all out.
Rocky Terrain
On gravel/stones and dirt, you need powerful stone ejectors that won’t allow them to get trapped in the tread, but as the Firestone Destination X/T does not offer you with any, it’s tire is pretty prone to that.
Lodged up stones not only lose traction values, but also damages the tread, the snow vices of the tire and the slits on the shoulders invite a lot of dirt to settle in and this compromises it’s overall performance.
Though the tire is chip resistant, and on lighter terrain, it does okay overall, especially in the directional traction, as it’s lateral stability is below average.
But these tires are pretty solid for climbing, as it offers good enough biters throughout the tread.
It’s U shaped lugs are also grabbing when you lower the air pressure of these tires, though it’s durability is just average as it offer 2 ply sidewalls only.
Sand Performance
Sand is not an easy terrain as here you not only need great driving skills, you also need a lighter tire with powerful lugs which can grab and pull.
Luckily the Firestone Destination X/T offers just that, it’s softer rubber yields a neat footprint to stay in contact with the sand (with lowered pressure, as you always do that on sand).
Adding to the tread-print are it’s sidewall lugs which also act as sand paddles, proving directional aid.
The tire is also pretty light for a 2 ply polyester and 2 cap plies, as it reaches only up to 60 lbs, and this combined with smooth sides, the tire does great on slopes as well.
Muddy Terrain
Mud is the toughest of all, and here you need balder tires. The balder the better.
Basically highly voided tires (like M/Ts) provide a lot of channels where mud can leave out quickly, and this is the most crucial thing to worry about.
For our tire here, Firestone Destination X/T is not very well suited,
Basically the tire is optimized for performing well on snow, and it’s one of the great tires to have on snow, but it’s not good for mud, as it’s tread is designed to trap in the snow, and this also traps the mud as well.
So with less evacuation the tire gets packed up quickly which loses the overall traction. Though you can still take on a less aggressive muddy terrains, as it’s staggered shoulders and sidewall lugs act as scoops and you get a little bit of traction that way.
Conclusion
Firestone Destination X/T is a great tire to have on road if you are looking for comfort, and dry grip, with less fuel consumption. The tire is also very great in winter, where it’s 3pmsf rating symbol is justified.
Though it’s wet traction could use a little lift, as it’s not as impressive, especially when it comes to handling, as it’s still somewhat okay in braking and acceleration values.
