Firestone light truck lineup gets revamp

FORT WORTH, Texas—Bridgestone Americas Inc. continues to refresh the Firestone brand with a pair of new light truck products designed to improve the depth and reach of the portfolio.

The new tires, the Firestone Destination A/T2 and Destination X/T, are engineered to deliver on-highway dependability and off-road durability for distinct end-user categories—pickup trucks, SUVs and all-terrain vehicles for the A/T2 and heavier-duty commercial light-truck applications for the X/T—Bridgestone said during a recently held ride-and-drive event at Texas Motor Speedway, site of the DXC Technology 600 IndyCar Series Race held in early June.

The light truck tires were among four new products previewed for dealers and media at the Texas event.

The other products unveiled include another Firestone offering, the WeatherGrip, the brand's first such offering in the burgeoning all-weather category, and the Bridgestone Turanza QuietTrack, the newest addition to the premium Turanza touring tire portfolio.

"We've been on a wave of product upgrades, and the Firestone brand has benefited greatly from this because a lot of the tires that we have been selling successfully there for a long time have been on rather long life cycles," said Robert Saul, director of consumer tire product strategy, U.S. and Canada, for Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations.

"So over the last several years, there's been a lot of fresh new product coming into the Firestone brand, and we've literally turned over almost the whole brand in the last three years, which a big undertaking. It just shows our commitment to how important Firestone is to us."

The Destination A/T2 and X/T are sister products, fine-tuned for their respective categories. Each has a Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake certification for all-weather capability.

Together, they are replacing the Destination A/T in the Firestone lineup.

The A/T2, a P-metric line, has a more aggressive look for Firestone, Saul said, with more of an emphasis on off-road handling, while still offering a high degree of comfort in daily driving on pavement.

"It has a reasonably quiet ride, has great wet traction, and is a nice well-rounded tire," he said.

The Destination A/T2 has a new tread compound and a tread design with stone rejecter technology, providing traction in gravel and dirt. The tire's full depth tread grooves cut through wet and snowy conditions. It offers a 55,000-mile limited mileage warranty and is available in 29 sizes covering 15-inch to 20-inch rim diameters.

Meanwhile the X/T is an LT metric range, with commercial-grade durability allowing it to handle heavier loads, according to Saul. It has chip/tear resistance built into it a "very capable tire off-road," he said, but also works well in day-to-day driving situations.

The heavier Destination X/T tire features many of the same technologies as the A/T2, but with heavy-duty toughness. The X/T has a tread rubber compound designed for durable on- and off-road performance.

It has a 50,000-mile limited treadwear warranty and launches in 25 sizes, in 15-inch to 20-inch rim diameters, with more sizes to follow in 2020.

"It's ideal for commercial use," Saul said, "for professionals who drive a work truck that they use as part of their business, hauling stuff around. They want to have great traction, and this performs well."

Both products are manufactured in North America.