Firestone Destination A/T Review

I've had these tires on for about a month now and I thought I'd write my initial thoughts.

My Truck: 2018 SR5 Premium 4x4 on Trail wheels. Eibach adjustable front shocks set at 1.6" using stock coils. The rear end is at stock height using stock coils and shocks.

Truck Uses: My truck is primarily a daily driver to work and it transports my family of 4 to the beach, desert, mountains, forest, or wherever else we decide to go on the weekends.

Tire Criteria: I wanted a tire that would perform well in wet and dry pavement, in sand, hard packed dirt, and in the occasional snow we drive through when going to the mountains. I needed them to be quite and comfortable without having that jarring effect you get with tires that have too thick of a sidewall. I didn't want a huge hit to MPG's so I wanted something that was on the lighter side of a 285. Lastly, I wanted the tire to look like it fit the vehicle well, both in size and in tread pattern.

The Contenders: Other tires that I considered were the Michelin Defender LTX M/S's and the BFG KO2. The Michelins are a tire that I have owned before and loved the performance of, but I don't like how they look on the 4Runner for some reason. The tread pattern looks a bit too mild for the 4Runner, IMO. The BFG KO2 is a classic tire with a very solid reputation, but I despise how the tread goes half-way down the sidewall. If they still made the BFG KO, I would have little hesitation going that route.

The Tire Chosen: After some careful research as well as reading reviews, I decided to go with a P285/70/R17 Firestone Destination A/T's. Each tire comes in a 42lbs, which is on the lighter side compared to the competition. I took a risk trying out a P-rating on such a tall tire, but Firestone offers a 90 day satisfaction guarantee, so I gave it a shot. They come with a 50,000 mile warranty and I went with the lifetime rotation, balance, and repair that added a little extra cost per tire. What's cool with the lifetime repair is if you were to destroy a tire beyond their ability to fix it, they measure the amount of tread left and give you money back towards the purchase of a new tire. Lets say you destroy a tire and it has 90% tread left, they will refund you 90% of that tires price.

The Ride: I love the way these ride and they fit the vehicle really nicely. I don't notice much loss of power at all. The rolling resistance is definitely lower than the stock Dunlops and I average about 16 mpg with city/highway combined whereas before, I was getting about 17 mpgs.

Something that surprised me was how smooth these things drive on the road. I can hardly feel the lane dividing bumps when switching lanes. The sidewalls soak up all the little chatter really well. Also, before putting these on, I would usually drive around town in 'Sport' mode because 'Drive' was useless......even with the smaller Dunlops. The shift points were awful and I would often bog up some of the hills in my area. So I thought adding a bigger tire would make 'Drive' around town even more useless. But for some illogical reason, the shift points in 'Drive' with the Firestones dramatically improved.......so much so, that I can actually utilize 'Drive' around town now.

These tires have performed very well in the wet weather, sand, and the dirt that I've taken it in so far. There have been zero hiccups, hesitations, skids, slides, or unpredictability. I have not had a chance to use them in snow yet.

Cons: 1 mpg loss in fuel economy. I honestly don't care about this loss myself (and frankly expected a bigger drop in mpgs), but this is a big deal to some, so for the integrity of the review I will include it.

Conclusion: All in all, I'm really happy with everything relating to these tires. I will update with tread wear and longevity as I continue to use them.

 

Looks good, tire rack rates them very high also. I like the look also, great looking tire. Thanks for the review.

 

Thank you!

 

I use these on my 2010 Tacoma. I have been happy with them. More of a street light trail tire imo.

I want something more aggressive for my 4runner pro so I will be putting Nitto Ridgegrapplers on it when time.

 

I've been running them on various rigs since 2013 and like them a lot. I also replaced my spare with a 285 Destination AT, though I don't rotate it in.

 

How has you experience been with them offroad?

Have you used them in snow?

 

Yes. Quite good both offroad and snow, given the obvious limitations of any AT tire in those situations. Really the only thing they aren't decent at is loose sand.

 

Awesome! Thanks!

 

Thank you for taking the time to post this sir. I am likely going to go exactly the same route but with 5100's. Any updates issues or concerns? I noticed the A/T has been replaced with the A/T2.

 

You're welcome.

No issues whatsoever. I love these tires. I'm coming up on 20,000 miles and they're holding up great.

You can still get the regular A/T, I believe.

The AT2 has the snowflake rating, a slightly different tread pattern, and some more tread on the sidewalls.

I would just go with whichever one looks best to you, unless you drive in snow often. Then I wouldn't hesitate to get the AT2's.

 

Firestone claims that when the AT supplies are gone, they're gone. I didn't want to go with a tire I couldn't get replacements for. Since my original post earlier today I found your recommendation (as well as others) on the Ebach's vs the 5100's. Ebach's are $500 vs $400 for the 5100's. Get what you pay for? That much better? I just traded in my 2017 with KDSS for a 2020 without. I miss the stability in cornering.

 

Time to update the signature, it seems.

 

Ah, makes sense.

I've had both Bilsteins and Eibachs. I think the ride with the Eibachs is much better on our trucks. They get rid of the nose dive and the squishiness of the stock shocks with a much more positive feel, but without being harsh like the bilsteins sometimes were. The valving on the Eibachs is spot on perfect, IMO. The extra $100 is well worth it and they come with a million mile warranty.

 

Yeah everything thing this guy said X2^^

 

@nimby can I get an update on the tires? Still performing up to snuff? Read some interesting things on other forums about them.

cheers!

 

I have about 45,000 miles on them now and they've held up great! I will comfortably get 50,000 miles out of them (which is what they are warrantied for). I could probably go another year on them, but I might switch them out this winter to be proactive. Not sure yet.

I doubt I'll buy them next time around, however. Not because they're not a great tire........but just because I enjoy trying different tires.

I highly recommend them though if you're looking to try something new.

What have you heard about them?

 

I had these tires on a Jeep Cherokee XJ back in Seattle. Great highway tire, excellent in snow, not super durable off-road. I had a lot of flats on gravel roads, and really took advantage of the warranty!

 

It's hard to find something not MT for 255/75r17. I don't need an MT but really like the true 32 and prefer the sidewall to what I can put on my OEM 18's (4th gen 4runner).

Here is what I was reading earlier, may be a bit outdated though..

 

Interesting. I have SL rated 285's and haven't had a flat.

Mine's mostly a daily driver, but I go on a lot of gravel roads and have done a few offroad trips with zero issues.

What rating did you have? Were you experiencing sidewall punctures?

 

Probably SL rated, since the Cherokee was mainly a ski car, and they're only 30" stock (I think) on that era Jeep. I will say they were awesome on snowy roads. I had a fair number of tread punctures - sharp rocks in the NW I guess. Same roads with 32" E-load Duratracs on the Wrangler gave me zero issues. Who knows, I'm a sample size of 1, so, don't take what I say as the last word.

Oh, and I notice now that GY only does SL Duratracs in the 255/75/17 size. Interesting.

 

It's interesting because your experience mimics one guy in the link @Mohoman posted but most people seem to have pretty good luck with them.

I bought mine in late 2018 / early 2019......cant remember exactly. I know they've since come out with a newer version. Maybe they've improved?? All I can say is I wouldn't hesitate to purchase again.

 

I went through 2 sets of these on previous vehicles and thought they did great on snow (roads). I also like to try diff. Tires to spice up my life. I was looking at yoko geloander AT and cooper discov at3 for next set. Looks like they have the most siping for an AT tire (to my eye) for snowy roads and light trails.

 

The life of these tires have come to an end for me.

Ended up getting 70,000 miles out of them rotating every 10,000 miles.

All and all a fantastic tire. Never got a single flat with them (SL-rated) and wouldn't hesitate to get them again one day.

I replaced them with a set of BFG KO2's (C-load) just to try something different.

 

I'm nearing end of life on mine with 40,000 miles, but to be fair I have abused the hell out of them and taken multiple cross country trips, loaded, high speeds.

I was totally satisfied with them, but, like you I wanted to run something different so I actually just this morning ordered a set of Falken Wildpeak AT3s in 285 to install next week.

 

Awesome! Let me know how the Falkens go. Those was my second choice. Might give them a go next time around.

Did you go with SL rating?

 

What rotation pattern do you use?

 

I did. I had SL Wildpeaks on my Tacoma and liked them fine.

 

Howd the ko2s balance out? Any vibes?

But 70k miles is impressive for p rated all terrains

 

I do this:

 

They balanced out great!

I wrote about it in post #7 here:

https://www.4runners.com/threads/the-official-guide-to-balancing-your-tires.28872/#post-407422