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Firestone destination AT or General grabber AT2 on a DD

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gba88

NAXJA Forum User
Location
PA
I'm making this simpler than a "what tire" thread since those get overwhelming fast. My friend has a DD that sees some country roads and horrendous driveways in western PA. No "intentional" offroading, but the job mandatory offroading is definitely there.

Currently, there are a set of general grabber AT2s on it that are need of replacement before winter. After spending a few hours on the net researching, I have it down to the 2 in the subject line. Overall, snow/ice traction is most important. Only about 2.5 years on the AT2s btw. Any help (esp. experience with either) appreciated. Thanks!
 
I have had a few sets of Firestone Destinations. Two sets of MT's and a set of AT's and they were great. Wore like iron and great grip. Did great in snow up to one foot and more. Great in mud sand or anything for that matter. The rock crawlers on this forum tell me that they have weak sidewalls but I don't do any crawling so didn't notice that as an issue.
 
joejeep92 said:
I have had a few sets of Firestone Destinations. Two sets of MT's and a set of AT's and they were great. Wore like iron and great grip. Did great in snow up to one foot and more. Great in mud sand or anything for that matter. The rock crawlers on this forum tell me that they have weak sidewalls but I don't do any crawling so didn't notice that as an issue.
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Sounds good, it's always nice to hear people speak from experience. Yeah, I think I saw someone mention the sidewalls not being that great, but since it's not really even an offroader, I don't think it will matter much. I have personally ran the AT2s and before that wide climbers (AT2 noticeably better in snow). I was just surprised at the AT2s wearing like they did, I expected more time out of them.
 
I have firestone destination A/Ts right now and can say I'm not that pleased with them. I researched for a long time before deciding on them and paid a premium($) for them too. They are wearing pretty fast, more than I expected at least, although they see mostly DD duty. They have been bad in the rain, with my open rear end I spin a tire all the time if it's wet without meaning to. Taking off from a stop light and making a 90* turn in the rain I have to pretty easy on the gas or a tire breaks loose. On dry roads they are fine I have no slipping issues at all.

Offroad they are great no complaints there other than they trap gravel really well. They clean out eventually but for a few miles I have a ton of gravel flying free from them. I don't do any crawling just some adventure type stuff. I got caught in some pretty nasty mud going up and down steep hills and they were perfect in that situation.

I can't speak from any other AT tires as these were my first so my opinions may not be of any help. The poor wet condition performance really shocked me though I figured being All-Terrain they would be great in the rain.

I am however going with a different tire next time around for sure, if that helps any.
 
iwannadie said:
I have firestone destination A/Ts right now and can say I'm not that pleased with them. I researched for a long time before deciding on them and paid a premium($) for them too. They are wearing pretty fast, more than I expected at least, although they see mostly DD duty. They have been bad in the rain, with my open rear end I spin a tire all the time if it's wet without meaning to. Taking off from a stop light and making a 90* turn in the rain I have to pretty easy on the gas or a tire breaks loose. On dry roads they are fine I have no slipping issues at all.

Offroad they are great no complaints there other than they trap gravel really well. They clean out eventually but for a few miles I have a ton of gravel flying free from them. I don't do any crawling just some adventure type stuff. I got caught in some pretty nasty mud going up and down steep hills and they were perfect in that situation.

I can't speak from any other AT tires as these were my first so my opinions may not be of any help. The poor wet condition performance really shocked me though I figured being All-Terrain they would be great in the rain.

I am however going with a different tire next time around for sure, if that helps any.
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Thanks! This definitely helps. I know that when I first ran my wide climbers (these were a BF AT clone from about 6 years ago), I was very surprised at how easily they slipped in wet conditions. The grabber AT2s were a good bit better. Even in dry conditions if I'd take a turn too fast the wide climbers would slide!

This is helpful though because there are about 9-10 months out of the year that this thing will be on wet roads here in PA :)
 
gba88 said:
Thanks! This definitely helps. I know that when I first ran my wide climbers (these were a BF AT clone from about 6 years ago), I was very surprised at how easily they slipped in wet conditions. The grabber AT2s were a good bit better. Even in dry conditions if I'd take a turn too fast the wide climbers would slide!

This is helpful though because there are about 9-10 months out of the year that this thing will be on wet roads here in PA :)
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Yea it hasn't been too much of an issue for me being in Phoenix. When it does rain though I typically forget about the slipping and it gets me every time ha.

As a matter of fact the wife and I were some where just the other day on a typical dry day and I spun a tire... in a puddle! It was some small puddle from who knows what but it was enough for me to spin that tire trying to make a turn... I'm by no means heavy footed on the gas either, it's not like I'm cranking the wheel 90* and flooring it.
 
I'm on my second set of Firestone Destination AT's, this time in 235/75 15 size bought at TireRack.
FWIW, I noticed at the bottom of the page at a VERY good price; Firestone Winterforce UV (Light Truck/SUV Studdable Snow) @ $69- each which may be a good option for you.

My OPINION; Nice tire with with better than expected dry street traction and also quiet for the tread. Do well on dirt, gravel and packed sand roads. For ME they seem to pack easily with thin mud, but clean quickly when back on asphalt (stay WAY behind me!). I don't know how they would work for you in the wet as I am 2 wheel drive with manual trans and PowerTrax which can be quite entertaining.

Mike
 
I've had the Destination MTs and ATs. Both are great tires, I'd recommend em to anyone. Can't really say anymore that hasn't already been said about em, other than I prefer the MT (then again I'm lifted).
 
Thanks for the replies! I'm still looking through the reviews on tirerack.com. I was disappointed to read about the wet condition handling of the firestones from iwannadie.

Anyone else have different or similar experience with these? I was leaning towards those for 2 main reasons 1. looking for more of a highway tire with offroad capabilities (in y mind the grabbers are the other way around), and 2. I haven't been impressed with the wear of the grabbers...definitely seem premature considering only about 26k or so on them and they need to be replaced.

I've thought about snow tires, and I know that's the absolute best option for the conditions, but there's no storage room to keep 2 sets, and the better part of the time they will not be running in snow. I'm living petty dangerously saying something like that considering the winter we had last year in PA!
 
gba88 said:
Thanks for the replies!

I've thought about snow tires, and I know that's the absolute best option for the conditions, but there's no storage room to keep 2 sets, and the better part of the time they will not be running in snow. I'm living petty dangerously saying something like that considering the winter we had last year in PA!
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Living in So. Cal. I certainly don't know about snow tires for year round use.
But at 1/2 the price of the A/T's and more aggressive tread than "dry" tires, it might be a full time option to consider.
I don't think I'd want to use them at high speed in the desert, but we drive Cherokees and you don't live in the desert.
 
You don't want to use snow tires all year long. Unless you live in the Arctic circle or something. They will wear extremely fast when the weather is warm or hot. They are made of softer rubber, so they are more pliable when it is cold. That, combined with lots of siping is what gives them such great snow/ice traction.
 
el_roy1985 said:
You don't want to use snow tires all year long. Unless you live in the Arctic circle or something. They will wear extremely fast when the weather is warm or hot. They are made of softer rubber, so they are more pliable when it is cold. That, combined with lots of siping is what gives them such great snow/ice traction.
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Yeah, and the info I've been seeing says that most snow tires just don't have the same stopping power on dry surfaces the same way they do in wet conditions.
 
I have Destination LE on my ZJ and my WJ and was very pleased. I got about 55,000 out of the LE on the WJ and plan to replace them next month with another set.
 
Bridgestone Dueler AT REVO are my tire of choice.
The Dayton Timberline ATs are good also, I know that MTs are the same as the Firestones, not sure about the ATs tho.
Of the 2 you listed the grabber at2 would be my pick.
 
I have been running AT2 Grabbers for the last several years and just replaced them with another set. Over 50,000 miles out of them. Great in the snow and wet, good off road unless very muddy. I love them and the price is right!!! I think they are the best AT for the money.
 
After studying the tread patterns, I think I'm leaning back towards the AT2s. I've seen quite a few instances where people said the firestones were great with the exception of their tendency to hydroplane. I'm thinking it might be since they have the inner treads patterned as they do - it seems like you have 3 solid rings created while the tire would be spinning, resulting in possibly more solid surface contact where water could be trapped. The AT2 on the other hand seem to have a more broken up pattern with symmetrical gaps between all of the lugs. See pic below... does this theory make sense to anyone else?

tires.jpg
 
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