Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS Review: The Ultimate All-Season Tire for SUVs and Crossovers

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The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS is an all-season touring tire designed for drivers of crossovers, SUVs, and light trucks who want a combination of capable all-season traction and a comfortable, quiet ride. This tire strikes a balance between on-road performance and light off-road capability, making it suitable for drivers who occasionally encounter unpaved roads or light off-roading conditions.

Bridgestone engineered the Dueler H/P Sport AS with a focus on year-round versatility, allowing it to provide reliable traction in dry, wet, and light winter conditions. The tire’s all-season compound and tread design aim to deliver confident handling and braking on both paved and unpaved surfaces, while also promoting long tread life and even wear.

The Dueler H/P Sport AS caters to drivers seeking a tire that can handle the diverse driving conditions encountered in daily commuting, highway driving, and light off-road adventures. Its target audience includes owners of crossovers, SUVs, and light trucks who prioritize a comfortable, quiet ride without compromising traction and handling capabilities.

Tread Design and Compound

The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS features an innovative tread design that delivers exceptional performance in both dry and wet conditions. The tread pattern incorporates a directional siping system, which helps evacuate water from the contact patch, enhancing hydroplaning resistance and wet traction. Additionally, the tread features a high-density siping configuration, providing numerous biting edges for improved grip on slippery surfaces.

The tire’s advanced silica-enriched compound enhances its performance capabilities. Silica improves the tire’s flexibility, allowing it to conform better to the road surface, resulting in improved traction and braking performance. Furthermore, the compound’s unique formulation helps maintain optimal grip levels throughout the tire’s lifespan, ensuring consistent performance over time.

Bridgestone has also incorporated reinforcement technologies into the Dueler H/P Sport AS’s construction. The tire features a twin-layer casing, which enhances its durability and resistance to impacts and punctures. Additionally, the tire’s optimized belt package and jointless cap ply contribute to its overall strength and stability, ensuring a smooth and comfortable ride, even at higher speeds.

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Performance Evaluations

The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS is an all-season tire designed to provide a versatile blend of dry, wet, snow, and off-road traction. In dry conditions, the tire’s symmetric tread pattern with rigid tread blocks and high-density siping promotes even wear and responsive handling. The continuous center rib enhances steering responsiveness and high-speed stability.

During wet weather, the Dueler H/P Sport AS demonstrates impressive hydroplaning resistance thanks to its wide circumferential grooves that efficiently evacuate water from the tread area. The silica-enhanced tread compound provides dependable grip on slick surfaces. Braking distances remain controlled even on rain-soaked roads.

Snow traction is a strength of this tire, with its specialized rubber compound retaining flexibility at low temperatures for enhanced grip. The aggressive siping and biting edges help dig into snow-covered surfaces, providing reliable traction and control. Light off-road driving is also manageable due to the tire’s high-void tread pattern that can claw through loose dirt and gravel.

While not intended for extreme off-roading, the Dueler H/P Sport AS exhibits admirable capabilities on unpaved surfaces. Its reinforced internal construction resists cuts and punctures from rocks and debris encountered on rugged terrain. Overall, this tire delivers versatile performance across a wide range of conditions, living up to its all-season billing.

Tread Life and Warranty

The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS comes with a 60,000-mile treadwear warranty, which is about average for an all-season tire in this category. However, real-world reports from owners suggest that the tire often exceeds this mileage rating, with many reporting tread life between 70,000-80,000 miles under normal driving conditions.

Bridgestone’s tread compound and design aim to provide a balance of all-season traction and long tread life. The symmetric tread pattern with high-density siping helps maintain grip as the tire wears down, while the specialized tread compound resists excessive hardening over time.

Many owners praise the tire’s longevity, especially when rotated regularly and properly inflated. However, some report shorter tread life around 40,000-50,000 miles, which could be due to more aggressive driving styles, heavy payloads, or alignment issues. Overall, the Dueler H/P Sport AS seems to deliver solid value in terms of tread life for an all-season touring tire aimed at trucks and SUVs.

Ride Quality, Road Noise, and Cabin Comfort

The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS tires deliver an impressive ride quality, striking a fine balance between comfort and responsiveness. On smooth highways, these tires provide a plush, well-damped ride, effectively absorbing minor imperfections in the road surface. This results in a serene cabin environment, minimizing vibrations and road noise intrusion.

However, the true strength of these tires lies in their ability to maintain composure over rougher terrain. Whether navigating pothole-ridden city streets or traversing gravel roads, the Dueler H/P Sport AS tires exhibit exceptional impact absorption. They cushion the occupants from harsh jolts and vibrations, ensuring a comfortable driving experience even in less-than-ideal conditions.

Road noise, a common complaint with many tire models, is remarkably well-controlled in the Dueler H/P Sport AS. Bridgestone has employed advanced tread design and noise-canceling technologies to minimize the transmission of road roar into the cabin. Even at higher speeds on coarse surfaces, these tires maintain a relatively quiet operation, allowing for easy conversations and enjoyment of audio systems.

Overall, the ride quality and cabin comfort offered by the Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS tires are among their standout features. Whether embarking on a long highway journey or tackling challenging terrain, these tires provide a smooth, well-damped ride while effectively minimizing road noise intrusion, ensuring a comfortable and enjoyable driving experience.

Rolling Resistance and Fuel Economy

The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS tires feature an advanced tread compound and design that helps reduce rolling resistance. Lower rolling resistance translates to less energy required to keep the tires rolling, which directly improves fuel economy. Bridgestone’s engineers have optimized the tire’s construction to minimize deformation and heat buildup, two major contributors to increased rolling resistance.

The tires’ symmetric tread pattern with rigid outside shoulder blocks enhances stability and even wear, further reducing rolling resistance over the life of the tire. Additionally, the high-silica tread compound promotes low rolling resistance while providing excellent traction in wet conditions. By minimizing this key source of drivetrain losses, the Dueler H/P Sport AS can deliver noticeable fuel savings compared to higher rolling resistance tires, especially over the vehicle’s lifetime mileage.

Available Sizes and Vehicle Compatibility

The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS is available in a wide range of sizes to fit most passenger cars, crossovers, and SUVs. From smaller 16-inch fitments up to larger 22-inch diameters, there’s a size to suit nearly any vehicle.

For passenger cars and crossovers, popular sizes include 225/60R17, 235/55R18, and 245/50R19. These provide an excellent balance of ride comfort, handling, and tread life. Larger SUV and truck sizes like 275/55R20 and 285/45R22 are also available for those needing more load capacity.

Bridgestone recommends matching the tire’s size, speed rating, and load index to your vehicle’s specifications in the owner’s manual. Properly fitted tires ensure optimal performance, safety, and longevity. It’s generally advised to stick with the OEM wheel diameter unless upgrading for specific styling or performance needs. Oversized wheels can impact ride quality, acceleration, and fuel economy.

Cost and Value

Retail Cost

The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS has a suggested retail price that puts it in the premium category for all-season tires. A set of four tires in a popular size like 235/55R18 can cost around $800-$1000 before taxes and fees at a tire retailer.

Price Comparison

Compared to some of its key competitors in the ultra-high performance all-season category, the Dueler H/P Sport AS sits near the higher end of the pricing spectrum. Tires like the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ and Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 are priced similarly, while options from Pirelli and Yokohama can be slightly more affordable.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

While the upfront cost is significant, the Dueler H/P Sport AS aims to deliver long tread life, strong all-season capabilities, and excellent dry and wet road performance. For drivers of sports cars, muscle cars, or high-performance crossovers and SUVs who want year-round traction without compromising handling, the tire can justify its premium pricing through its blend of all-season utility and sporty driving dynamics. However, those on a tighter budget may need to consider more economical all-season touring tires.

User Experiences, Ratings, and Reviews

The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS tires have received overwhelmingly positive reviews from owners and automotive experts alike. On Tire Rack, one of the most popular tire review sites, the Dueler H/P Sport AS boasts an impressive overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars from over 400 reviews.

Many users praise the tire’s exceptional dry and wet traction, with one reviewer stating, “These tires have outstanding grip in both dry and wet conditions. I feel confident driving in heavy rain or on slick roads.” Another user echoed this sentiment, saying, “The wet traction on these tires is superb, and they inspire confidence even in heavy downpours.

Owners also commend the tire’s comfortable and quiet ride, with one reviewer noting, “These tires provide a smooth and quiet ride, even on rough roads. They have significantly reduced road noise compared to my previous tires.” Another user added, “I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable and quiet these tires are, even at higher speeds.

However, some users have expressed concerns about the tire’s treadwear and longevity. One reviewer stated, “While the performance is excellent, I’m a bit disappointed with the treadwear. I’ve only had these tires for about 20,000 miles, and they’re already showing significant wear.” Another user echoed this sentiment, saying, “The treadwear on these tires is not as good as I had hoped, but the performance more than makes up for it.

Overall, the Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS tires have garnered widespread acclaim for their exceptional performance, particularly in wet and dry conditions, as well as their comfortable and quiet ride. While some users have raised concerns about treadwear, the overwhelming majority of reviews highlight the tire’s impressive capabilities and recommend them for drivers seeking a high-performance all-season tire.

How the Dueler H/P Sport AS Compares

The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS is an all-season tire designed for drivers of pickups, SUVs, and crossovers who want a balance of on-road comfort and light off-road capability. Compared to dedicated all-terrain tires, the Dueler H/P Sport AS sacrifices some off-road grip and durability for improved on-road handling and ride quality.

On the other hand, when pitted against other premium all-season tires, the Dueler H/P Sport AS offers better traction on loose surfaces like gravel or dirt thanks to its more aggressive tread pattern. It also tends to have a longer treadlife than typical touring all-season tires.

The Dueler’s symmetric tread design helps provide stable cornering and even treadwear, while the inclusion of circumferential grooves aids with water evacuation for wet traction. Bridgestone’s computer-optimized tread element shapes and interlocking tread blocks enhance grip on both paved and unpaved surfaces.

Overall, the Dueler H/P Sport AS strikes a nice middle ground between all-season comfort and all-terrain capability. It excels as an upgrade option for drivers wanting a little more ruggedness from their truck or SUV without going to a full off-road tire.

Summary of Key Strengths, Weaknesses, and Recommendations

The Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS is an all-season tire designed for SUVs, crossovers, and light trucks. Its key strengths lie in its impressive dry and wet traction, responsive handling, and a comfortable ride quality. The tire’s advanced tread compound and design provide excellent grip on both dry and wet surfaces, ensuring confident driving in various weather conditions.

However, the Dueler H/P Sport AS may fall short in terms of treadwear and overall durability compared to some of its competitors. While it delivers satisfactory performance in light snow, its winter traction capabilities are limited, making it less suitable for harsh winter conditions or deep snow.

Overall, the Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport AS is a solid choice for drivers seeking a well-rounded all-season tire that excels in dry and wet conditions while providing a comfortable ride. It’s an excellent option for those who prioritize performance and handling over maximum treadwear or dedicated winter capabilities. For those living in areas with severe winter weather, a dedicated winter tire may be a better choice for optimal safety and performance.