Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II Review

Hello,

I'm at 55k on my 5th Gen 2018 TRD Off-Road and figured I'd give a review of my experience with the stock Bridgestone Dueler H/T D684 II (265/70r17) tires as I am about to replace them.

Much of my driving is on Long Island, NY roads, where potholes & poor road repair reign supreme. I also drive gravel secondary and logging roads when I'm camping in the Adirondacks or Northern Maine several times a year. I would say I fit in the 90% highway/10% mild off-road category. I have done some questionable "slight chance of getting stuck" off-roading, but nothing too serious. No mud pits, no deep water crossings, no "chance of rolling" rock crawling. I air down when the roads get too rough, and of course watch my speeds when traveling off the beaten path.

I rotated my tires every other oil change (around every 12k). I ran them at 34-36 psi. for most of their life but last year decided I wanted a slightly firmer ride and found 38 psi. to be the sweet spot. Below 34 on the highway feels a bit sluggish. At 40 psi the ride becomes harsh. I run 26psi for gravel.

Tread depth is still above 2/32 but definitely overdue for replacement. I wanted to push the limits of these tires as long as I could to see if their performance fell off any. It hasn't. I would not want to, nor would I recommend driving them for another winter. The rubber is still in great condition, no cracking/drying out. I've never used any tire treatments.

The Bridgestones have performed flawlessly regardless of road and weather conditions. They were extremely quiet until about 50k when they started to become slightly noticeable in volume. They offer a very comfortable ride, and corner well for the type of vehicle they're mounted to (minimal under-steer at proper driving speeds). When driven through mild to moderate snow, ice, or deep puddles, they never once gave me a scare or did anything to make me doubt them. Even when driving over uneven pavement or potholes, they always felt planted. They perform well on gravel roads at safe speeds and when aired down.

I am about to replace these tires, and while I have zero complaints with the Bridgestones, I want to try something slightly more aggressive. I've been researching for a while now and I've decided to try out Firestone Destination AT2's. There are so many good choices out there for my needs and it was a very lengthy research, but I feel the Firestone's are the best match for what I need out of a tire. If I don't like them I'll exchange them for another set of Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II's as per Bridgestone's 90 day exchange guarantee.


Hope this review wasn't too long! But if it was...


TL;DR The Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II's are excellent tires for those who drive mostly highway with occasional mild off-roading. Excellent in all weather conditions. 55k miles with no issues. I recommend!


EDIT: I just purchased the Firestone Destination AT2s and wanted to add a few first impressions.

1. The Firestone AT2's provide a very stable ride and feel a bit more planted then the outgoing Bridgestones. I'm running them at 35 psi. hot compared to the Bridgestones which I ran at 38psi. hot
2. The AT2's are a just a touch noisier, but it doesn't sound like typical "brrr" road noise. It's more of a slightly windy "whoosh" sound (like a desk fan). It is not at all unpleasant, and was difficult to differentiate from the actual wind noise of the 4Runner in motion.
3. They have have slightly worse rolling resistance, noticeable, but not bad at all. I expect to lose minimal mpg if any. I am at 19.2mpg average since my last battery change a year ago.

 

I had 2 sets of firestone destination ATs (before AT2 i think) on a previous vehicle and thought they were great. Similar driving style.

ill also be replacing my factory bridgestones this fall (i didnt mind them). Ill most likely be going with yokohama geolander at g015. My second choice are cooper discovery at and toyo open country at

 

Regarding the Geolandars, something to consider, if you haven't already, is that they do not have full depth sipes. Their sipes only go about half depth, meaning they will not perform the same way after they get worn about halfway, especially on snow, ice, and rain.

I don't remember if the Cooper or the Toyo sipes go full depth.

 

You said you air down for gravel roads. Maybe its different where I grew up but do you mean like heading out of the city, county roads go to gravel in rural areas but are still actual maintained roads, you're airing down for that? Or are you talking about public land, there are "roads" or maybe 2-track paths that never get overgrown but are only minimally maintained?

 

No, (most of the time) to your first question. I have driven on some what seem to be rural/maintained roads in Adirondack Park, NY that have houses (year round, not seasonal) on them and I still aired down because the roads were in such bad shape.

Yes to your second question!


Here are some pics (not mine) of the types of roads I'm taking about. I've heard them called all sorts of names by the locals such as: "Seasonal Roads", 'Snow Mobile Roads", "Logging Roads", "Secondary Roads", and I'm sure many others. In my op, I referred to them as "gravel secondary and logging roads". They're gravel roads that mostly wind through the forest and they usually suffer from washboarding. I wouldn't want to drive on these roads at 38psi. If there's another name for these roads that would better describe them, I'm all ears.








It's most likely different where you grew up. Where I come from, we don't have any public gravel/rural roads (that I know of), and the only thing that could even be considered off-roading around here, is driving on the few beaches you are actually allowed to drive on, once you have the proper permits and equipment.

 

@Sound Chaser Gotcha. I missed the explaination earlier in your post, just saw the 26psi on gravel and thought I'd been living dangerously on every county road the last 30 some years

 

@HuskerRunner Hehe, Your gravel roads might even be safer to drive on then what we have over here!

 

i wasnt aware. I did contact yokohama and their response is below. Falken wildpeaks advertises full depth sipes. Toyo and cooper dont say on their website. I might reach out to them to.


“We cannot give full details on the tire’s construction, most of this type of information is proprietary to tire development.

We can say, the Geolandar A/T G015 has a variety of sipping depths. The sipping will wear out as tread wears, not all sipes have the same depth therefore some will wear out at different rates than others”

 

@WIwhale I had the same experience, not with all manufacturers, but enough (Some never even responded). We're not asking for company secrets, we just want some of the information we would have if we were to see these tires in person. So I decided to just go and check out some tires in person. If you have time, I recommend hitting a few local tire shops and ask to see the tires you're considering (in your size). Bring a tire depth gauge and check the sipe depths yourself. Doing this also let's you check out the shop and see the people that work on the vehicles there. Ask them the questions. See how they act towards you and if they're knowledgeable, and honest. Doing this really helped me move forward towards making a decision.

Many people seem to love the Falken Wildpeak AT3's. I think the only reason I took them off my list was that I decided that I didn't want such a heavy tire. They're being discontinued and Falken is now making the AT4W, but it's a totally different design and weighs even more (46lbs in 265/70r17).

I believe the Cooper Discoverer's are no longer in production as well.

Best of luck in your search!

 

I think thats just the AT3 4s, which I loved on my Taco, and is being replaced by the new Road&Trails. Discoverer line has a bunch of tires within it.

 

@HuskerRunner @WIwhale Sorry!, Yes I meant the AT3 4S, So many tires, so many designations! The Road+Trail looks like it should perform well. Hope your searches are going well!

 

Toyo got Back to me and the open country at3 has full depth sipes. Cooper has not sent me anything yet.