Words/Photos: Isaac Western
Published 1 September 2024
These days, if you’re not selling SUVs, you’re not in the game. It seems that we’ve all gone SUV crazy lately.
Our vehicles need to be able to do it all: ferry the kids to school, pick up the shopping, and then drive cross-country to a campsite.
Heck, if you check out the YangWang U8 SUV, some are even amphibious.
The thing is though, even with their fancy modern 4WD systems, computer-aided diffs and all, SUVs still can, and do get stuck. Because when it all boils down to it, it’s your tyres that determine your traction.
Since many SUVs never actually get out into the wilds, let alone touch a blade of grass, most manufacturers equip their vehicles with road-oriented rubber.
We all know that street tyres aren’t especially good off-road, which poses the question – how can adventurous SUV owners realise their rig’s full potential?
Well it seems that Bridgestone has recognised this to be an issue for some SUV and ute owners, and has come up with a solution in the form of a newly improved all-terrain tyre.
In fact, they were so confident with their latest Dueler development, that they sent us to Noosa, Queensland to check it out first hand.
Introducing the Dueler A/T 002
You’ve probably heard of the “Dueler” nameplate before – it’s been around since the early 80s, after all.
Bridgestone has seen massive success with this line of versatile off-road oriented tyres, even putting them through the gruelling Paris-Dakar rally.
You don’t see continued success without constant improvement however, and it seems that their latest development in the Dueler All-Terrain series, the Dueler A/T 002, is something special.
Thankfully, Bridgestone listens to its customers. And its research suggests the typical casual adventurer spends around 80 per cent of their time on road, and just 20 per cent off.
And so, the Dueler A/T 002 was designed to be a highly capable off-road tyre that performs more like a street tyre on road.
One place you really notice this is on the motorway. Those that have had off-road tyres on their vehicles in the past will recall the constant drone of the tread blocks when travelling at highway speeds.
These tyres don’t exhibit any of that nonsense. They’re very quiet, and that’s what you want when you spend four-fifths of your time on tarmac.
They’ve also designed the Dueler A/T 002 to grip more like a street tyre on bitumen by adding a higher silica content in the rubber compound.
Naturally, being Queensland, the weather was beautiful during our trip, so we couldn’t test the new treads in the wet.
However Bridgestone tells us that its own extensive testing has seen a decent improvement – in both wet and dry weather handling and stopping.
In braking tests from 70km/h, the Dueler A/T 002 off-road tyre recorded a stopping distance just one metre more than the entirely street-based H/T tyre.
That was the same for tests in both wet and dry conditions. Not bad considering dual purpose rubber in the past hasn’t inspired confidence on wet surfaces.
See for yourself
To show us how these tyres perform off-road, the Bridgestone team set us up with Dueler A/T 002 equipped Isuzu MU-X and D-Max rigs, and then led us along Noosa’s North Shore – a massive, beautiful beach road with a similar feeling to Auckland’s Muriwai, only with white sand.
Of course, the new Duelers made light work of the soft sands we encountered. Do you really think they’d risk us getting bogged on a product showcase?
Regardless, as we made our way along almost 50km of beach, that liberating feeling of 4×4 adventure really started to set in.
We were confident in our vehicles, and we were exploring terrain that you’d never be able to see any other way, apart from in a 4×4.
It’s not like they were hardcore off-road vehicles either; the utes and SUVs were the types of everyday vehicle regular folk buy.
Having appropriate dual-purpose rubber for typical use conditions can make a massive difference to a vehicle’s functionality.
Such tyres unlock the greater potential of our everyday 4x4s, and allow owners to experience off-road adventures (and on) with comfort and confidence.
You can understand why folk equip their 4x4s with off-road tyres, even if they only use them away from tarmac for a fraction of the time.
And with the Dueler A/T 002, it’s possible to keep that off-road potential ready without sacrificing on-road safety or comfort. Not bad.
This article first appeared in the September 2024 issue of NZ Autocar Magazine.
