Over the decades, Bridgestone has been first to market with a number of innovations in the tire industry, including the first-ever rayon-cord tires and the first nylon tires to come from Japan.Bridgestone was also ahead of the game with radial tires and a number of advances in the commercial tire sector. Today, Bridgestone is out in front when it comes to environmental sustainability, using renewable resources and smart manufacturing techniques for a more earth-friendly tire.

The Dueler family of all-terrain tires has been around for quite some time now; with decades behind them, the Dueler tire family is designed for uncompromising durability and performance as well as refined road manners, handling properties, and ride quality. With the introduction of the Dueler A/T Ascent, Bridgestone is marking the successor to the proven design of the Dueler A/T Revo 3. The Dueler A/T Ascent is building on that successful design with a whole slew of innovations and features that are designed around today’s high-end 4WD SUVs, trucks, and CUVs.

In the development of the Dueler A/T Ascent, Bridgestone worked in collaboration with automakers; its design is centered around the weight, center of gravity, braking performance, power, torque, and overall handling properties and roadability of the latest generation of vehicles. We’re going to take a good look at what the Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascent has to offer drivers of high-end trucks and SUVs.

Benefits of the new and improved Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascent

The best all-terrain tires are the ones that are designed for durability, control, and unstoppable traction in difficult off-road environments, without compromising their ride quality, noise levels, handling, and road manners on the pavement. In other words, the best of both worlds…stubborn grip and durability along with Grand Touring-style behavior on the highway.

In regards to the Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascent, Bridgestone consumer replacement product engineer Jeremy Norwood described the tire’s performance targets as being “to develop a luxury truck tire that could tackle the trails on the weekends without sacrificing the comfort of the daily commute…As our first A/T tire to integrate Enliten technology, we’ve developed a tire with wet, winter, and off-road performance paired with impressive wear resistance.”

Norwood may have summed it up a little better than we can, so let’s go in and get a closer look at some of the new features, innovations, and benefits of the Dueler A/T Ascent:

• Three Peak Mountain Snowflake certified for severe winter service
• Stone ejectors built into tread grooves, protecting the casing by easily shedding rocks and debris from the tread
• Squared shoulder with alternating stagger for good lateral traction, control
• Full-depth interlocking 3D sipes increase traction in snow and rain and continue to bolster grip even as the tire’s tread depth gets thinner
• Lugs at the shoulder extend down onto the sidewall for enhanced lateral grip, which is a big help for cornering or for clawing out of ruts
• Bridgestone’s ENLITEN technology incorporates recycled and earth-friendly materials into manufacturing to help reduce the tire’s environmental impact
• Fully redesigned tread pattern is randomized and computer tuned to reduce road noise by negating certain frequencies and overtones
• Polyester casing with twin steel belts and a spiral wound nylon cap overlay for excellent stability, durable performance
• Available in 35 sizes for a wide range of fitments, and is engineered specifically for larger rim sizes
• Aggressive sawtooth tread pattern is designed for tenacious grip on- or off-the-road along with surprisingly low noise
• Redesigned tread compound delivers great wear properties and resistance to damage as well as enhanced wet-weather grip
• Contact patch is enhanced to put the most rubber in contact with the road for dependable traction, control, and braking as well as improved wear properties
• Black or outlined white letter (OWL) sidewall, depending on tire size

But, what improvements does the Dueler A/T Ascent boast over its predecessor, the Dueler A/T Revo 3?

While the A/T Revo 3 has proven itself as a capable and durable performer, there are some key differences between the Dueler A/T Ascent and Dueler A/T Revo 3, starting with Bridgestone’s emphasis on a quieter ride and enhanced ride comfort on the highway with the Dueler A/T Ascent. Let’s compare and contrast some of their design features and performance targets:

• The Dueler A/T Revo 3 is designed with a more aggressive tread pattern that includes larger shoulder lugs and deeper grooves for enhanced grip off the pavement. The Dueler A/T Ascent, on the other hand, has a tread pattern that’s more refined and features wider grooves for good self-cleaning of mud and debris, stone ejectors to protect the casing, and shoulder notches that enhance on-road handling while keeping highway noise down.
• The Dueler A/T Revo 3 is oriented more toward performance in moderate to rough off-road conditions, while the Dueler A/T Ascent is designed for capable grip and control off-road as well as putting a premium on comfort and handling on the pavement, for more luxurious and high-end trucks and SUVs.
• Due to its tread design, the Dueler A/T Revo 3 tends to be noisier on the highway than the Dueler A/T Ascent.
• Both tires are designed for great traction in snow, and the Dueler A/T Revo 3 is designed with Traction Claw technology for improved performance in winter. The Dueler A/T Ascent, though, is Three Peak Mountain Snowflake certified for severe winter service and should display an edge in winter performance in head-to-head matchups.
• The Dueler A/T Ascent incorporates Bridgestone’s ENLITEN technology suite, a package of features that are focused on safety, performance and environmental sustainability.

In light of all that, are you familiar with SimpleScore? SimpleScore is the proprietary ratings system that the SimpleTire team developed to give you a quick at-a-glance look at a tire’s strengths and weaknesses. We look at the tire’s technical details, manufacturer info, specs, customer reviews, and other data points, then work that all into a 1-10 numerical value for the categories of traction, handling, longevity, and durability, along with an overall average SimpleScore. For the Dueler A/T Ascent, the SimpleScore numbers break down like this:

Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascent:

• Traction: 8.7
• Handling: 8.9
• Longevity: 8.3
• Overall average SimpleScore: 8.6

Now, just for comparison’s sake, let’s see how the Dueler A/T Ascent stacks up against the Dueler A/T Revo 3 as far as SimpleScore rankings:

Bridgestone A/T Revo 3

• Traction: 9.7
• Handling: 9.4
• Longevity: 8.2
• Overall average SimpleScore: 9.1

Whether it’s tennis rackets or tires, any product that scores in the mid to upper 8’s on a scale of 1-10 has got a lot going for it, and the Dueler A/T Ascent definitely lives up to the promise of those SimpleScore numbers.

Who is the Dueler A/T Ascent best suited for?

Let’s say you’ve got a late-model light truck or SUV with an upscale trim package, 4WD and large rim sizes (think Chevrolet Tahoe, RAM 1500 Lone Star Edition, Toyota 4Runner). You’re proud of your truck, you do like to go off-road from time to time but most of the time that truck is on the pavement for long interstate road trips, commutes back and forth to work, or errands around town.

Your priorities are a ride that’s comfortable and quiet, with handling that’s composed and predictable and a long tread life with a generous warranty phase. On the other hand, you want a tire that’s up to the job if you do decide to take it off the pavement and into the back country. The Dueler A/T Ascent is a great option if that sounds like your situation, and an even better one if you live in a part of the country that has difficult winter weather with snow that piles up a few inches deep and stays on the road for days at a time (or longer).

If that sounds like your situation, then you’ve come to the right place. With the Dueler A/T Ascent, Bridgestone has designed a tire that can handily check all those boxes and is tailor-made for high-end trucks and SUVs.

Drawbacks of the Dueler A/T Ascent

Of course, every tire, regardless of the manufacturer and no matter how well-designed and well-made it is, is going to come with a few disadvantages. Here are a couple of things to be mindful of:

• While the Dueler A/T Ascent is available in a wide range of sizes and can be counted on for tough performance in off-road conditions, it’s not a mud-terrain tire. In other words, it’s probably not the kind of tire you want for an F150 with a 6” lift kit for aired-down rock crawling or splashing around in deep, sticky mud bogs. That’s not really what a tire like this is designed for.
• While the Dueler A/T Ascent is designed with more of a focus on highway performance, it has a speed rating of T (118 mph), meaning this isn’t a suitable tire for really high-speed driving.
• The A/T Ascent does handle well and displays good road manners, but you shouldn’t expect it to have the kind of cornering ability and steering response you’d expect from a summer or ultra-high-performance tire.

Final thoughts

A premium-quality truck needs a premium set of tires that will be a good complement to not just its off-road performance and durability, but for its daily-driver duties on the pavement. With the Bridgestone Dueler A/T Ascent, Bridgestone has designed a tire that plays to both of those strengths without any serious tradeoffs in either one. A generous limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty, 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake rating and a starting price of $237.99 per tire make the Dueler A/T Ascent a great choice for your late-model high-end truck, SUV, or crossover.