Firestone Destination LE3 vs Bridgestone Dueler HL Alenza Plus: Firestone is part of Bridgestone. In fact ever since Bridgestone got over this company, they have gotten better. But how would their top of the line Highway Luxury tires compare against each other. Well we are about to find out.
The Firestone LE3 is an update to LE2, where the Dueler Alenza Plus is updated form Bridgestone Alenza. Both tires focus on providing better wet traction and have improved significantly.
Examine the treads on these tires closely. They hold the key to knowing which to choose. In fact if you visit my "tread design" page, picking the right tire would never bother you.
Check differences between Firestone Destination Le3 and Le2.
Let’s start things off with their designs.
Table of Contents
Tread Pattern Differences:
Firestone Destination LE3
Bridgestone Dueler HL Alenza Plus
Both tires offer you with some key design features which you can not miss. The Firestone Destination LE3 looks quite complicated but let’s break down it’s tread pattern in to highlighted colors.
Now this is much better understood. The tire makes S and F shaped blocks as in FireStone. Both these blocks have full depth notches in them which are connected by curving grooves joining the longitudinal channels.
All blocks have chamfered edges and squiggly siping which aid the tire in dry and wet traction.
On the other hand, the Bridgestone Dueler Alenza provides a straight forward design. The tire offers closed up pattern where it almost makes continuous ribs or in other words, it barely makes blocks with small lateral grooves.
All blocks have rectilinear siping and chamfered edges along with groove notches with act as biters.
The design of Bridgestone Dueler Alenza overall provides better rubber to road contact in comparison so it helps the tire in grip.
If we look at the shoulder blocks, the Firestone Destination LE3, again shows up with similar siping pattern. These are also full depth here.
On the inner edges another rib attaches to each block and they also have biters in them.
In comparison the tire offers quite some lateral spacing between each block, and to restrict the movement of these blocks, all of them have connectors in between. This basically improves handling of the tire.
On the other side, Bridgestone Dueler Alenza offer a more closed up design where the shoulder blocks separate out from each other as you move towards the sidewalls.
The tire makes very minimal siping over here and there aren’t any notches seen like in Destination LE3.
Overall, the Firestone LE3 makes a slightly more aggressive pattern where lateral grooves are also more slanted and a bit wider.
But still the Bridgestone Dueler Alenza Plus is seen with more tread depth as well as weight, and even tread width.
| Dueler Alenza | Destination LE3 | |
| Tread Depth (avg) | 12/32″ | 10/32″ |
| Weight (avg) | 38.7 lbs | 29.7 lbs |
| Width (avg) | 10.3″ | 9.8″ |
| Sizes | 15 to 22″ | 15 to 22″ |
Dry Traction:
On road traction is divided in to grip and handling in both wet and dry conditions. These are the most important factors to note.
On dry pavements, the grip is seen better on Bridgestone Dueler Alenza. The tire offers more rubber to road contact, as it offers continuous rib in the middle.
There aren’t any notches or biting edges seen as well, so more surface area of the tire comes in contact with the pavement, though the tire does offer groove notches.
The same type of performance is seen in the handling department, where Bridgestone Dueler again takes the lead by a small margin.
The bulkier shoulder blocks of this touring tire provide superior lateral grip and stability, so it shows lesser dry handling times on road, making it more efficient.
Wet Traction:
On wet roads, the Bridgestone Dueler Alenza does not perform in a similar manner (like it does in dry).
The tire although provides with full depth siping, they are not interlocking in design, like seen in the Firestone Destination LE3, where sipes make wave like pattern.
Wave like pattern is more efficient because on corner these sipes tend to get locked from inside, opening from one end and closing from the other, providing better lateral aid.
A rectilinear siping design is stiffer in comparison, and does not allow blocks flexibility.
The Firestone Destination LE3 does another thing right. The extra rib attached to the shoulder blocks further aid this tire in wet traction, these provide both lateral and longitudinal slits which aids the tire in clearing up water in both directions.
These highlighted ribs basically cover both momentum angles during handling.
They also provide more contact on corners (where shoulder play a larger role), enhancing friction as well.
Hydroplaning:
The Firestone Destination really focused on hydroplaning with it’s newer tire. That’s why the tire is installed with HydroGrip technology and now offers better float speeds on both straight and curvy asphalts.
It’s predecessor the LE2 did not offer full depth siping and deep enough channels, but now it’s much more efficient, as all it’s 4 longitudinal channels get efficiently attached with lateral ones, from where water can escape much more easily.
On the other side, the Bridgestone Dueler Alenza is on par with it’s similar aquaplaning resistance. The tire has the advantage of more tread depth, which allows more volume of water to leave this tire, providing decent float speeds.
Durability and Tread Life:
Both tires have a same inner construction of 2 ply polyester with 2 steel belts and a single layer of polyamide/nylon.
In case of Bridgestone Dueler, the tire has similar construction but here the top nylon layer is spirally wound. But note that this if for H,V and W speed rated, so other sizes aren’t going to be as durable.
Overall, the Bridestone Dueler is able to provide better life. The tire has 2/32″ more average tread depth and this takes longer to wear off, whereas the softer compound of Firestone Destination LE3 wears slightly faster in comparison.
If we talk about tread wear warranty, the Firestone Destination offers 50k miles whereas the Bridgestone offers a 80k miles on Dueler Alenza Plus.
Snow Performance:
Although both tires don’t carry 3 peak mountain snowflake rating, they are still good enough with light on road snow. And comparing them both the Firestone LE3 takes the lead.
The tire is narrower (which always helps on snow) and it offers more biting edges which are more efficient at trapping in the snow providing better snow to snow contact (highly needed for traction in this type of terrain).
Furthermore, it’s interlocking sipes, which we talked about in the wet traction also helps the tire here as they do the same job of lodging in the snowflakes.
The Bridgestone Dueler Alenza on the other side, as we saw does not offer good enough siping. And the tire makes more rubber to road contact, that’s why it’s not able to outperform it’s competitor here.
Noise, Comfort, & Fuel Efficiency:
The noise although is subjectively same in both tires, the overall performance is seen better on Bridgestone Dueler Alenza.
Tread noise is simply air particles striking the tread, and most of it comes from the shoulders. The Bridgestone Alenza does not offer as much lateral spacing between the shoulder blocks as seen on Destination LE3, that’s why the tire makes lesser tread noise in comparison.
The tire also does better when it comes to comfort. Although the Firestone Destination offers slightly softer rubber composition, the more tread depth in Dueler provides a wider layer of rubber between your vehicle and the surface.
In other words, the impacts have more room to flow and dampen down.
Overall, both tires would provide almost similar comfort levels.
Lastly, if we talk about fuel economy, the Bridgestone Dueler consumes slightly more fuel in comparison. The tire besides making more rubber to road contact is also heavier, and this translates in to a larger rolling resistance.
So to Sum Up:
Firestone Destination LE3 is a very nice addition. The tire provide better wet traction and is not too behind on dry. It also does not compromise at all on hydroplaning and with aggressive grooves provides better snow grip capabilities, while consuming less fuel in comparison.
On the other hand, the Bridgestone Dueler Alenza offers better dry traction providing smaller braking distances and handling time. The tire also produces less on road noise and gives you better tread life, even with it’s high rolling resistance.
