Review: Firestone Destination LE2

The Firestone Destination LE2 is designed as an all-season touring tire for light trucks, SUV's and crossover vehicles that do not go offroad. It is primarily designed to give a smooth ride, low rolling resistance and all-season capability including light winter conditions.

Pros

• It does the job it's designed to do and does it well.
• Steady and stable feel.

Cons

• All that steadiness and stability is kind of unexciting.

Technology

The LE2's do boast some interesting technological gadgets:

• Silica compound: The Destination LE2 uses the near-universal silica-based rubber compound, which allows for a softer rubber compound with much more grip while the silica prevents the compound from wearing too fast.
• Sweeping Slots: A unique set of grooves describe a graceful double curve across the grain of the tread and help to quickly evacuate water out from under the tire.
• Zigzag Sipes: Cutting most of the way through a tread block in multiple zigzag patterns provides a whole lot of little biting edges when the tread block flexes on snow or ice.
• Optimized Noise Sequencing: To damp the inevitable “tire song” of an all-season tread, the tread of the LE2 is “tuned” so that the noises generated by different tread blocks tend to cancel each other out.

Bridgestone claims a 15% reduction in rolling resistance coefficient (RRC) over the original LE leading to a fuel efficiency increase of up to 2 mpg, but this number almost has to be either an average or a best-case, as RRC numbers are dependent on the size of the tire.

Performance

We tested the Firestone Destination LE2's on the Nissan Murano. An identical set of Muranos was equipped with the comparison tires, BFGoodrich's Long Trail T/A Tour. The course began with a difficult 45 mph slalom followed by an ABS assisted panic stop, and ended with a wet diminishing radius turn with a moderate puddle of water at the apex.

The Destination LE2 performed noticeably better than the Long Trail in the slalom and marginally better in the ABS braking, but it was on the wet curve that the difference was most noticeable. The LE2's consistently took the turn and the water with confident authority at speeds of 5-10 mph faster than the Long Trails.

In terms of subjective feel, the LE2's felt... good. They are stable, quiet and go about their business with a minimum of fuss and bother. That's good, certainly, but it's just not excellent.

The Bottom Line

The difference between these two tires is really mostly marginal, but then again the marginal differences all seem to go the Destination LE2's way. The LE2 suffers somewhat for being a tire that is good in a lot of areas, but not really superlative in any. It's a good tire, probably even better than most in its weight class, but it's not quite a great one.

• Available in 37 sizes, 215/75R15 to 275/60R20
• UTQG Rating: 520 A B
• Treadwear Warranty: 60,000 miles