September 28, 2023
Highway All-Season tires are the week-in, week-out daily commuter and long-distance champion that millions of drivers rely on during a wide variety of seasonal conditions. While usually seen in truck and SUV applications, these are not off-road tires, and are most at home when they're cruising the streets and highways.
We gathered together three Highway All-Season tires for this round of testing beginning with the Dueler LX, a new-to-us tire coming from Bridgestone, a storied manufacturer with a traditionally strong product stack. We added Goodyear's Wrangler Steadfast HT to the group, as a more recent addition to the market promising well-balanced traction with comfortable road manners that we haven't had an opportunity to examine in-depth.
Both of these tires offered competent foils to the Continental TerrainContact H/T, our benchmark for this test, and one our testers have previously expressed respect for. It is a refined tire that excels as a pleasant tire on-road and extremely capable in performance situations for the category, it served as a strong tire to measure up against.
Our test used 2022 Ford Explorer ST test vehicles fitted with new, full tread depth 265/60R18 tires mounted on 18x8.0 wheels.
Our 6.0-mile loop of expressway, state highway and county roads provides a great variety of road conditions that include city and highway speeds, smooth and coarse concrete, as well as new and patched asphalt. This route allows our team to experience noise comfort, ride quality and everyday handling, just as you would during your drive to school or work.
Warm fall weather and partly cloudy skies overlooked our drivers as they set to the task of evaluating each tire in this test. The Bridgestone Dueler LX made its case early by rounding over most road imperfections. Large and small, the most significant disruption to our testers' ride quality were some gentle undulations. These tendencies carried into its sound characteristics as well, quieting down a large portion of the route. Steering was linear and built effort appropriately, though it could have used some additional heft. The Wrangler Steadfast HT established a tone here that it would follow for most of the testing: less specialized or stand-out in any one category, but pretty good in most areas. It was a little stiffer than the Dueler LX's plush ride, and though it did a good job smoothing over bumps, surfaces with many small, repetitive impacts would overwhelm it a bit. Sound comfort was likewise a mixed experience - generally quiet, but not the quietest in the test, some multi-tonal feedback at highway speeds, and cyclical noise elsewhere, but generally not distracting. Our testers regarded the Wrangler Steadfast HT's steering as the best in the test, with appropriately weighted travel joined to precise, accurate inputs, it felt natural to take the wheel. Continental's TerrainContact H/T offered up the firmest ride in the test, though by no means an uncomfortable one, it would translate impacts and imperfections to the driver by way of additional vertical motion. Its cyclical tones over smooth pavement and some occasional howling were distracting. While the TerrainContact H/T scored the lowest among our testers for subjective noise comfort, it should be noted that all of these tires scored decently well. On the road, its steering was responsive and capable, but its precision and on-center feeling were both less exact than our drivers preferred.
Our 1/3-mile per lap test track course includes 90-degree street corners, a five-cone slalom and simulated expressway ramps. Run in both dry and wet conditions, the test track allows our team to experience the traction, responsiveness, handling, and drivability normally only encountered during abrupt emergency avoidance maneuvers or competition events.
Highway All-Season tires are designed and often used as a single-tire solution. Since rain can occur any time regardless of season or location, it affects nearly everyone who drives, and is one of the chief reasons we check for wet weather performance.
With the track appropriately humidified, the TerrainContact H/T made an immediate impression and reminded all involved why it served as the benchmark for this test with sweeping lead scores in objective metrics. It was an absolute leader in traction, with the front end grippy, planted and easy to lead around. At the limit, it would tend toward understeer, but up to that point it was measured and deliberate to drive and recovered quickly if our drivers overstepped. The Wrangler Steadfast HT comparatively took a step back in terms of overall traction, though it was most noticeable in the corners and wouldn't be led around the track as clinically. However, it could swing the back end around enough to usefully rotate through the turns when traction ran out. It felt well-balanced and generally controllable, but the push into understeer territory, while progressive, wasn't as quick to recover without slowing down as we'd like to see. As for the Dueler LX, it took a further step down in available grip, and while it was noticeable, it still maintained reasonable longitudinal traction and braking. However, during hard cornering, its lateral hold became more of a concern and tended toward understeer. The quick steering was still lighter than our testers preferred, as it would turn faster than the tires could keep up. This only exasperated the ease at which the traction could be overwhelmed.
After giving some time for the track to dry off, we returned to evaluate each tire's performance in the dry. The TerrainContact H/T again flexed its strong available traction while demonstrating it had the characteristics to maximize it. Well-balanced, reactive and quick, our drivers were also able to achieve the fastest average lap times in the group. It felt like an extension of the same polished experience it showcased in wet conditions. Conversely, the Wrangler Steadfast HT was unusually less refined in the dry than it had been in the wet - less composed in the steering, more promise than delivery in tight turns. It was still light and responsive, but not necessarily precise. The Dueler LX, unfortunately did not generate significantly more traction in the dry arena. Its steering remained too light for the traction available to it, and conversely, too quick for the grip the tires generated, overwhelming the front end.
Winter's snow and ice are an inevitability for many drivers, and for some, an off chance or even rare occurrence. Regardless, the ability to tackle slippery conditions will be closely scrutinized by drivers since snowy roads can be some of the most stressful and challenging to navigate. Since Highway All-Season tires are the aforementioned workhorses for many vehicles and consumers, our team expected a decent level of competence. The Continental TerrainContact H/T delivered not only competence but excelled with positive acceleration to twelve miles per hour in 17.8 feet and broke from twenty-five miles per hour in 68.1 feet, almost ten feet sooner than its next closest rival. The Continental's capable longitudinal grip was complemented by satisfying lateral stability during handling maneuvers, with quick direction changes, and abrupt corrections that were easy to meter. The Dueler LX's acceleration was proficient, within a foot of the Continental, but braking saw it drop back a fair bit, coming to a stop from twenty-five miles per hour about ten feet further. Although turn-in was a little slower on big evasive maneuvers, with a slight delay that could elicit some rear end movement, our team found its overall performance commensurate with the category. The Wrangler Steadfast HT unfortunately seemed to be left behind figuratively and literally. Acceleration to twelve miles per hour was a relatively large 3 feet longer than the leader, and braking almost 14 feet longer, but only 3 feet off the Bridgestone. The Goodyear's acceptable lateral stability during light handling exercises highlighted its lower traction levels, but it didn't have any bad habits.
On the ice, the braking performance from each was fairly close. The Continental maintained its slight advantage, bringing the test vehicle to a stop from twelve miles per hour in 49 feet. Following closely behind, the Bridgestone needed about a foot longer to make the stop. Under two feet later the Goodyear had the Explorer stopped on the polished test surface.
Highway All-Season tires, with an emphasis on soft rides and extended tread life, are the "go-to" choice for many drivers looking for transportation first and thrills second, if not avoided altogether. Yet, the ability to react with quick, controlled movements in unexpected situations is exactly the reason why strong track performance is so vital.
Whereas its other traits rounded out to a series of pros and cons landing between the other tires, the feeling of steering the Wrangler Steadfast HT was a "Goldilocks" experience during testing. Precise, weighty, linear, and responsive, it delivers on all fronts and felt, well, "just right." It's not the fastest around the track, the softest on the road, or the technical best in any sense, but its combination of strengths outweighs its weaknesses. The TerrainContact H/T is in many ways the ideological opposite of the Wrangler Steadfast HT, and depending on what you're looking for, that's a very good thing. It's much more deeply indexed on performance, a fact that shows in both its objective metrics on the track and our subjective evaluations of it. It's still pretty good in most respects, but its presence as a force in the wet and snow sets it apart. Finally, the Dueler LX - the most comfortable on-road tire we tested in this group. It deserves unreserved praise for its top-tier comfort and remarkably quiet ride. Only its featherlight steering held it back on the street. Overall, it performed acceptably, not lagging significantly behind the other tires in objective metrics, but without the grip to keep up with the promises of its handling, leaving it feeling more athletic than it is.
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