Bridgestone Dueler M/T: Product test

THROUGHOUT the past 14 months the Bridgestone Dueler Mud Terrains have provided solid service on the sandy tracks of Hattah-Kulkyne National Park in the Victorian Mallee country.

They’ve also tackled some fabulous sandy runs on Stockton Beach at Port Stephens, traversed the rocky and rutted tracks of the Avon River, hit up the Murray River’s mud at Echuca, overcome the challenges of the Dargo High Country and, of course, the commute through suburbia.

The tyres have surprised as a daily driver. Even though they are muddies, they’re quieter than expected and they grip and handle well. In the wet they’ve performed much better than the old all terrains that were on their last legs.

I have no complaints when off-road, either. On High Country tracks – as well as on the wet, grease-like tracks along the Murray River near Echuca – they performed brilliantly.

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Where the tyres surprised me was on sand – on a Stockton Beach run they performed excellently. Now, let’s be honest, my faithful 3.0L GU Nissan Patrol is many things, but a power-laden, sand-chewing beast it’s not. We dropped pressures to 17psi and away we went. Surprisingly I didn’t have any issues on the sand at all, and I even managed to perform a snatch recovery of a Mitsubishi Triton, as well as rescue my mate Brad’s Pajero from a particularly soft patch.

Having travelled a tick over 12,000km, I think it’s time for a tyre rotation. The depth gauge discovered there’s 4.5mm wear on the front tyres and 3.5mm wear on the rears, so I reckon they’ve got another 25,000-30,000km of life left in them.

All is going well, although I do notice an impact at the bowser when filling up. I now return about 80-100km less from a full tank of fuel.