Bridgestone Dueler A/T 697

Dueller A/T - Death Wobble/Shuddering – **This is only MY experience with these tyres and is not intended to deter people from buying them. Nor is it intended to diminish the Bridgestone brand or quality** I have a 2020 Toyota Prado and the original Dunlop AT20's were down to about 4mm tread, so I decided on a set of Bridgestone Duellers (697's). I've had issues ever since they were… Read more

fitted, with a steering wheel shudder above 90kmh and a kind of low frequency, pulsing warbling sound. I've had them balanced 4 times, they all zero out, but still the shudder remains. Had the car serviced at Toyota and told them about the shudder. They checked everything, steering rack, ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, tail shafts, suspension etc. No issues found. Swapped the wheels over with a work mate who also has a Prado, guess what? No steering wobble at all, but his car (with my wheels/tyres) had the shakes at 90-100kmh. He also said he though the whole car was vibrating/bouncing. Something amiss with the 697's and they are quite noisy on the highway. *Did NOT experience any issues in wet conditions or off-road. My only issue is the death wobble @ speed. Ended up putting a set of new Grandtrek AT20's on the car, smooth as silk. No shudder, no vibration, nothing. Would never waste $1,400 on Bridgestones again.

Wet weather performance not up to it – Purchased for ASX to handle mix of bitumen and dirt roads in FNQ. Happy enough with tyres all round until relocated car to Cairns. Small trips only until that point with no challenging roads. Handled PDR fine and all other driving through previous 2 years without any complaints worth noting. Once in Cairns it became obvious this tyre is not up to… Read more

it. Kuranda and Gillies range are fine in the dry but a death trap on these tyres if you push anything close to posted advisory signs in wet weather. Roundabouts through North Cairns and Northern beaches at 30kph is where the understeer starts and just gets worse if you follow the 40 kph speed limits. Pressures are fine and wear is tracking well. ASX needs to be in 4WD for any movement from a standing start as front wheels just spin with traction control working overtime to bring under control. This is easily avoided by me with my 35 + years of driving experience but hard to accept this level of risk for my children with less than 1. Tyres have a long way to go before I would deem them used but under the circumstances these are being changed out this week with less than 20k on them. Can't put my trust in the 697's.

Pretty good overall – NP Pajero here. Current set of these tyres has done around 50k and still going. Bought a set of five and have rotated them regularly to even out the wear and they will probably be ok for another 10k or so. Had no punctures or other issues at all so I've been quite pleased with them. Contrary to other reviews I found them a lot noisier than… Read more

previous tyres (Maxxis 751) but to be fair the Maxxis were more of a highway tread pattern whereas the D697's are a more aggressive AT. Going to swap them out for a set of Dueller D689's as I acquired a set on the cheap so can compare them. I suspect the D689's will be quieter as again they are more of a highway tyre.

Been running the D697's at 40psi on the road and the wear has been even across the width of the tread. The higher pressure probably contributed to the noise a bit tbh but I've noticed that running recommended pressures usually wear the edges of tyres quicker.

Would recommend D697's to anyone though as they've been really good.

Tyres for those that demand nothing – Have had a couple of cars with these tyres and would have to regard them as very ordinary. These tyres were popular sold with new vehicles simply for long life. They look alright, and are a brand name as good points. However bad points, are most numerous. The tyres, are road bias with tread pattern, so not good at all in mud or gravel roads,… Read more

little to no shoulders and pattern that holds mud and not flick it out. Infact rubber is a hard compound for long life so gravel roads break off lots of rubber chunks from tyres. Worst part is that in the last third of the life of the tyre becomes dry and hard and absent of grip. As I found out with no traction sliding into the back of an Amorok with all 4 tyres sliding with no grip, mean while the Amorok pulled up perfectly and my ute was written off. Absence or lack a silica. There are much better tyres out there for similar money, like Falken AT3W, Yokohama, and BF Goodrich. Now you say you were warned.

Bridgestone Dueler A/T 697 – Priced in the premium range in the offroad tyre market, a good allround onroad / offroad tyre performs well in the dry both on and off road but lacks grip in the wet on the bitumen. Expect to get good mileage out of this tyre which has an L/T rating with a heavy duty casing. Road noise is minimal and handling is slightly better with the stiffer L/T side walls. Tread is self cleaning in heavy mud/clay conditions. Show details

Dangerous – Recently bought a suzuki 4x4 with a pair of these on the rear with lots of tread left on them(I'd guess maybe 20000km left) never noticed an issue with them until it rained (about a week after i bought the car) and I lost traction at the back on a straight road, assuming I'd hit an oily patch I carried on my journey after reassuring the kids that… Read more

all was ok, a little further along the journey and the same again, and again drifting round a roundabout at low speed, I cannot believe these are allowed to be classed as road tyres, would never touch this brand again.

Great tyre...but not for the $$$ – Obtained these tyres in near new (95%) cond., 265/60R18 size, for a lifted 2013 Dmax. Impressive road handling & decent wear; secure grip (much better dry than wet, especially as they wore) & minimal sidewall flex. A little slippery off-road...but it is a road-AT not a mudder or true A/T, so for a vehicle driven 98% on bitumen/gravel/dirt I… Read more

appreciated the lesser noise & better road manners in that respect.

Fairly quiet on road but got noisier the more they wore...

Tough. Never a puncture nor cut in 70,000km & I gave them hell on many a beach/island track.

Would I buy a set brand new? No, probably not. Good tyre but too expensive by far & performed quite poorly in the wet below 40% tread depth. I think there are better value tyres out there.

Good value – Purchased 4 in Darwin for my Fortuner before travelling the Gibb and going to Mitchell Falls. No problem at all. Since travelled from aPerth to the east a couple of times including Kakadu and Alice Springs. Travelled 90000km and not even a puncture. Could be better in the wet. Due for replacement soon and will buy them again. Show details

Solid All Terrain tyres, worth the money – The Bridgestone all terrains I have are quiet on the highway and hold quality grip in mud. The overall handling and performance is good. An excellent all terrain choice. My Triton doesn’t slide on roundabouts in the rain anymore, stopping distance has improved and they improve the look of the 4x4 massively. Worth the money.  Show details

Bridgestone Dueler A/T 697 a solid all round tyre – I have owned two sets of the Bridgestone Dueler A/T 697 285 60 R18 and each time I have managed 60K out of each set. The LT construction makes them very robust for off road, I have thrown all sorts of punishment at these tyres, some war wounds but they continue to hold up and deliver the goods. They need regular rotating to get their full life I… Read more ·  1

do mine every 5K for the first 20,000km then every 10K to 15K there after at oil change. I have owned Cooper and BF Goodrich tyres in the past and whilst they were also great tyres I would say the Bridgestone Dueler A/T 697 is slightly better for the pattern of usage I throw at them 75 City 20 Sand and Mud 5 Rocky terrain. The only thing I notice is when the wear gets to the last 10Km prior to the wear marker being encountered the tyres have hardened and can be a little slippery in the wet, not to be unexpected and to be honest most tyres do the same. Price wise in teh 285 60 R18 these are an expensive tyre at $400 plus per tyre.

Dangerous in the wet – These tyres are just s..tful in the wet. Did not have them on long before I found I was getting little to no traction turning at traffic lights and just in general. I had to travel about 20km/h around 90 degree turns in the wet and not under power or the back of my ute would start to break traction. Ok in the dry and on the beach. I am only… Read more

reaching about 50 percent wear and they are coming off. I don't like the wet weather lack of handling on these things.

No good in the wet ! – These are becoming very dangerous as they wear down. A simple slow speed at a round a bout is causing the front wheels to under steer. Zero traction what so ever in the wet, even at very slow speeds. Drives ok in the dry and solid off road. Bit noisy but expected. The wet weather on a 50% tread is worrying...  Show details