Bridgestone Americas, Inc.

Bridgestone/Firestone Introduces Hard-Working Firestone Destination™ M/T Off-Road Tire

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (October 30, 2002) -- Workers, who take their trucks through muddy, off-road worksites, or off-road enthusiasts, who tackle the toughest terrain, have a new replacement tire option, the Firestone Destination™ M/T. The new Firestone Destination M/T, introduced to the marketplace on September 1, by Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LLC (BFNT), is a full traction-depth tire featuring UNI-T® technology for excellent wet and mud handling.

“The Destination M/T is the first Firestone light truck tire to be built with the company’s exclusive UNI-T® technology,” said Shu Ishibashi, president, North American Consumer Tire Sales Group, and executive vice president, BFNT. “We designed this to be a very tough, heavy-duty, max-traction tire that is for off-road work truck applications, such as use in gas or oil fields or use by border patrols, park rangers, power company fleets, ranchers, farmers, or just for fun.”

The Destination M/T features a square footprint and more rubber between the bottom of the skid and the steel belts, than standard all-terrain or light truck tires, to protect the body plies. It also features additional rubber between the outside sidewall and body plies and has a high void to help clear debris from the tread. No tread siping provides excellent cut resistance and longer wear. Additionally, a 40 pitch-length design around the circumference helps keep noise to a minimum.

The tire, which is pinned for studs to assist in winter driving conditions, incorporates Bridgestone/Firestone's DMR™ Max Traction Light Truck Tire innovative patent-pending technologies including:

All sizes are built with Dura-Loc 3.0™, a unique high-strength tie-in construction, which combines three full polyester body plies, two high-tensile steel cord belts and a full nylon cap for outstanding resistance to on- and off-highway hazards.
Mud and Off-Road Traction, which is the result of a unique over-the-shoulder tread/lug design that provides Extraction Traction ™ to help pull the vehicle through deep mud and ruts. Wide wrap-around lugs and special tread element shapes and angles help deflect road hazards from the shoulder areas as well as improve self-cleaning in muddy and snowy conditions.
Rim Guard™ Off-Road Protector Rib helps protect the tire by deflecting off-road debris from between the tire bead and rim area, and also keeps the lower sidewall stiffer making the bead fit tighter to the rim.

The Destination M/T also incorporates several elements from Firestone’s extensive experience in the agricultural tire industry to help increase traction, including design elements taken from a 23° bar angle tractor tire, the best angle for straight-ahead pulling.

The all-position tire initially will be available in 11 sizes, in load ranges ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘E’ for a variety of heavy-duty and max-traction applications. Destination M/T comes with a choice of blackwall or raised white lettering.

Other target consumers for Destination M/T include those who do extensive heavy-duty towing of boats, horse trailers or travel trailers, Ishibashi said.

UNI-T® is an acronym for “Ultimate Network of Intelligent Tire Technology” found only in Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton and select associate brand tires. One of its core technologies is a Computer Optimized Component System, CO·CS®, which uses a super computer to help determine an ideal combination of tread design, casing shape, materials and construction for a particular application.

Tires with UNI-T® have a special O-Bead® that eliminates overlapped joints in the bead assembly, affecting the way a tire interacts with the rim, and provides a rounder assembly for improved stability.

The use of L.L. Carbon®, or Long Link Carbon, an advanced form of carbon black, produces a stronger tire, better able to resist cracking, chipping, tearing and excessive wear.

Nashville-based Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LLC is a subsidiary of Bridgestone/Firestone Americas Holding, Inc., whose parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, is the world’s largest tire and rubber company. BFNT develops, manufactures and markets Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton and associate and private brand tires. The company is focused on wholesale and original equipment markets, supplying passenger, light truck, commercial vehicle, off-road, agriculture and other tires to its customers in the Americas.