Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II vs Goodyear Wrangler SR-A tires

Light trucks and SUVs are some of the most popular vehicles on the roads these days. This probably isn’t news to you, but, they’re the vehicles that have taken over the role of big family sedans, station wagons, and minivans. With every passing year and generation, trucks and SUVs get more refined and comfortable, with better handling, better road manners, more features, and a nicer set of standard equipment and amenities. But, let’s just be honest: most light trucks, even ones that are equipped with 4WD, put in almost all their miles on the pavement and very seldom go off-road in mud, sand, loose dirt, or gravel. Just like for drivers of sedans and minivans, all-season or highway tires are the best all-around solution for most people. Like their all-season passenger tire counterparts, highway tires for light trucks are designed for great wear properties and good limited manufacturer’s tread life warranties, a ride that’s quiet and refined, consistent handling, year-round traction, and composed road manners, making them good do-all options for daily driver duties.

That brings us to the Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II and Goodyear Wrangler SR-A. The Bridgestone and the Goodyear are both tires from premium manufacturers. They are both designed to meet all the expectations we just mentioned, along with enhanced load rating and durability, since their designs are oriented around the weight, horsepower, torque, center of gravity, and handling properties of today’s light trucks. Just to cut any possible confusion, these tires can also be referred to as all-season tires.

In the course of this product comparison, you’ll see us make frequent reference to the SimpleScore ratings of both tires. If you’re not familiar with SimpleScore, this is the system that SimpleTire’s team developed to give you a quick at-a-glance idea of what a tire is all about. We look at a tire’s specs, product information, customer reviews, and other data points, then distill that to 1-10 numerical values for the categories of traction, handling, longevity, and an overall average SimpleScore. For the Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II and the Goodyear Wrangler SR-A, the SimpleScore rankings shake out as follows:

Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II

• Traction: 8.3
• Handling: 8.3
• Longevity: 8.3
• Overall average SimpleScore: 8.1

Goodyear Wrangler SR-A

• Traction: 8.5
• Handling: 8.4
• Longevity: 7.9
• Overall average SimpleScore: 8.1

As you can see, the Bridgestone and the Goodyear are tires that have a lot of positives to offer and are pretty closely matched when it comes to performance and value, in all the pertinent SimpleScore categories. As handy of a resource as SimpleScore is, it’s still the 30,000-foot view that really doesn’t give a detailed idea of a tire’s pros and cons. Let’s go in and get a closer look with this head-to-head comparison between the Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II and Goodyear Wrangler SR-A:

Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II tires

Bridgestone’s Dueler H/T 684 II is everything that a highway-terrain light truck tire is designed to be and designed to do. The Dueler H/T 684 II starts from the ground up with an advanced tread formulation for long, even wear and enhanced wet-weather traction. Stability and road manners on the highway are first-rate thanks to a polyester casing, a twin high-tensile steel belt package, and a spiral-wound nylon cap ply. A solid shoulder rib gives the Dueler very solid cornering ability and encourages even wear. On wet or dry roads, a system of sipes, circumferential, angled, and lateral grooves all work together to deliver dependable traction. Bridgestone’s internal construction and casing design help to ensure that the Dueler H/T 684 II keeps its roundness even as the tire’s tread depth wears down, for continued ride comfort and wheel balance. Bridgestone covers the Dueler H/T 684 II with a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty. SimpleTire’s price on the Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II starts at $140 per tire.

Goodyear Wrangler SR-A tires

Goodyear’s Wrangler tire family has been around for a long time now, and the Wrangler SR-A lives up to the reputation for premium quality and performance that’s been built by infusing traits of the rest of the Wrangler tire lineup. The Wrangler SR-A is designed for dependable, versatile performance year-round, with a symmetrical all-season tread pattern with wide grooves that eliminate water from the tire’s contact patch to resist hydroplaning, and a system of zigzag microgrooves that help enhance grip in wet or light wintry conditions. Goodyear’s Wet-Trac technology package includes an advanced tread compound that’s designed for long wear and enhanced grip on wet pavement, and the TredLok system of microgrooves and sipes helps to multiply the tread’s surface area and traction with hundreds of hair-thin biting edges to get through snow or slush with ease. The tread pitch of the Wrangler SR-A is computer-tuned and randomized to help keep road noise low by canceling certain frequencies and harmonics. Select sizes of the Wrangler SR-A are available with a great-looking outlined white letter sidewall. Goodyear covers the Wrangler SR-A with a 50,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty. SimpleTire’s price on the Goodyear Wrangler SR-A starts at $141 per tire.

Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II vs Goodyear Wrangler SR-A tires on traction

With a SimpleScore of 8.5 for the Goodyear and 8.3 for the Bridgestone in the traction category, this is a close one. First, we need to note that neither the Goodyear nor the Bridgestone are suitable for off-road traction and all-terrain performance, and neither tire has the 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake certification for severe winter service. The Bridgestone has a great set of tread features for year-round traction, but the Goodyear’s enhanced tread formulation and TredLok system of microgrooves, sipes, and lateral and circumferential grooves all work together to get the job done in challenging weather conditions. That means improved grip, braking, and control on wet or dry pavement; it’s a tough call on this one, but our decision:

ADVANTAGE: Goodyear Wrangler SR-A

Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II vs Goodyear Wrangler SR-A tires on handling

Usually when a tire presents a good SimpleScore for traction, those same traction features are also going to mean capable handling, cornering, and road manners. After all, you can’t really expect precise handling performance without a good grip to go with it, and that’s how it comes out on this comparison too, with a SimpleScore of 8.3 for the Bridgestone vs 8.4 for the Goodyear. One of the biggest factors in any tire’s handling performance is rigidity; as a vehicle enters a corner or starts to make a curve, its weight and inertia cause the tire’s sidewall and shoulder to distort, leading to “tread squirm.” The TredLok system of the Goodyear, along with a reinforced shoulder block and enhanced internal design, help it to keep its shape and resist tread squirm during hard maneuvers for handling that’s precise and crisp. It’s close, but our decision:

ADVANTAGE: Goodyear Wrangler SR-A

Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II vs Goodyear Wrangler SR-A tires on longevity

When we’re talking about a tire’s longevity and service life, the SimpleScore is usually tied directly in with the limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty. That’s the case here, with a SimpleScore of 8.3 for the Bridgestone vs 7.9 for the Goodyear, and 60,000 miles worth of coverage for the Bridgestone vs 50,000 miles for the Goodyear. This one’s pretty much a no-brainer, our decision:

ADVANTAGE: Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II

When to use each

The question to ask yourself here is, what do you really need from a tire? If your truck spends most of its miles on pavement and hardly ever ventures off-road into mud or rough terrain, all-season or highway-terrain tires like Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II and Goodyear Wrangler SR-A should be a great fit for your needs. They’re dependable and versatile tires that you can rely on for a refined and composed ride, handling that’s crisp and competent, traction in most weather conditions, and generous manufacturer’s tread life warranty coverage. That said, if you live in a part of the country that goes through a rough winter every year, with snow that stays on the roads for days or weeks at a time, these might not be the tires for you; and all-weather or dedicated winter tires might be a better all-around choice for navigating those snowy roads. Still, for most drivers of light trucks or SUVs, these would offer excellent performance and value as daily-driver tires.

Which one should you choose?

When we have two tires that are as closely matched in performance and features and that compare as well with each other as these two tires, it’s a tough call when we get to the “which one should you choose” segment. The Goodyear Wrangler SR-A and Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II are both packed with premium features and next-generation design and innovations, and both tires offer much the same performance: low noise, a forgiving ride, nicely composed road manners, cornering and steering response that are quick and predictable, and year-round grip and versatility. They’re even just a dollar apart when it comes to starting price, with the Bridgestone at $140 per tire and the Goodyear at $141. If you're nitpicky, you can probably find some tangible differences in what these tires have to offer, but the differences are pretty negligible. We’d just put it this way: you can’t really go wrong with either tire and it’s a tossup. If you opt for either the Dueler H/T 684 II from Bridgestone or the Wrangler SR-A from Goodyear, you’ll be getting great value in a premium highway-terrain tire for light trucks.

Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help as our helpful agents are more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.