Firestone Destination ST
 

haven't seen a write up on these tires yet, so i thought i'd share my experiences with this tire.

first of all, i have an '07 4.8 with 255/55/18 oem run flats, from which i was able to get 32k miles. HATED these tires and they only got worse as the miles accrued.

did a lot of research over the past month, including this site. really wanted the contis but they are still on backorder with no end in sight. second choice was down to the dunlop sp sports or the yoko envigors. called tirerack to get their input on these two tires so i could pull the trigger. surprisingly, after chatting with a very knowledgable rep for 15-20 mins, he talked me into the firestone destination st. i was shocked he was recommending a firestone for the x5 and it took a while to convince me (don't know why, i had never purchased a firestone product before and was hesitant). the rep was adamant that the st is a great tire and well suited for the x5. for $168 per tire, i decided to give them a try.

had the destination st's installed today and first impressions are very solid. the tire looks good on the car but seems a bit shorter than the run flats. probably just an optical illusion or the shocks hadn't completely settled after being on the lift for a couple of hours. tread pattern is very interesting with a wide, dedicated rain channel that runs the full circumference of the tire. no rain today, we'll she how they handle in precipitation.

as soon as I left the shop, i noticed a few major differences immediately. firstly, steering is noticeably lighter. check that: significantly lighter. i prefer the heavy steering feel, so i'll hold judgement until i've driven on the st's for a bit longer. secondly, the car "feels" more nimble and seems to have less rolling resistance. definitely like this feel over the run flats as the car seems to be more athletic/quicker. it does seem to get of the line more quickly as if the x had shed a few pounds. finally, the harshness of the run flats is completely gone. driving home, bumps and ruts in the road that were extremely harsh in the run flats were barely noticeable on the st's. this is exactly what I was hoping for when dumping the run flats. the x seems to have sacrificed nothing performance-wise but has improved materially in the comfort factor. it is still well planted in hard cornering, maintaining its balance and traction. so far, i haven't experienced the dsc kicking in like others on this board have described.

granted, this is an early review but i will check back in over the next few weeks and update as i put more miles on these tires.

Update on Tires
 

How do you like them now? I need to replace mine in a few thousand miles also

I was looking at tire rack and wanted to see what you thought of the Firestone Destinate ST

I have a 2011 X5 35d with 18s

1.5 weeks in and i'm very pleased. the "lighter" steering has remained but makes the car easier to drive at low speeds. noise level is superb, and as i stated in my previous post, handling performance sacrifices nothing and ride quality improves dramatically.

best part of this tire is the wet traction. i've owned several bmw's (run flat and non-run flat) as well as several other trucks/suv's on all-weather tires and nothing has handled this well in precipitation. i would definitely recommend this tire.

How do you like your Destination ST's so far?

You had the "oem run flats", which you hated...

OE the car came with, what, four different brand run flat tires?

Pet peeve is people lumping all RFTs into one 'hated' bin, without attribution...

(Edit- sorry hambone, forgot to quote OP)

Well I didnt really hate the RFT, have a bad front right tire, big tear in the middle of the tire. Hence looking to replace them all since the tread is very low. :)

Another important point to make, that a lot of people seem to pass over when comparing tires.

You said you got 32k out of your RFT's, right? With that said, RFT or not, you are comparing tires that had 32k miles to tires that are brand new. Just due to human nature, it's impossible to compare each tire like this. You'll almost always have a bias view towards the newer tires for the simple fact that, well, they're new. Maybe you're right, maybe they really are "better" but again..remember..unless you can somehow travel through time and compare the RFT's when NEW to the Firestones when new, there's no possible way you can give an accurate comparison.

32k miles is a lot of miles, and time. Nothing personal but, I don't think anyone can "remember" how the RFT's were exactly when they bought them. If you compared the RFT's to the Firestones, but both new, I think you'd see much less of a difference.

That's just me though. Glad you like them.



Edit to add: Not to mention the other components that now have 32k more miles on them. You're comparing used, worn out RFT's to new Firestone tires. But you're also comparing your vehicle (if you can accurately remember the early days of the RFT's) when it had 32k less miles on it.

Just food for thought.

I agree...smilies not working for me.

lol, you guys are hilarious and have far too much time on your hands. i had oem run flats and hated them...period. who cares if i cited the specific oem brand? the point is i hated these tires and replaced them with non-run flats. sorry ard, if this upset your delicate sensitivities toward certain oem brands. lol.

and thanks guys for pointing out that my comparison between old and new tires is unscientific because it's not humanly possible to compare these tires without time travel. you guys need a hobby. :D

bottom line is still the bottom line: i disliked the unspecified oem brand run flat tires from the first time i drove the car, continued disliking unspecified oem brand run flat tires for 32k miles, and finally replaced unspecified oem brand run flat tires with firestone non-run flats, which i like better than said unspecified oem brand run flats (sans time machine comparison).

back on topic, i am happy with the firestone tires for the same reasons i stated in earlier posts and would buy them again without hesitation.

unless, of course, i had a time machine... :nanana:

thanks viva la reagan!