The literal abbreviation in the name of the Bridgestone Dueler H/L 400 summer tire for SUVs quite accurately describes its strongest sides. It stands for Highway/Luxury, which translates to "highway" and "luxury". I.e. this particular model is designed for operation exclusively on paved roads, which is what it was created for. In doing so, they were guided by the preferences of car enthusiasts in North America, as this tire is part of the primary equipment of cars produced for the markets of countries on this continent.
Increased number of gripping edges
In the North American market, this model is positioned as all-season. In our country, it can be considered as such only by residents of the southern regions. The tread pattern, which contains a large number of small blocks, allows this tire to feel confident in unfavorable weather conditions. During movement, they provide the contact patch with a multitude of gripping edges, which ensure reliable grip on wet roads. Additionally, the numerous blocks demonstrate good efficiency on dirt roads.
High resistance to aquaplaning
Thanks to the presence of many separate blocks, the tread of the Bridgestone Dueler H/L 400 tire has a very developed drainage system. Its basis is four longitudinal grooves, which have a large internal volume. The efficiency of the drainage system is increased due to the location of numerous transverse grooves at a sharp angle to the direction of movement. This significantly increases the speed of water circulation through them, which is removed from the contact patch.
Multifunctional design of the shoulder areas
In contrast to the center of the tread, its shoulder areas are made in a closed design. It is distinguished not only by the massive size of this part of the tread pattern but also by the presence of a large number of rectangular blocks located transversely. These design features give the tire several advantages at once. First of all, this is increased stability when maneuvering and cornering. At the same time, the long transverse edges formed by the shoulder blocks improve the efficiency of the tread during braking and acceleration.
The next advantage of the shoulder area design is its closedness. Due to this feature, the noises generated by the numerous blocks of the central part are not propagated outside the tread, which has a positive effect on acoustic comfort. In this regard, it is impossible not to note the location of all tread blocks with a different pitch relative to each other. This prevents the occurrence of resonant noises and vibrations, which also increases the level of acoustic comfort.
Main features of the Bridgestone Dueler H/L 400 tire
- numerous blocks in the central part of the tread improve grip on wet and dirt roads;
- a high-performance drainage system, thanks to the multitude of differently directed grooves, increases resistance to aquaplaning;
- a large number of straight lamellas improves traction on wet roads, additionally optimizes the distribution of external pressure over the contact patch, which, in turn, increases the service life of the tire;
- the multifunctional design of the shoulder areas of the tread improves stability during cornering and maneuvering, increases the efficiency of the tread during acceleration and deceleration, more evenly distributes the external load over the contact patch, significantly increases its area;
- the optimized profile shape of the tread increases the stability of the grip, which has a positive effect on handling;
- a low noise level due to the closed design of the shoulder areas and the location of the tread blocks in longitudinal ribs with a different pitch relative to each other.
