- A short note here: As a former Bridgestone engineer, I strongly recommend checking Discount Tire - Treadwell out. Now, you can effortlessly get recommendations based on value, performance, and local favorites without going to the Discount Tire store.
TRIED & TRUSTED!
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra is a touring all-season tire that is specially designed for SUVs, crossovers, and light trucks looking for a cozy riding experience. Since Alenza AS Ultra holds the shining features of Bridgestone’s hero products, it promises great white hope for those who want an all-in-one package. Let’s dig into it!
At a Glance
| Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra | |
|---|---|
| Best for | Crossover/SUV owners who are looking for cozy 4 season traction expect ice, longevity |
| Test Report | vs CrossContact LX25 & Crossclimate2 (September 7, 2021) |
| Category | Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season |
| Vehicle | SUVs, crossovers passenger-oriented light-trucks |
| Available Sizes (Rim) | 16”, 17”, 18”, 19”, 20”, 21” (Ensure these tires fit your vehicle) |
| Weight | 25 – 41 lbs |
| Made In | USA |
| Labels | M+S |
| Warranty | 80,000 Miles |
| Prices | DiscountTire: Check Price TireRack: Check Price SimpleTire: Check Price Amazon: Check Price |
As a former Bridgestone engineer, from my standpoint, Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra is an expert on dry and wet traction. Moreover, Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra offers huge light snow traction and enough severe winter traction that can get you out of unexpected winter conditions. Though, what makes it special is its huge wear life. It also offers 80,000 miles wear life warranty. However, it provides a bit stiff and slightly noisy ride.
All-Season Tires Cheat Sheet
My team & I have analyzed 100 different tires and generated this ‘Quick Answer Sheet‘ for those who don’t wanna spend too much time during tire selection.
Before we start, here are the incredibly helpful articles I highly recommend to take a look at;
- How to keep tire noise down:
https://www.discounttire.com/learn/tire-noise - Fuel-Efficiency:
https://www.discounttire.com/learn/rolling-resistance - What is the 3PMSF Symbol?
https://tireterrain.com/what-is-3pmsf-symbol/ - Tire rating charts & reviews
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/rating-chart&reviews - Tire test report
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests
If you’re in a hurry, here are the tires worth every penny;
- Michelin Crossclimate 2 – Best for All-Round & Heavy Snow
- Michelin Primacy Tour A/S – Best All-Round & Moderate Snow
- Nokian WRG4 – Best for Comfort & Heavy Snow
- Nokian WRG4 SUV – Best for Comfort & Heavy Snow
- Bridgestone WeatherPeak – Best for All-Round & Moderate Snow
- Goodyear ComfortDrive – Best All-Round & Light Snow
- BF Goodrich Advantage T/A Sport – Best for Longevity & Light Snow
Depending on your needs, the below article might help;
- https://tireterrain.com/best-all-weather-tires-for-snow/
- https://tireterrain.com/bridgestone-vs-michelin/
- https://tireterrain.com/best-michelin-tires-for-suv/
I highly recommend checking the below pages out before making any purchase:
- DiscountTire Deals:
https://www.discounttire.com/promotions - TireRack Deals:
https://www.tirerack.com/specialoffers - SimpleTire Deals:
https://simpletire.com/tire-deals
Table of Contents
Dry Performance
The dry performance of all-season tires can be evaluated under two different categories. While one of them is dry traction and it’s kinda easy to provide, on the other hand, the other feature handling sometimes causes some issues due to expended void area and notched rubber.
Let’s see what Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra promises regarding traction and handling.
Dry Traction
Alenza AS Ultra has a new high-silica compound which means a huge grip improvement in wet and snowy conditions. Since dry traction needs way much less biting edges than snow and wet performance, all-season touring tires generally don’t have any traction issues on dry ground.
However, regarding Alenza AS Ultra, the over traction. Alenza AS Ultra is a heavy-weight tire. Hence, its rolling resistance is high. So, you may feel a slight delay while starting.
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra provides unique dry traction and braking. However, its starting capability is average.
Handling
Handling can be evaluated under two different dimensions. Steering response and cornering stability.
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra is molded to a symetric pattern. It has a 2-ply polyester casing under this pattern and this is a huge advantage for better cornering stability. Well, this tire is also designed for a light-trucks. Therefore, it needs tough sidewalls. As a consequence of strong sidewalls, it has decent cornering stability.
Regarding steering response, I can’t say it’ll be the same as your summer touring tires, though, it has a highly appreciated steering response for a heavyweight and over-siped tire.
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra offers above-average handling features. Yet, It has a minor tramline issue. I’ll talk about it in the ride comfort section.
Wet Performance
Wet performance is where this tire is shown up. Its compound, tread design, all fits unique wet performance.
Since this tire can be used on different kinds of vehicles, I’m going to evaluate wet performance under two different layers.
Wet Traction
Due to its high-silica compound and over-siped rubber, Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra offers alpha-plus wet traction.
However, this doesn’t mean it provides decent handling at high speed. Due to safe handling at high velocity, the tire needs hydroplaning resistance.
Hydroplaning Resistance
Hydroplaning resistance is the water evacuation capability of the tire. If the tire holds water inside of the tread, at high speed, you may lose contact with the surface and that might cause vital accidents. So, this part is highly important, especially for aggressive drivers.
Due to its wide vertical grooves and full-depth small horizontal grooves, Alenza AS Ultra offers highly stable hydroplaning resistance. I strongly recommend it if you’re living in a rainy region.
Note: Hydroplaning is vital for a safe ride under the pouring rain. However, it might occur even with the best tire. Maybe you can’t prevent it but if you know what it is and how to deal with it, you can easily stay on the safe side.
Here is an extremely efficient guide about ‘How to Deal with Hydroplaning?‘ –> https://www.discounttire.com/learn/hydroplaning
Winter Performance
The winter performance of all-season tires is misunderstood. All-season tires are built to perform under 7 Celcius degrees. So, their winter performance is highly limited compared to winter or all-weather tires.
So, winter performance can be divided into three. Light snow, deep snow, and ice. Normally, all-season touring tires only can handle light snow, yet, Alenza AS Ultra has a bit more.
Note: Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra doesn’t have 3PMSF marking.
Light-Snow Traction
Light snow traction is similar to wet traction. It’s related to notches and compound selection mostly.
Due to high silica compound and over-siped tread, Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra can handle the light snow with ease. In that case, its rugged tread grooves helps it clean itself. Hence, this tire has an amazing light-snow performance.
Deep-Snow Traction
Deep-snow traction is where this tire stays slightly behind. Even though its extended void area and high angled inner rib sipes work well for deep snow, its tread depth is shallow for deep snow traction.
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra has average deep snow traction. I don’t recommend using it on deep snow after half of its tread life(5/32”).
Ice-Traction
So, it’s not possible to reach decent ice traction with this kind of huge void area. However, Alenza AS Plus has highly angled inner rib sipes and relatively narrower shoulder grooves. So, its ice performance is superior compared to its competitors.
Since I don’t recommend using an all-season tire on ice, it can take you out of unexpected situations, though, please don’t try to use it as a winter tire.
Riding Comfort
As a former Bridgestone engineer, I can confidently say that stiff ride is the general problem of Bridgestone tires. The durable internal structure of Bridgestone tires causes this issue. Yet, I take this trade the whole day long.
Well, Alenza AS Ultra has a twin steel belt that provides stability and the nylon-reinforced ply that improves the stability at high-speed. So, it’s a sturdy tire.
Its huge durability causes a bit of a lack of flexibility and flex ride. However, the real issue is different.
Due to its shallow tread depth and kinda fluffy shoulder compound, Alenza AS Ultra tends to tramline.
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra has a bit stiff ride.
Road Noise
Alenza AS Ultra uses the same technology that Bridgestone QuietTrack uses. This technology is similar to Pirelli’s noise reduction technology. The tire contains a thin foam layer and this layer decrease the noise frequency. Well, this is an advantage. However, I think this tire needs a bit more improvement.
Due to the wide void area ratio and high rolling resistance, the tire is a bit noisy. Yet, noise reduction tech pays its dues. Bridgestone Alenza Ultra isn’t quiet as a church mouse, yet, it totally worth sacrificing minor noise for huge winter traction.
A side note here: Even though some tires tend to make noise because of their tread patterns, it’s still possible to keep your tire noise down.
I’m leaving a perfect explanation below from DiscountTire for those who need it;
How to Keep Tire Noise Down? –>
https://www.discounttire.com/learn/tire-noise
Tread Life
Just like Bridgestone’s President, Eric Seidel says customers want better wear life. So, it looks like wear life is what Bridgestone mainly focuses on for this tire.
Due to its relatively stiff and high-silica compound, symmetrical pattern, and high internal structure durability, Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra offers one of the best wear life in the market. I strongly recommend it!
Note: The cut&chipping resistance of Alenza AS Ultra is highly acceptable. Though worth reminding, this isn’t an off-road tire. If you’ll use it off the road, your tread life might decrease.
Getting maximum wear life from a tire is related to you as well as your tire,
If you’d like to learn how to get maximum tread life:
Warranty
Bridgestone offers various warranties for this product.
Treadwear: 80,000 miles and 5 years
Uniformity: It’s valid for the first 2/32” of wear
Manufacturer Special Warranty: 90 days buy&try guarantee
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra Warranty Document: https://www.tirerack.com/images/pdf/warranty/BS0121.pdf
Fuel Efficiency
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra is a high-weight and high-rolling resistance tire. Therefore, it might improve fuel consumption.
Since I’m at the beginning of tread life, I didn’t observe any increase, yet, I think I’ll experience it soon.
A side note here: As fuel prices fluctuate, I know you guys looking for a way to save money. You don’t have to consider a more efficient gas-powered or electric vehicle if you’ll going to purchase a low-rolling resistance tire.
If you’d like to learn more about rolling resistance and find the trending low-rolling resistance tires;
Sizes
| 16” | 17” | 18” | 19” | 20” | 21” | 22” |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 265/70R16 112T SL BSW | 225/65R17 102H SL BSW | 235/55R18 100V SL BSW | 235/50R19 99V SL BSW | 235/45R20 100W XL BSW | 265/40R21 105V XL BSW | 275/45R22 112V XL BSW |
| 245/65R17 107H SL BSW | 235/60R18 107V XL BSW | 235/55R19 105W XL BSW | 235/55R20 102V SL BSW | 275/40R21 107W XL BSW | 285/45R22 110H SL BSW | |
| 245/70R17 110T SL BSW | 235/65R18 106V SL BSW | 245/55R19 103V SL BSW | 245/50R20 102V SL BSW | 295/40R21 111W XL BSW | ||
| 255/70R17 112S SL BSW | 245/60R18 105V SL BSW | 255/50R19 107W XL BSW | 245/60R20 107H SL BSW | |||
| 265/65R17 112T SL BSW | 255/55R18 109W XL BSW | 255/55R19 111W XL BSW | 255/45R20 101W SL BSW | |||
| 265/70R17 115T SL BSW | 255/60R18 112V XL BSW | 265/50R19 110W XL BSW | 255/50R20 109V XL BSW | |||
| 255/65R18 111T SL BSW | 275/55R19 111V SL BSW | 255/55R20 107H SL BSW | ||||
| 255/70R18 113H SL BSW | 265/50R20 107V SL BSW | |||||
| 265/60R18 110V SL BSW | 275/40R20 106W XL BSW | |||||
| 265/65R18 114T SL BSW | 275/45R20 110W XL BSW | |||||
| 275/65R18 116T SL BSW | 275/50R20 113W XL BSW | |||||
| 275/55R20 113H SL BSW | ||||||
| 285/50R20 112V SL BSW |
Most tire sizes begin with modifier letters(P, LT, etc.) that identify the type of vehicle or type of service for which they were designed. Here is a perfect guide for reading tire size –> https://tireterrain.com/how-to-read-tire-size/
Price
The tire market has a dynamic price policy. Hence, in my point of view, sharing tire price is pointless.
Though, I’ve analyzed the top 10 brands of most popular tire brands.
Here are the dealers with a reasonable price range,
DiscountTire
- Biggest dealer in the US. Founded in 1960
- 1000 stores in 35 states. You most probably find one on your parallel street
- Free rotation and balancing
- 5% off for DiscountTire cardholders on online purchase
- Highest rated online tire dealer in Consumer Affairs
- Almost all brands are available
- Delivery takes 2-4 days (30% shorter average waiting time when you book online)
- Frequent discounts and promotions
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra: https://www.discounttire.com/buy-tires/bridgestone-alenza-as-ultra
TireRack
- Fast and Free shipping
- Usually delivered in 1 day
- Joint venture with DiscountTire(their installers and dealers are on your service)
- Tons of installer options, they also help you to choose the best one
- Mobile installers in many areas, your tires will be replaced while you’re working in the office
- Tire test results and comparisons can be found on the most product page
- 4.6/5 points on Google rate
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/bridgestone-alenza-as-ultra
SimpleTire
- Free shipping
- Delivered in 2 days
- Verified shops near you(for mount and balance)
- Mobile installation option
- 7 million customers since 2021
- 4.7/5 points on Google rate
- Top-notch customer service, you may even request a price match
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra: https://simpletire.com/brands/bridgestone-tires/alenza-a-s-ultra
While choosing dealers, I especially pay attention to reliability. All of the dealers on this list have 15-20 years of experience in the online tire business. Therefore, I can guarantee a smooth and fast tire buying process.
Conclusion
Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra is a perfect option for those who need solid winter traction and long-lasting rubber. Moreover, its wet performance is superior to most all-season tires in the market. However, it provides a bit stiff ride. Well, in my point of view, this trade is acceptable. I highly recommend this tire for light truck users who are looking for a smooth ride and SUV and CUV users who are looking for an alpha plus wet and light-snow traction.
| Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra | |
|---|---|
| Best for | Crossover/SUV owners who are looking for cozy 4 season traction expect ice, longevity |
| Test Report | vs CrossContact LX25 & Crossclimate2 (September 7, 2021) |
| Category | Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season |
| Vehicle | SUVs, crossovers passenger-oriented light-trucks |
| Available Sizes (Rim) | 16”, 17”, 18”, 19”, 20”, 21” (Ensure these tires fit your vehicle) |
| Weight | 25 – 41 lbs |
| Made In | USA |
| Labels | M+S |
| Warranty | 80,000 Miles |
| Prices | DiscountTire: Check Price TireRack: Check Price SimpleTire: Check Price Amazon: Check Price |
Take-Home Points,
- XL sizes tend to carry more load and offer better handling. Hence, they might be a better pick for bigger vehicles( XL vs SL tires)
- Please pay attention to the load range and speed index. These metrics are essential if you expect decent tread life
- There isn’t a bad tire in the market right now, you should just know what to expect from tires
A side note here: If you’d like to get local advice and find the best fit for your driving habits, location, and road conditions DiscountTire – Treadwell Tire Guide can give you masterpiece recommendations.
I hope the article was helpful. If you have any further questions, please leave them in the below section. Have a safe ride folks!
Purchased these tires for a 2020 Volvo XC90 T6 and was extremely surprised. I have been driving for over 50 years and many different vehicles and tires but never had tramlining like these do. I took them back to our Firestone dealer who test drove the vehicle and he said this situation was terrible. He readily agreed to having me return these and didn’t charge me for anything. I can’t believe that you are stating only a little tramlining. The tramlining situation is certainly unsafe to say the least and these tires should not be sold.
Hello Barry,
Thanks for your comment.
I was expecting this on smaller vehicles. Alenza AS Ultra has reinforced sidewalls. This kind of tire can cause a tramlining on relatively lightweight vehicles.
That was the main reason that I’ve recommended this tire for highway-oriented light trucks and full-size SUVs.
Meantime, Did you use recommended tire size? If you lower the tire profile ( for instance, if you use 275/35R20 instead of 275/45R20), this may also cause a significant tramlining.
The dealer put on the exact replacement tires of 275/45R20. I was shocked too but the dealer (manager) who worked there for over 40 years was also. They normally will return the money for the tires only but, in this case, they returned all labor costs.
Hello you seem a bit of a tire expert. I have a 2005 LandRover LR3 and I am looking for new all season tires. Tire size is 255/55R19. The current tire is a Scorpion from Pirelli.
I live in San Diego and 80% of my driving is roads.
The other 20% is mountain, I go to Mammoth so I can get wet and some serious snow or mild snow.
I also go to Baja Mexico where once you get off the main road it is sand/dirt/gravel/rocks and bumpby. So was looking at the Bridgestone Alenzaas Ultra BL 255/55R19.
What are your thoughts on a tire I should strongly consider?
Thanks
Hello Timoty,
Thanks for your comment.
Since you’re going to Baja Mexico, I think that all-season tires aren’t a good option for you. I think that you need an all-terrain tire.
I think Toyo Open Country AT3 is the best fit for you. Yet, it’s pricy compared to Bridgestone Alenza AS Ultra.
The other option is Falken Wildpeak AT Trail, since this is an SUV-oriented tire, it offers better on-road manners but the off-road capability is behind the Toyo Open Country AT3.
So, you spend most of your time on the road, and for this reason, I’m going to recommend Falken Wildpeak AT Trail.
The people may probably suggest Continental TerrainContact AT but this tire doesn’t mark with 3PMSF. So, its winter performance is limited.
They can also offer Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac but you don’t need that much aggressiveness.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you need any further support.