Nitto Ridge Grappler Review

I was told by discount tire and a dealership they discontinued the c load. But the sl load had a c rating

 

16in wheel?

 

Yes sir.

 

Still debating between these and at3w's. For the SL rated ones, I was surprised the NRG were a few lbs lighter than at3w's. My main concern is rain. I keep reading contradicting things about how well it handles rain and hydroplane resistance. Does the sidewall on the SL versions look different?

 

Sidewall looks the same.

 

As someone who has had both - the at3ws we fine in the rain but the sidewalls would crack and tear very easily. I had them for ~30k miles and 3 out of 4 of them had either cracks or tears in the sidewalls.

I’ve had my nittos for ~15k with no issues yet

 

Anyone here ever run a (33.86" x 11.26") with Accutunes A-Arm to see if it clears?

I'm splitting hairs, but just curious.

Officially from Accutune their A-Arms (with no lift or CMC) will clear 285/70 R17 tires, but some run large and some run small so...you never know.

Had to ask, thanks all!

**Edit to add**

Wheels I plan on using that also match the general spec Accutune mentions in their literature.

 

The tire size and uca aren't all you need to calculate for, the wheel offset will be the main factor in this. The 75 is just going to be taller, should not be any wider.

 

Oh true, I totally spaced mentioning the wheel.

*Edited original post to fix question*

 

Got a question for you guys and see if anyone feels what I'm feeling on the highway.

I had a set of RG 265/75r16 SL mounted to a set of SCS wheels on my 2015 2nd gen. Put 5k miles on the set up and ended up selling the truck. At 5k the tires deff had some hum and a bit of harshness here and there but overall no issues.

After selling the truck a few weeks ago. I put the same wheel and tire set up on my new 3rd gen. I drove the new truck to 200 miles with the stock wheels and tires and it was quiet and smooth as glass all the way up to 80. No issues whatsoever.

800 miles later with the SCS wheels RG tires, I notice this vibration in the steering wheel around 65mph. It could have been there right when I put them on but I usually drive 70ish on my commute so I may have not noticed it.

It's not a normal steering wheel shimmy typically found with a bad balance. It feels like it's a high frequency vibration. Almost like holding a cell phone while it vibrates. It's subtle but it's there. I would say it happens 70% of the time while sitting right at 65mph. Some stretches of highway it seems to completely go away. At 60 and 70 the truck is very smooth. It's only 64,65, 66 when it happens.

Lug nuts are at the correct torque and I had them rebalanced locally(non road force). Same vibe before and after the new balance.

Could this just be the nature of the tire with some miles on them? I know it's a mix of an AT and MT tire so it's never going to be as smooth as the stock goodyears.

Am I chasing my tail trying to get rid of this small vibe? I can try and swap my oem wheels and tires to ensure the vibe isn't there with the stock stuff but I feel like I would have noticed this before I put the SCS wheels on.

 

I have RGs in LT255/80R17, running at 35psi and haven't noticed anything weird.
I also have almost 3k miles on my new set too.

As far as I can tell it rides smooth, though I wish I could afford a re-gear...I like the original gearing that the manual has with the stock tires.

 

I would say that it could just be the nature of the tire. I have General Grabber ATXs (also a hybrid tire) with about 30K miles on them and I have the same steering wheel vibration at highway speeds.

They are aligned (at least twice a year because I do go off road) and road force balanced at a shop that specializes in lifted Toyota trucks. I do have some irregular wear on a couple of the tires because of all the trails and gravel I ride. So maybe that could be an issue with your ridge grapplers?

 

So I decided to play with tire pressures a bit. I lowered the tires to 30/31ish cold. They get up to 35 when warm. This made the vibe worse. I now feel it a bit more at lower speeds. Feels just like a mud terrain tire. You can almost feel the lugs as your drive. I had the same feeling with duratracs I had on my old Silverado.

I'm going to try and bump it up to 33/34 cold and see what happens.

What are you guys running for pressures in standard load RG?

 

31 cold. When I first got them 1 tire had an issue and would not balance. They replaced it and now i have almost 29000 miles of perfect smooth driving tires

 

I have a pretty specific question, hoping some people can help out…

It’s pretty clear that half the reviews on the Ridge Grapplers say they are good or great in the rain (on pavement) and the other half say they are terrible and dangerous on wet roads. The wildly differing reviews are starting to really turn me off from considering the ridge graps.

Can anyone who has a consistent load in the bed of their truck comment on the wet handling of their Ridge Grapplers?

I’m wondering if the differing reviews are because of the difference between driving a truck in the rain with a loaded vs. unloaded bed. I have an ARE shell on the back of my truck so I’m interested to hear from others that have shells or RTTs, etc.

 

I ride with constant load in terms of camper shell / rear swingout and have never had any issues in the rain or snow.

 

Good to hear, thanks for the input!

 

Just ordered a set of 285/70/17 C to mount to my new SCS Stealth 6 wheels. Upgrading from stock wheels and Falken WPs 265/75/16 SL. I decided on C load over SL for the stability and longer life. I know they are heavier and I currently average 17mpg with 4.88 gears and KDMAX tune. I really hope the mpg hit doesn’t make me regret the C load over SL load. I’ll post here with an update after I get them and also after I get some road time on them.

9/16 update. They look good! Can’t drive it much yet because I do need to get a CMC but overall first impressions are that they are quieter than I expected and ride very smooth.