Nitto Ridge Grappler Review

ive got my eye on these tires for awhile, still havnt committed yet,, i got a price of 227.00 per tire installed,,, 265/70/17,, if they c-load i would have bought them already

 

I can only attest to the on road characteristics and those are that this tire makes an excellent daily driver tire. On the Nitto website, the 285 size E and C range tires weigh the same. Earlier in this thread there are accounts of responses from Nitto on the differences between them as well. Mine are E range and to me and my driving habits these tires roll very nicely. Quiet and smooth. Can't wait to test them in the snow.

 

you have 265/70/17's ?? im up in northeast pa.. im wondering how good they would be in the snow also....

 

Yes, 265/70r17s. Yea, our snow type should be the same. The type is equally as important as the amount. I ran Duratracs on my 4Runner and they were unstoppable but they got loud and wore down totally unacceptable so I'm trying these. Hope it was a goid choice.

 

duratracs were never an option, i know they are loud and wear bad,,, i just cant get past the grapplers E-load,, are they really quiet and smoothe.. tks

 

Yea, I'm amazed how quiet and smooth these are. Of course I only have 2k miles on them. But I just told a friend of mine I wished I could find an app that measures vibration just to have something so I could compare to my other car. And the little bit of noise you do hear is high pitched, like a box truck, not like a mud terrain truck tire. But even rolling up the highway at speed, in the fast lane, with a barrier alongside, if I have even one widow down, the wind noise is a lot louder and drowns it out.

 

Very aggressive IMO

That being said, they are dead silent.

10/10 would buy again

 

What almost has my mind made is this pic. I have to get 265/70-17s and I have been concerned about sidewall height. Some tires in that size seem to be really lacking compared to others. Not sure if it's the profile or actual versus advertised height. Based on this photo, the RG barely meets my sidewall criteria. But it blows the other options away on looks.

My other pick for this size right now would be the Atw3. It actually has better diameter which translates to more sidewall. .3 inches taller than the RG in diameter.

Tough choice for sure.

 

Curious, what is your sidewall criteria?

 

From what I have seen, some 17s have a very short sidewall. I think some of it has to do with how rounded or squarely pronounced the tire's shoulder is. Some of it is overall diameter. The RG has less sidewall than the grabber at2 or the ATw3, but the sidewall pattern kind of makes up for it. I off-road. So short or stubby sidewalls concern me some.

 

Yea, I get it, but I'm not sure .3" (or 1" for that matter) is going to make that much of a difference, considering most guys air down anyway. Unless your wheeling style is baja.

I think the 4 extra plys will make up for the little lack of sidewall but hey, I am the last person you want to listen to. The last time I did any serious wheeling was nearly 40 years ago, and I'm sure a lot has changed since then.

I have these tires on my Taco because I need dependability for commuting in the snow and rain. My families safety is priority. I think if I was wheeling today I might have to look at something with Kevlar built in. I would want indestructible. As it stands, I tend to over-research things because I'm a little OCD. All I've ever read about these RGs has been positive.

I'm also vain as hell and wanted something gnarly looking. I think these fit that bill too.

Again, please do what your gut and experience tells you. I certainly don't want to sell you on something you'll be unhappy with.

 

What are the wheel specs? Width, offset, backspace?
Thanks

 

Ok, took a pic and here is what my drivers side front tire is rubbing on........


I don't think it needs to be there so I'm hoping someone can shed some light.

 

SCS Ray 10
17" dia. X 8.5" width
bolt pattern = 6 X 139.7
Back spacing = 4.30"
Offset = -10mm
Weight = 24.5lbs

Here's the site because I believe the SCS wheels are all different.

https://www.stealthcustomseries.com/collections/toyota

Rob

 

Here's a pic of how far mine stick out......

 

Good points, some of the .2-.3 difference might really just be how they are measured. Also p-metric vs lt. for instance the tread depth on LT at3w is 18/32, P at3w is 14/32, tread depth on RG is 16/32 tread depth on KO2 is 14-15/32. There is several differences on the .2-.3 measures.

Tire shoulder difference is very different with p and lt for sure, example

60k on the 285 on right. Maybe 20k on the P265 on left. Can see a good difference in person for sure.

 

All very good points @S P A R K Y , I wish we could throw the Ridge Grappler next to these. About the only thing (for me) that the Duratrac had going for it was the amount of sipes in each tread block. With that said, while it was a great snow tire (rain and dry too) the set I put on the 4Runner just wore so funky. At about 20k miles they started to get loud and had a low drone hum. Headache causing hum. And if you look at the picture, the tread blocks along the outside that only have 2 sipes in them, all wore more quickly than the others. So every other tread block along the outside was not touching the roadway surface. I wish I still had a picture. This translated to a "walking" effect at super low speeds and I am sure is what was contributing to the hum. As a matter of fact, I recorded some sound and a friend of mine immediately said they sounded like they were delaminating. It was a new term to me but I know something was wrong with them. Yes, I rotated them at 5k miles or less and always kept the air pressure checked.

I'm only saying all this because noise was not the main issue. Yea, I could turn the radio up and all that but what made them a "no go" this time around for me was the fact that at 25k miles and up they got dangerous in the rain. They were easily breaking traction more and more. The ultimate let down at around 30k miles was when a guy in a 80's POS F250 stopped sharp 5' in front of me in traffic and I slid into him trying to stop. We were doing 10 mph. The bull bar I installed did $5k worth of damage to the 4R (which is why I refuse to put one on the Taco) and the guy got out looked at his truck, then mine, laughed and got back in and drove away. I was pissed no doubt. After that I had no confidence in them.

So that's why this time I am trying the Ridge Grapplers. I got a great deal on them and an even better installation deal. They are quiet, vibration free and work well so far in high speeds, and right after I had them installed we got slammed with torrential downpours to likes of 3" of water running down the wagon wheel ruts in the roads up where I live. I mean a lot of freaking rain. They were more than sufficient in that situation. Like I keep sayin, if these perform in the snow like I need them to they will be the only tires I ever buy. My driveways are asphalt and steep and we don't always get a lot of snow but it only takes a paper thin layer of ice under 1" of powder to keep most vehicles from coming up my drive. I have learned over the years how to implement my own "crawl control" where I literally have one foot depressing the brake and the other the gas pedal so that there is always controlled forward momentum. As soon as you stop and try to start again, anything will break traction and once it starts to spin, furgetaboutdit!

 

i just got a price of 930.00 for 4..... 265/70/17's ... ridge grapplers,,,

 

I paid $1400 for five (5) 285/70/17s mounted and balanced with lifetime (of the tire) warranty from DT