General Tire Grabber ATX's

[MOAK]

For the past 25 years I've been using BFG KOs and one set of KM2s. I've had great success with these tires as I have never had a flat. They have never failed me. Last week, however, I jumped off of the proverbial cliff and bought a set of the General Grabber ATXs. I've heard and read excellent reviews of these tires and my tire guy strongly recommended them. In his words, "why waste all that money on BFGs when the Generals are just as good, if not better?"
Yesterday we took a short 200 mile round trip up to central Pennsylvania for a club organized run. On the pavement and concrete highways and byways the first thing I noticed was how deafeningly quiet they are. Much quieter than the KOs. The Generals also provide a much better ride. One would think that the softer sidewalls would "roll out" while cornering, after all my 450 is a very heavy vehicle, but they did not. We were on a lot of gravel roads and a few miles of unmaintained forest roads and they did quite well. It must be said however, that they did pick up a lot of gravel. As we came off the gravel road and unto a paved road we had a lot of clink clink clinking and one sizable hunk of limestone got kicked out in front of us and ended up on my hood. What are the chances of that? All in all however, I am very pleased with them so far.

Tuesday we are embarking on an 8,000 mile round trip. Our first destination is the Big Horn range in Wyoming, then on to the PNW, then wiggle our way down through the back roads of Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and then into Big Bend Ranch SP and Big Bend NP. When we return home in late November, I shall update this post and give my full review of these tires.

 

[bgenlvtex]

I have them on a Ram 2500 4x4, LT275/70R18.

Pro's:
Crazy traction, best of any "all terrain" tire I've ever owned, outstanding in the rain at highway speeds, I cant say enough about traction
Reasonably quiet
Very smooth ride, even at 75psi
They are wider than competitive models on the tread face ( yes I understand the nomenclature is a mathematical equation, they're wider, noticeably)
Very uniform
Compounding resists chipping very effectively
No irregular wear with reasonable maintenance
Attractive price point
Made in USA

Con:
Clipped me for 1.5mpg over highway tires (I've not had other A/T's on this truck to measure against)
Shoulder upper sidewall design creates some "rippling" in the sidewall , which was a little disconcerting at first, but does not affect function

Currently have 31k on them and they are +/- 50% will easily go 50k. Unless some unforeseen event occurs will absolutely buy again.

 

[persquank]

I started with KO2's on my renegade and then switched to the Grabbers. The KO2's seem to have the edge for off road conditions. The Grabbers do better in the snow which is what I need.

 

[MOAK]

I started with KO2's on my renegade and then switched to the Grabbers. The KO2's seem to have the edge for off road conditions. The Grabbers do better in the snow which is what I need.

Curious, how does one determine what the “edge” is you refer to? I ask because much is made of off road performance of many different tires. My son ran Goodyear MTRs on his 80 and I went wherever he did with ease. My son in law has bone stock street tires on his 4Runner Trail and went wherever I did with ease. I’ve read the “ data “ reports from a lot of manufacturers but sometimes testing different tires on different rigs is far from any scientific method. Sorry just curious how you arrived at your opinion?

 

[persquank]

Curious, how does one determine what the “edge” is you refer to? I ask because much is made of off road performance of many different tires. My son ran Goodyear MTRs on his 80 and I went wherever he did with ease. My son in law has bone stock street tires on his 4Runner Trail and went wherever I did with ease. I’ve read the “ data “ reports from a lot of manufacturers but sometimes testing different tires on different rigs is far from any scientific method. Sorry just curious how you arrived at your opinion?

Keep in mind, I'm driving a Jeep Renegade. So we're not talking about rock crawling or hardcore stuff. My "off roading" consists of fire trails and dirt/gravel roads. Maybe the occasional field. The tire sizing I'm running is 225/75R16. The KO2's had better overall grip and handling. Particularly when cornering. Even looking at the tires, they seem to be very flat across the tread.


The General grabber tires are more curved across the treads. Obviously, this could be due to other variables like PSI or wheel and tire size. But this made them feel less planted on dirt and gravel. However, driving in snowy conditions, they seem to grip more. My guess is the flat BFG tires would slide on top of the snow as opposed to the curved Grabbers digging into the snow and digging through.


This was my experience. With my setup. If you have a much bigger, heavier car with much wider tires, you will probably have different results.

 

[Kraus956]

We ran the grabbers on my jobs fleet of snow plow/public works trucks and they held up above average, very very pleased with them!

 

[MuckSavage]

While I have no experience with Grabber ATX, I had 100k +/- miles on 3 sets on my ‘96 XJ wearing the Grabber AT2. My opinion is they are a wonderful all-around tire. Amazing in the snow, great in the rain & dry asphalt. I would buy them or ATX’s when the current tires (Terra Grappler AT) on my Commander wear out

 

[MOAK]

So far, 3,000 miles; at the Nebraska National Forest we toured a bit, nearly 20 miles of sandy trail, deep in sections and one section of deep mud. I did not air down and was quite impressed with their performance. We just floated along quite nicely. Today we were on a bit of snow covered roads in Montana. No slippy slidey at all. Very good traction. Are these tires better than the BFGs? I don’t know yet.

 

[JCWages]

Does the Grabber ATX have a 3ply sidewall like the KO2, ST Maxx and Geolandar X-AT?

 

[MOAK]

Wouldn’t run an E rated tire unless it is 3 ply .

 

[JCWages]

Wouldn’t run an E rated tire unless it is 3 ply .

I won't next time around. Live and learn right? Haha

 

[Jeep backroads]

Will be interesting to see how they do aired down. Should be a good tire.

 

[JCWages]

Wouldn’t run an E rated tire unless it is 3 ply .

Shoot. I looked them up and they are a 2ply sidewall but the use a durable material used in the X3 so they should be stronger than the typical 2ply sidewall tire. So probably similar to the Wildpeak A/T3W which is 2ply but has high turn-up plies which makes then closer to 3ply.

 

[USStrongman]

Our first destination is the Big Horn range in Wyoming, then on to the PNW, then wiggle our way down through the back roads of Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and then into Big Bend Ranch SP and Big Bend NP. When we return home in late November, I shall update this post and give my full review of these tires.

On a side note... if you are in Big Bend or Terlingua over Thanks giving, we are camping above Terlingua at a friends 1500 acre property. We will be running a lot of the state park and hope to get the keys to the ranch one day as well to make it to the top of the ranch.

 

[MOAK]

On a side note... if you are in Big Bend or Terlingua over Thanks giving, we are camping above Terlingua at a friends 1500 acre property. We will be running a lot of the state park and hope to get the keys to the ranch one day as well to make it to the top of the ranch.

Home now but thanks for the invite!

 

[MOAK]

Ok, the tour ended up being 9,600 miles instead of only 8,000 miles. The grabbers are still quiet and very smooth on the roadways. When aired down for the trails they are extraordinarily smooth riding, which is important for my wife. (she has c3&4 problems, big time) Very very comfortable for her. I never drive on the "edge" so its hard to tell if they performed better than the BFGs on snow and rain covered roads, however, over all they do feel a bit more sticky on all surfaces. In all things though there is compromise. Because of the "softer" sidewalls we had a hell of a time in heavy crosswinds as the high winds knocked us to and fro. The tires also have a tendency to "roll out" while cornering at high speeds. I usually run 38/36 when loaded down so I aired up to 42/40 and it made no difference. We still suffered from "roll out" in heavy winds and high speed cornering. Because we take long tours and are heavily loaded (7,000lbs and the trailer is 1,000lbs) I'll more than likely be going back to the BFGs when these tires are worn out. The BFGs never needed any more than 38/36 lbs of air to support our load and driving style. When off-road, I'll just air them down a little more than I used to for my wife's comfort. Would I buy them again? No.

 

[JCWages]

Are they SL or LT tires? What load range?

 

[MOAK]

Are they SL or LT tires? What load range?

E

 

[MOAK]

Update:: at 11,000 miles they have very little wear. I’ve been in all kinds of weather and being empty and alone pushed the envelope a bit.. a three point slide on a snowy/slushy parking lot resulted in my keeping complete control. With BFGs I’d have lost control, however, how often do we porpusefully put an 80 series Landcruiser into a three point slide.. The tires have developed a high pitched whine on the roadways. I believe the whine eminates from the holes used for snow studs.. it’s not loud, however it is irritating. I’d rather listen to a low or medium pitched gentle howl.

 

[bgenlvtex]

41k on Ram 2500 4X4 8/32rtd, great tires, crazy traction, clipped me for 1.5-2mpg over Firestone Transforce HT.