General Grabber HTS Tire Review

Published: February 14, 2017

I bought a pair of General Grabber HTS to put on the rear axle of my 1998 Dodge Ram 1500, primarily because they were an affordable LT-rated tire and they claimed to be fuel efficient. I still had plenty of tread on the front Firestone Destination A/Ts, thus did not feel the need to replace them. Between tongue weight of the trailer and all the parts and tools in the bed I have a lot of weight on the rear axle, thus I decided to go with an LT-rated load range E tire for safety.

The size I ran was LT245/45R16.

Dry Grip

When I had these tires on the rear axle, the truck felt like it wanted to oversteer/roll excessively when performing lane changes on the highway. This normally indicates soft sidewalls of the tires, however my van with Kelly Safari ATR LT rated tires also has trouble driving in straight line, although it behaves somewhat differently from the way Ram behaved on Grabber HTS's. Perhaps there is something in LT tire construction that contributes to the vehicle wandering on the road.

In the fall of 2014 I moved these tires to the front axle, and immediately noticed delayed steering response compared to Destinations as well as the truck wandering in its lane much more than usual. Stability issues that I experienced with Grabbers on the rear axle became worse once the tires were on the front.

Lateral grip of Grabbers seemed about average for an all-season tire. Braking grip seems to be better than that of Destination A/Ts, again I would say about average for an all-season tire.

Wet Grip

Wet grip of Grabbers seems about average for an all-season tire. They are not as grippy as Bridgestone Blizzaks but perhaps a bit better than Firestone Destination A/Ts.

Snow Traction

Snow traction of Grabber HTS's is decent, I would say a bit better than average for an all-season tire. That said, as the tire wears down its snow traction capabilities diminish correspondingly.

Ice Traction

Ice traction of Grabber HTS's is virtually nonexistent. I managed to get stuck on nearly flat glare ice in Grabbers despite having a limited slip differential.

Longevity

Wear of Grabbers seems to be better than that of Destinations, but not by much. I had Grabbers primarily on the rear axle which is subject to higher wear due to having twice as much weight on it as the front axle as well as being the driving wheels. Grabber HTS's lasted me about 80,000 miles, mostly of them on the rear axle.

Fuel Economy

According to my calculations Grabber HTS's yielded about 1 mpg better fuel economy compared to Destination A/Ts, and this is with only two Grabber HTS's mounted on the vehicle.

Verdict

Grabber HTS seems to be a rather average LT rated pickup/SUV tire. It does not have serious issues but it also does not impress with its grip level. The tire does last quite a bit and offers better fuel economy than at least some of the other tires.