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 Post subject: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 12:32 am 
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I have around 9k on my red letter General Grabbers in 31x10.5R15 on steel wheels - my first reaction to the setup aside from the asthetics which I love is I almost herniated my back lifting them out of the back of my jeep. Other than the effect of the additional weight at take off and stopping I have very little negative to stay about the tires. Transmission temps after about 3 constant miles in powder sand in 4-Lo at 15mph in 2nd gear did go above what i prefer but dropping to 1st gear and slowing down to around 7-9 for a few minutes cools it right back off without the trans going out of the acceptable range or even getting close to having a heat problem. Only reason I mention it is because it is the first set of tires I've had that did show any significant change in transmission temps under my typical beach driving conditions - I'm sure it's the additional weight of the tire versus the MT's and other tires I've used.

Drove about 80 miles in torrential rain and flooded roads and I'd give the tires an 10 of 10 for substantially wet roads and an 8 of 10 on wet roads without potential for large puddles (just topically wet) - experienced no instability, no drifting, no pulling, no hydroplaning even when hitting large patches and runs of water several inches deep - the standard wet road traction actually surprised me considering the tires arent sipped

In deep mud, they clean out great and seem to have more than adequate sidebite as well as forward and rearward traction and bite really well in everything from the thick soupy deep stuff to sandy peatmarsh mud and wet normal dirt/grass - on hard wet red clay(uwharrie type) they showed no signs of gumming up and showed very little sign of slippage on steep inclines/declines or offcamber areas - they werent far behind the performance of a dedicated mudder

These things love baby powder sand - even without being aired down they left imprints of clear unbuckled / unshifted pattern - aired down, even better 10 of 10 I wouldn't change a thing

Road noise - this is the part that I've really been happy about - for an offroad tire, 10 of 10, if they were street tires I'd give them a 6 of 10 - with the windows up, ac on and radio up to a level you could talk on a cell phone over without yelling, you can't hear them - they do have a pronounced growl but it's very low pitched - not the redneck mating call you expect from mudders - just after rotations they get louder and then quiet back down after about 200 miles

Dry / normal road manners - no swaying - low noise, good wear - handle extremely well to emergency manuvers - they do and will cause increased brake wear - higher trans temps and longer braking distances as well as lower fuel milage if you aren't already bottomed out - I can't seem to get any worse milage than i already get, it seems to be locked in to 15 city 18 hwy

Wear - these tires seem to wear very slowly - i haven't seen any signs of cupping, or abnormal leading edge wear - i see typical edge rounding on the outside of the front tires which after the first 3k had not yet worn the o dot's surrounding where the nubs were on the tires - the set i got did need a good bit of weight, but did balance out fine - have noticed no vibration

Haven't had them on any rock other than occasional exposed bedrock

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03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
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31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 12:03 am 
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Will you see any snow? That is where I hear they do not perform well (lack of siping)

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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 3:24 am 
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highly doubtful since ill likely be staying in the mid to eastern NC area or farther south - i may make an intentional trip up to OH this winter to provoke a blizard just to see how they do

i dont think theyed perform as bad or worse than a straight non-sipped m.t such as the mastercraft m/ts i had - which werent horrible on snow and ice but def werent as good as duratrax or similar truely snow rated tire - the tread design on the red letters doesnt act like conventional tread so it may fall somewhere in the middle - i think as far as granulated and deep snow theyed be absolutely fine but when it comes to glaze and such i think theyed be better than a non sipped mt but still fail to be anything as good as a high sip soft compound ice tire - the compound hardness as well as the lack of sips will really hurt the red letters on the real slick frozen stuff id imagine - but,, even though theyre not studded the tread is very very thick you could stick 5/16th seft tapping screws in the edge blocks in a pinch without coming anywhere near the belts lol

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03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632


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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 12:51 pm 
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Good write up, careful driving in the snow or ice with those.. You might end up in a ditch!

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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 1:26 pm 
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Still super happy with them, they wear as if my KJs got a SFA with a perfect alignment, they seem to have an extremely durable and stable rubber compound, hard enough to resist rounding from turning, cupping and such, and soft enough to peel up asphalt when you stomp the brakes, don't remember if i posted it awhile back or not but I got marred up off-highway not long ago and they dont seem to care what direction theyre turning, they clear out nice and the sidewalls seem to get great bite when edging out

time for front brakes however - they are heavy beasts

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03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632


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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 9:13 pm 
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JeepinJarhead03, I haven't seen you on the forum in a while. Glad to see you!

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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:43 am 
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thanks feller! i've been quite busy!

that and I seem to get distracted for a year at a time lol

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03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632


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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 1:54 am 
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finally got to test them out on granular ice/frozen precip and snow mix @ about 3" - the kind of stuff that packs down and is almost impossible to walk on
did about 70 miles of various speeds, road types etc
first of all , driving on this type of precip is and can be tricky anyway, that said, in 4H driving characteristics was predictable, no noticeable drift in the rear which was what i was expecting given the lack of the usual lateral lines in the tire that everyone associates with lateral stability. even hard braking i was able to control within my expectations. These tires have very good traction going forwards (and backwards). Perhaps its the shape of the lugs and direction of the voids that gives them traction in this type of frozen precip. The WK with Michelin LTX (yeah i know not same vehicle) i took out as a "lets see if im crazy" was like driving on marbles
that said, i did forget to put it back in 4H after the road had been scraped, when going up the driveway which is pretty much a 45 degree angle and 100yd or so, i made it about 5 yards and lost momentum on glazed, refrozen icerink grade ice. backed back down put it in 4H and went right up.

so with that, they aren't as good on granular ice as a dedicated M/S tire but they aren't undeserving either. I wouldn't put a snowflake on the sidewall, but i wouldn't leave it at the house either.

Now, today, i got to go play in about 8" of nice powder - did about 50 miles, again, wouldn't put a snowflake on them, but also wouldn't leave them at home either - ive decided they're on the cusp of being an alternative to common design for a snow tire. I don't think sipping does much with powder, though i think the lateral lines in typical tires do a great deal to help lateral stability. Given that I didn't really feel I DIDN'T have lateral stability either. I did feel i could get on the brakes, or gas for that matter harder than with tires I've had before in the same conditions.

overall, i don't think they deserve a snowflake, but its not for lack of sipping. I think the tread and void design leaves much to be desired on ice as well as deep water in roadways and while I've not experienced any notable issues from it, I'm a believer in buying tires designed for conditions that you typically expect your vehicle to encounter - no real purpose or benefit to buying a desert racing tire when living somewhere that gets constant bombardment with snow and ice half the year. I on the other hand only have to deal with that for a month or two at the worst and from what I've experienced they will suitably handle any winter weather I personally will have to encounter while already having exceeded my expectations the other 10 months of the year.

I'd give them 3/5ths of a snowflake
you're not exactly going to bust your arse in frozen conditions with them but I think excluding the LTX which is hit or miss as a M/S there are much better offroad tires out there if you see the frozen stuff more than just occasionally, if you don't then.. well it's either irrelevant or back to what conditions DO you see most

** whoever it was, peterson's or whoever that reviewed them in snow and said they had no lateral traction "at all" either couldn't drive or was going double the speeds required by the conditions

they performed very similar to the mastercraft courser m/t's (also unsipped) that i had, which are actually snow rated

_________________
03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632


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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 2:18 am 
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2-3" frozen mix
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snow
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03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632


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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 2:29 am 
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Good review, and great looking KJ.

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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:43 pm 
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I agree, good review. I have a question, though. Are you running stock 3.73 gears or did you switch to 4:10s?

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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 10:38 pm 
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switched to 4.10s or my transmission probably would have bought it already with this tire and rim combo

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03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632


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 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Sat Feb 18, 2017 6:16 am 
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I wish i had written down somewhere how many miles was on the jeep when I got these tires
I'm at 175k, i think there's roughly 30,000 miles on the tires
And they're apparently impossible to wear out, i'll try to remember to stick a groove caliper on them tomorrow at the shop but just eyeballing, i seriously doubt 1/4th of the treadlife has been worn from them. I'm not real good about doing rotations, mainly because my back is garbage and they're heavy as lead, so i havent exactly rotated them like i should have but they're very forgiving tires - at least on my vehicle, in this particular size - i'm well aware that different sizes will often behave very differently for various reasons.

but just estimating for how many miles i have on them, versus how many i think is left, and they seem to be up there in that 80kmi Michelin category - dry rot before you wear them out

and they show no signs of rotting lol.

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03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632


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 Post subject: Re: General Grabber Red Letter Tires (31x10.5R15) review
PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 8:56 pm 
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Should get a good many out of them.
I had almost 100,000 on the Duratracs when i sold the tires and wheels

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