First road trip with 245/70r16 General Grabber AT2's

kayadog · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:50 am

Drove 600 miles this weekend on my new 245/70r16 General Grabber AT2's mounted on 16x8 Cragar 397s. Cruised at 75-80mph and experienced some rain.

I LOVE these tires/wheels. They handling and cornering is greatly improved and the Jeep is much more stable. The center of gravity actually feels lower and the Jeep just generally feels safer at high speeds. It also does a much better job absorbing bumps, potholes, and expansion joints. My wife immediately noticed the improved ride.

Wet traction is excellent.

I think the improvements are a combination of the new tires and the wider track provided by the 16x8 rims with 5" backspace.

It also looks badass.

Bad stuff:
Had to trim rear flares and bang up the sheetmetal in the rear

Lost about 1 mpg (still averaged 19mpg w/ surfboard in safari rack and several miles of crawling traffic--probably more from the heavy wheels then the tires.

Tires tend to grab road surface irregularites and wander a bit at times, but nothing terrible.

snowsport · **Joined:** Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:52 pm **Posts:** 1211

I have that size Grabber too, and they're great for most applications. But yesterday we got about an inch of snow, which started just as I was leaving the house to do some running around. The snow started packing in town really quick, and it got REAL slippery REAL fast. I did a couple of nasty slides, so I turned around and drove home. I saw several guys hitting the curb on the way home, and a few near fender-benders. When I got home I swapped out the Grabbers for my winter tires, and went back out. Amazing difference, just night and day. Got my grip back. Grabbers are in the shed til spring...

kayadog · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:58 am

That's dissappointing-- one reason I bought them was for the good winter driving reviews.

snowsport · **Joined:** Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:52 pm **Posts:** 1211

They're probably great in deep snow, but I'd watch them on ice or packed stuff. It surprised me how much slipping I was doing just in a half inch of packed snow, and my Grabbers still have about 90% tread left, maybe more. If you find you're doing a lot of sliding, get them studded if your area allows that. That would be a good winter tire IMO.

kayadog · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:19 am

What are other people's experiences in snow with these tires?

Pote · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:35 am

WOW, I'm glad I went with my gut on my recent buy with the tons of snow we get here...one of the BIG reasons I went with Vatiiva ATs over the Grabbers...the general's just not a winter tire despite what tirerack reviews say...alot has to do with average to less than average siping, and their compound gets hard in cold temperatures. Just the nature of their rubber. Other ATs live for snow and accel in the slick packed snow and ice. Mine were built around the snow gripping platform and then AT second with tons of siping going 100% through the treads...the more they wear, the grippier they actually get and their prioprietary multi-compound rubber never gets hard and stays real pliable in sub zero weather which is very key. Hakka siping eats snow and ice for breakfast.

Jeger · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:01 pm

snowsport wrote:

I have that size Grabber too, and they're great for most applications. But yesterday we got about an inch of snow, which started just as I was leaving the house to do some running around. The snow started packing in town really quick, and it got REAL slippery REAL fast. I did a couple of nasty slides, so I turned around and drove home. I saw several guys hitting the curb on the way home, and a few near fender-benders. When I got home I swapped out the Grabbers for my winter tires, and went back out. Amazing difference, just night and day. Got my grip back. Grabbers are in the shed til spring...

What size and brand are your snow tires?

snowsport · **Joined:** Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:52 pm **Posts:** 1211

I'm on my second winter (first winter was only the last half of the season) with Nokian Hakkapeliittas, and they're studded. Very dynamic performance on ice and deep snow. They're 245/70 x16s.

Pote · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:00 pm

snowsport wrote:

I'm on my second winter (first winter was only the last half of the season) with Nokian Hakkapeliittas, and they're studded. Very dynamic performance on ice and deep snow. They're 245/70 x16s.

These things are awesome!!!! could probably take an icy corner at 50 MPH!!!

They even have Z rated snow tires...that's insane.

_UnLiMiTeD_ · **Posted:** Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:53 pm

according to reviews, my geolanders do great in the snow, i will find out in a few weeks when the snow hits here

1stTimeJeeper · **Posted:** Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:02 am

Hey guys, Not sure if anyone has looked into the Michelin "Lattitude X-Ice" studdless snow tires. I work at Costco in Salem, OR and we sell ALOT of them.
Pretty much just a winter tire, but for those of you in the North and High Country, I'm sure you know how big of a difference winter tires make.

Also the BFG All-Terrain's are D.O.T. approved traction devices in the snow too!!!!

CTjeeper16 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 07, 2007 11:05 am

The Grabbers are studdable. Why doesn't someone stud them and then give a follow up report on their performance on the slippery, hard-pack stuff?

kayadog · **Posted:** Wed Nov 07, 2007 11:20 am

Studding would be great if I could afford 2 sets of tires! I also understand that they suck on wet roads, which we get in the winter more than ice sometimes.

CTjeeper16 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:41 pm

I have yet to have a bad experience with my grabbers here in new england. With all our recent rain, I can personally attest to their solid ability to shed mud and keep you going through some slick patches, like the parking field after the UConn football games. Winter snows were traversed easily as well. These tires will certainly pull you over that mound of snow that the plow trucks leave at the bottom of the driveway.

They are certainly more stable than the set of Cooper Discoverer ATs i had on before. The grabbers are a great all-around tire for the money, but any tire designed like the grabber with moderately sized lugs will break free if you mash the gas pedal. Just take things slow, and you'll find the grabbers won't dissapoint in most circumstances.

snowsport · **Joined:** Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:52 pm **Posts:** 1211

kayadog wrote:

Studding would be great if I could afford 2 sets of tires! I also understand that they suck on wet roads, which we get in the winter more than ice sometimes.

I never had any trouble with the Grabbers on wet roads at all. They performed very well in all sorts of conditions for me, with the one exception of smooth ice (the kind you find at intersections before the sand trucks show up). Those few blocks of driving on ice were really hairy.

kayadog · **Posted:** Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:59 pm

"Studding would be great if I could afford 2 sets of tires! I also understand that they suck on wet roads, which we get in the winter more than ice sometimes."

My Grabbers are great on wet roads. I meant that studded tires suck on wet roads.

Pote · **Posted:** Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:11 pm

Quote:

but any tire designed like the grabber with moderately sized lugs will break free if you mash the gas pedal. Just take things slow, and you'll find the grabbers won't dissapoint in most circumstances.

...except anything put out by Nokian. Mash the pedal all you want, these tires aren't coming loose. Check out what kind of insane snow and smooth as glass ice tests these guys run on their tracks in Northern Europe...40, 50 + mph cornering around polished ice tracks. In head to head against Michelin's best snow tire, it was not even a contest. Around the corners, Michelins just kept going in a straight line right to the snow banks...stopping, Michelins best took an extra 30 meters to stop traveling at the same speed. Ice tests put the competition to shame.

http://www.nokiantires.com/en/dna.aspx

CTjeeper16 · **Posted:** Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:34 pm

Very impressive. Certainly warrants nokian being a top choice.

My one reservation would be on their off-road ability. The tire tread seems very akin to the Goodyear Wrangler SR-A or my old Cooper Discoverers--and those had difficulty shedding mud that was sticky or thick. The Grabbers are much more beefy and have notably larger gaps between lugs in the tread than the goodyear or the cooper allowing for a self-cleaning ability great for an AT tire.

But if they work, awesome. I'm sure many people will find this very useful and certainly provides information on a very good option for upgrading ones tires.

snowsport · **Joined:** Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:52 pm **Posts:** 1211

It's too bad they don't make the WRs in our sizes, they are Nokian's best for ice and snow. If you have a passenger car and need the best ice/snow radial available, check them out. One thing for sure, those Finns have sure figured out how to travel safely in winter.

Pote · **Posted:** Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:54 pm

CTjeeper16 wrote:

Very impressive. Certainly warrants nokian being a top choice.

My one reservation would be on their off-road ability. The tire tread seems very akin to the Goodyear Wrangler SR-A or my old Cooper Discoverers--and those had difficulty shedding mud that was sticky or thick. The Grabbers are much more beefy and have notably larger gaps between lugs in the tread than the goodyear or the cooper allowing for a self-cleaning ability great for an AT tire.

But if they work, awesome. I'm sure many people will find this very useful and certainly provides information on a very good option for upgrading ones tires.

The Nokian AT I have actually has a tread pattern very close to Revo's...real close. They are also big lugs like the grabbers - they are 17/32 I think. I'm just sooo impressed with these. Winter is going to be fun. If you look at your grabbers, they actually have a PERCEIVED bigger gap between the lugs only at the sidewall, the straight across tread is the same as any other or like the KOs tread. that big gap at the sidewall is not reproduced anywhere else on the tire tread at that width. its purely for a chunky affect when looking at the tire from the side. If you know what the Revo tread looks like, these vatiivas are the same....but with waaay better siping that goes 100% through the tread....you won't find that in grabbers or many others...most stop at 50% and in winters 2, 3 and 4 you have treads with zero siping and are downright dangerous on the ice.

one thing about the grabbers too, in sloppy mud, they become racing slicks due to the tread pattern. there's a whole thread on them with pics showing how they just clog up.

First road trip with 245/70r16 General Grabber AT2's

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