Hello all!

First a little back-story to help with full disclosure.

I was contacted back in December by Nitto, asking if I was interested in reviewing a sample of their new Highway Dura Grapplers on my Superduty. The only thing they asked in return was to provide an HONEST review.

Of course I was interested I was running Goodyear Silent Armor Severe-Snow rated tires, and wanted to keep the tread on them for snow and severe off-road use, so this was a perfect opportunity to try out a highway tire.

I asked for a set of 285/75R16's, load range E, the same size/rating as the Goodyear Silent Armors I have been running for almost 2 years now. Both tires are rated at 3750lbs @ 80psi.

When they arrived, I was very impressed at the tread, especially the siping. Siping helps traction in rain and snow/ice. Attached at the bottom of this post is a picture of the tread. More pictures will follow after I wash the road salt off the truck

I mounted them in January and have been driving around on them for almost 2 months now, and I am very pleased. Mounting and balancing was done by a local shop who I bought my Goodyears from, and they said they balanced easily.

Here are my criteria for reviewing the Nittos, in order of preference:



Ride: A bit stiffer than my Goodyear Silent Armors, but this is what I wanted out of a highway tire. More stability, more control.


Handling: Again, a bit stiffer than the Goodyears. No tread squirm, which at highway speeds was a problem for me with family in the vehicle. Sometimes, just changing lanes, the Goodyears would let the rear of the truck move around unexpectedly because of the tread squirm. The Nittos are well planted.

Traction: Excellent dry traction, very good wet traction, and decent dirt traction for a highway tire. They are no all-terrain tire, but they are perfect for getting to the campground, or traveling on dirt and mildly muddy roads. Running through puddles or pools of water on the road, no hydroplaning or too much pulling. The tread helps evacuate the standing water very well.

Load bearing: I've put only one good load in the back of the truck, a load of broken up cement sidewalk. I was past the overload springs at around 2000lbs, and the Nittos didn't show any extra bulging at 70psi, and they handled the load just fine at highway speeds.


Wear: No tread wear is visibile after 500 miles, but I wouldn't expect any. I will be reporting back to this thread in the next few months and update everyone on what I find.


Noise: Quitest tire I've ever had on my Superduty. Again, I would expect that from a highway tire. All the other tires I've ever run were all-terrains. It's a nice change of pace though.


Other concerns and comments:

Recommended rim size is 7-9" for the Nittos. Because the Superduty stock rim size for 1999-2004 is 7" wide, this is perfect. My Goodyears required a 7.5" rim, so they weren't on the optimal rim width to begin with.

One thing I noticed is I no longer get any rocks thrown up against the underbody because the Nitto tread design doesn't catch rocks and pebbles like the Goodyears did. Again, something to expect from a highway tire, but something I really noticed.



Links to more information:

Nitto Dura Grappler: Nitto Tire - High Performance Tires for Car and Truck Enthusiasts

Nitto web site home: Nitto Tire - High Performance Tires for Car and Truck Enthusiasts

Nitto also manufactures the Mud Grappler, Dune Grappler, and Terra Grappler for trucks, as well as passenger car tires.

After my experience with the Dura Grapplers, I am definitely going to look at the rest of their lineup when I need tires for both my '97 Cougar and an extra set of All-Terrains for my Superduty.


Again, I will be reporting back as the year goes on, and will keep everyone up to date. If you have any questions, feel free to post in this thread.

 

Good review Art. Any experiences with snow yet? Still a much better looking tire than the Continentals and from the sounds of it, a much better performing tire as well. Looking forward to further info as time goes on. Thanks!

 

They look like a great highway and towing tire especially for a dually. I bet they would help in the mpg dept also compared to an A/T or M/T tire. Really like the siping.

 

Ive been running the 285/75/17's for about a month now and I second everything you've said. If it would ever snow here I'll report back on how they do. Im not complaining the 60 degree temps in Feb are great in Denver.

 

I installed a set on a customers (good friend) 250 PSD swb 7.3 about ~6 months ago and he's pretty satisfied with them.

The truck is a DD/Farm truck and he has it loaded just about all operating miles. They're wearing even with proper rotation and no complaints to date. He hasn't had to put the truck in a situation where max traction is needed save moving rolls of hay from pasture to barn. They pull "OK" but he said he can see where they would cause some issues in slippery mud.

 

krewat - thank you for the review. I was considering those exact tires for my next set which will most likely be this summer. I do have a question. How did you get on Nitto's list to try out tires. I'm available

 

Sadly, whatever snow we had here on Long Island wasn't around long enough to really get a good feel for them. We did have a few inches on the local roads, and they handled it very well for a "highway" tire.

As for mud, yes, I can see them being a problem. BUT - again, they are "highway" tires. I read somewhere else that in mud you had to make sure to apply the throttle to make sure to get the built up mud out of the tread and then they would grip. Not sure you'd want to be doing that with a heavy load though

 

Excellent review Art!

 

This is great, I also second the question on how you got to try them out? These are the tires I plan on running when I finally get around to being able to afford them for my 20" rims. They look to me like they will be good on ice and snow with that siping.

 

I looked at the site and the approved rim size for the 285's were 7.5-9.0? Would this cause a problem mounting 285's on a 7" rim. Same applies for the terra grapplers which I was considering.

 

Yeah, I saw the same thing on the website, BUT - the sticker on the tire actually says "7 - 9 inch rim recommended".

Not sure what the story with that is, but I mounted my Goodyears on the same 7" rim, and they also said 7.5" as the minimum. One half inch isn't a whole lot when you consider the tire itself is 285 mm's wide, or 11.2 inches.

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As for the question "how did you get to try those out". Not to toot my own horn, but it's because I'm a moderator on a big web site and there's a lot of visibility for Nitto here.

 

Krewat has also done good writeups in the past on products hes purchased and installed on his truck.

285s work on stock 7" rims no problem. I too have noticed the recommended rim width. Of all the tire shops I've been to I have only found one shop that would not put 285s on a stock rim and it had nothing to do with sizing. It was at Sam's club and they said they will only replace the tires with the same size that is on the truck now.

 

Thats really cool Art, rep'd you for it

 

I have Terra Grapplers in 285/75R16, been on for two years and about 35K miles now. I too am looking at the Dura Grapplers since most of my driving is commuting. I am considering getting a set of 17" wheels and going with the 285/75R17 which is just shy of a 34" tire. I figure I'll run them for the warmer months and change over for winter. Once the Terra Grapplers wear out I may go with something more agressive on the stock 16" wheels if I get the 17" wheels and Dura Grapplers.

I'm pretty happy with the tires I have now, but I'm wondering if the Dura Grapplers would be OK for plowing snow if I get the Detroit Truetrac LS units for both diffs.

Thanks for the report, rep points sent.

 

I think as long as you had a salter in the back, or some other ballast, they'd work great. The siping, as someone else said, really should help traction on asphalt/concrete.