Nitto's Trail Grappler Tire should appeal to truck owners out there who want the look
and performance of a mud tire but with slightly better road manners and a little less noise,
all for the 2 to $400 price tag.
Now I say that because this tire will vary depending on your size of course, and you
can grab it from 31 to 37 inches in diameter, fitting wheels from 17 to 20 inches in diameter.
So just make sure you're buying the correct tire for your setup.
Once mounted and balanced this thing will get a simple one out of three wrenches on
the difficulty meter from me, when we will talk about the install a little later on.
Nitto's Grappler series of off-road tires is pretty expansive and ranges from their
Dura Grappler which is geared more towards on-road or highway use, all the way down the
spectrum to their Mad Grappler which is the company's most aggressive tire they offer
in regards to all-terrain or off-road performance.
The Trail Grappler that we have here in this video is actually gonna be one step beneath
the Mud Grappler in regards to off-road aggressiveness and capabilities and again will offer a nice
balance for truck owners out there who want some of the looks of a mud tire and of course
some of the performance but without the excessive noise that comes with those more aggressive
treads.
Now to achieve that balance, Nitto took some bits and pieces of other Grappler tires and
kind of combined them to formulate the Trail Grappler here.
For instance, it took the on-road characteristics and comfort of their very popular Terra Grappler
and then took some bits and pieces of the Mud Grappler which we already talked about,
and ended up with the trail tire that you're seeing right here.
Now I do think this thing will be very popular with truck owners because of that balance.
You're getting the look, you're getting some of the performance of that mud tire, but you're
getting about 35% less noise while on the road compared to that Mud Grappler, which
is pretty nice.
Let's be honest, guys, there's always going to be some kind of expected road noise when
going to an aggressive tread design like this, but it's nice to know you're not getting as
much as you would with that mud tire.
Now to do so, Nitto kind of got fancy.
They did their 3D simulation or modeling to help shape the design of the tread blocks,
kind of move 'em around a little bit to ultimately land on the best balance of road noise and
performance, and the finished product is what you're looking at right here.
Let's stick with the tread a little bit longer here with the Nitto because it's honestly
one of the most unique things with this tire or really any tire for that matter.
Now your shoulder grooves here, according to Nitto, are gonna help provide you some
additional steering response and stability both on and off-road when you're pushing this
thing pretty hard.
And the center sipping here is gonna help kind of evacuate any extra water or snow in
those inclement situations.
But let's take a closer look at how this thing, the Trail Grappler, will help you off-road.
And taking a close look at the tread, it's pretty easy or clear to see how they borrowed
some stuff from the Mud Grappler that we talked about a little bit earlier, right?
Because check this out, you're getting those huge voids in the between the trend blocks
here, and along with that you're getting some raised portions in the shoulders, and this
is just simply gonna help you inject all of that debris out of the tire when these things
start really spinning up, clearing themselves out from the mud, the snow, the dirt, the
rocks, whatever when situations get a little bit hairy.
But I do wanna move away from the tread and talk a little bit more about the sidewall
and a feature that's pretty unique here with every Grappler tire from Nitto, and that is
the fact that they're gonna deliver two different sidewall designs per one tire.
So what do I mean?
Well, you're getting some more traditional lettering here on this side of the tire, these
tread lugs here on the side are a little less angular, but flip this guy around here and
you have more stylized lettering, the tread blocks or lugs are a little bit more angular,
you got some different grooving going on.
So it is pretty cool.
Something that Nitto offers, again, on every single Grappler and just gives you some options
when how you want to mount these things and how you want them to look.
I don't know, I'm easily amused and I think that's really cool and it is something that
is unique here with the Nitto.
Now aside from the two design sidewall, you are getting a rather thick three-ply sidewall
design, puncture resistant, and it is a little bit more reinforced around your shoulder area
here because, honestly, this is where most failures occur with all-terrain tires.
In fact, the number is somewhere around 85% of all-terrain tire failure occurs either
in the shoulder or sidewall area.
So to kind of prevent that, Nitto added some improved lugging around the sidewall which
we already talked about, and it's also gonna help give you a little more traction while
off-road as well, especially when you air these guys down on the trail.
As far as your pricing is concerned, well, 200 to 400 bucks here depending on your size
for the Trail Grappler.
Pretty standard really in the tire category.
And another big thing to point out here, gang, if you're putting these things on a new set
of wheels, grab some TPMS sensors, otherwise you're gonna get that annoyingly light on
the dash.
On the other hand, if you're just looking for a stock tire replacement to put on your
factory wheels, you can totally reuse your factory TPMS sensors without issue.
As far as that installation is concerned, well, guys, most of you probably don't have
a mount and balance machine in your own personal garage, so chances are these will be handled
by your local tire shop.
But once everything is all sorted out, bolting them up to your F-150 is a very simple task.
Yes, they're a little bit heavy but as long you have a socket wrench and an impact gun,
you should be able to knock these out in about 30 minutes to an hour.
So let's call it one out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter before you're all
ready to rock and roll.
So if you guys are after mud tire looks and performance but without the excessive road
noise, you'll want to check out the Trail Grapplers right here at americantrucks.com.
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