285 Nitto Trail Grappler Review (1 Viewer)

[12guns]

Just upgraded to some Nitto Trail Grapplers. The tires I had previously were Kelly TSR safari in the same size. I like the looks of those tires, but I have since learned due to the harder rubber compound that extends the tire life, you also sacrifice traction when wet and in other scenarios. The NTG’s seem as good or better in wet traction due to the “softer” rubber compound. I have only put 100 miles on these tires but so far they are fantastic! Super quiet for a mud tire. In fact, they are more quiet than my partially worn kelly tires. I have run buckshot mud tires made by Maxxis on a previous vehicle and these do NOT have the same loud road noise those did. I thought I would post for those people that are looking for a more aggressive tire without sacrificing road manners. So far so good!

 

[FJFOOL]

Those look great, being quiet I will have to check them out. Thanks for the report, be sure to post u

 

[nissanh]

Can you fit one in the spare location?

What is the country of origin?

Thanks

 

[12guns]

Can you fit one in the spare location?

What is the country of origin?

Thanks

No idea,
I still have my stock spare under there. Heck, it’s probably 20 years ok’d too!

 

[J1000]

Yep I am in love with my Nittos and it's going to take a lot for me to switch. I had the Trail Grapplers, now I have the Ridge Grapplers. The Trails are better all-terrain especially in snow but the Ridges are absolutely unstoppable in the rocks and also great on everything else. Just a little slidey on snow.

What amazes me most is how smooth and quiet they are on the highway even up to 100+mph. I have over 20k on them and tons and tons of offroading and they still have lots of tread: https://amzn.to/3iZu0bN #ad

The Ridge Grapplers were actually recommended to me by a Rivian engineer and now I know why he did.

 

[JT4runner]

Yep I am in love with my Nittos and it's going to take a lot for me to switch. I had the Trail Grapplers, now I have the Ridge Grapplers. The Trails are better all-terrain especially in snow but the Ridges are absolutely unstoppable in the rocks and also great on everything else. Just a little slidey on snow.

What amazes me most is how smooth and quiet they are on the highway even up to 100+mph. I have over 20k on them and tons and tons of offroading and they still have lots of tread: https://amzn.to/3iZu0bN #ad

The Ridge Grapplers were actually recommended to me by a Rivian engineer and now I know why he did.

I am currently running the BFG KO2 tires and once these go out I am going with the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. I have a few friends with these and no complaints by them so far and I love the look of them. How are they in the rain?

 

[riffman12]

No idea,
I still have my stock spare under there. Heck, it’s probably 20 years ok’d too!

I would find a spare of the same size to keep under there. From what I understand, these full time 4wd vehicles do not like to run with one tire of a different size than the other three.

I fit a 285/75/16 Cooper just fine in the stock spare location

 

[95Fantasma80]

those look beefy, I'm interested in these or ridge grappler next but i may just end up with falken wilkdpeak again.

 

[FoneCruiser]

I've just gotten a set of trail grapplers and they seem to ride super rough and noisy... which seems to be out of the norm for these tires. Out of curiosity, what pressure do you set them at? I've set mine at 36psi but they still seem really harsh. Any advice?

 

[merbesfield]

I have Ridge Grapplers on my Tundra. They are smooth but I wouldn’t say they are quite. They don’t roar like mud tires but definitely not quite. I would love to hear how the RG compare to BFG KO2, which is what I am considering for my 100 this week.

 

[suprarx7nut]

I've just gotten a set of trail grapplers and they seem to ride super rough and noisy... which seems to be out of the norm for these tires. Out of curiosity, what pressure do you set them at? I've set mine at 36psi but they still seem really harsh. Any advice?

What I've learned after extensive tire review searching is that tire noise and comfort is incredibly subjective. Someone used to MT tires might call something "totally quiet and comfy" when another person calls the same thing "unbearably noisy."

Something to keep in mind with the MT class tires is that they (seemingly without exception) get MUCH louder as the wear if they start out quiet. Hunt around on Youtube. You should find some good recordings before/after trail grapplers or other mud tires. You should expect some constant drone, IMO.

I'd love to run the KM3 or trail grapplers. Just don't think I can get over the noise.

 

[NOSAJ]

I have Ridge Grapplers on my Tundra. They are smooth but I wouldn’t say they are quite. They don’t roar like mud tires but definitely not quite. I would love to hear how the RG compare to BFG KO2, which is what I am considering for my 100 this week.

I have the ko2 on my 100 I will probably never buy another set of bfg. They have been terrible. They won’t balance at all. I’ve had them since 2016. I should have taken them back when I saw all the weights on them originally. I can’t wait to get back into Nitto which were on the rig when I bought it.

 

[TrillyPop]

My current set of tires is 285/75/18 Trail Grapplers and I have really liked them. I agree that they're quiet, and they look good. I keep them at 38psi for road driving. Mine are down to 5-7/32 and still quiet. I have a set of Yoko Geolandar G003 sitting in the garage to try next.

 

[hoser]

What I've learned after extensive tire review searching is that tire noise and comfort is incredibly subjective. Someone used to MT tires might call something "totally quiet and comfy" when another person calls the same thing "unbearably noisy."

Something to keep in mind with the MT class tires is that they (seemingly without exception) get MUCH louder as the wear if they start out quiet. Hunt around on Youtube. You should find some good recordings before/after trail grapplers or other mud tires. You should expect some constant drone, IMO.

I'd love to run the KM3 or trail grapplers. Just don't think I can get over the noise.

Yes, certainly subjective but I've run 2 sets of MT's on my LX and then switched to AT's. The noise between worn out MT's and new AT's was very significant but so was the difference in traction on rocks. So, I'm back to MT's. I think the sound deadening on the 100 is pretty good. If too loud, just roll up the windows! =)

I actually picked up some 35" Trail Grapplers and they are waiting to be installed. Interestingly, they offer them in 3 sizes that are dimensionally very similar.

I wanted the 21/32" tread depth and the lowest load rating and so I chose: 35x11.5R18

 

[12guns]

I've just gotten a set of trail grapplers and they seem to ride super rough and noisy... which seems to be out of the norm for these tires. Out of curiosity, what pressure do you set them at? I've set mine at 36psi but they still seem really harsh. Any advice?

Mine are running at 36psi as well. They are a 10 ply tire, which is the case for 90% of A/T or M/T tires in 285 or larger. If you stick with stock size, you can find 6 ply. Personally I didn’t notice a huge difference when I went to my first set of 10 ply. But, I’ve been running them so long, I’m not a good judge of that. If you went from a stock size road tire to a 285 10 ply mud tire, yes...you will not some difference

 

[merbesfield]

I have the ko2 on my 100 I will probably never buy another set of bfg. They have been terrible. They won’t balance at all. I’ve had them since 2016. I should have taken them back when I saw all the weights on them originally. I can’t wait to get back into Nitto which were on the rig when I bought it.

Didn’t BFG do a major revamp of the KO2? Is it possible yours are the old version?

 

[J1000]

Mine are really quiet and smooth. I run from low 30s to 60 psi depending on what's going on. I went to 275/70/18 and I think they are even better in snow: https://amzn.to/3vqqCOH Both the 285s and the new 275 have been super smooth for me, all the way past 100mph even.

 

[FoneCruiser]

What I've learned after extensive tire review searching is that tire noise and comfort is incredibly subjective. Someone used to MT tires might call something "totally quiet and comfy" when another person calls the same thing "unbearably noisy."

Something to keep in mind with the MT class tires is that they (seemingly without exception) get MUCH louder as the wear if they start out quiet. Hunt around on Youtube. You should find some good recordings before/after trail grapplers or other mud tires. You should expect some constant drone, IMO.

I'd love to run the KM3 or trail grapplers. Just don't think I can get over the noise.

I'm not new to MT's and AT's by any means, and I totally understand that what you're saying about it being subjective. I ended up at a local tire shop where I've done a good amount of business and just asked the owner for his advice. He took a look at the tires and quickly diagnosed them as underinflated. In fact, he said the side lugs were all out of whack! He suggested running them with at least 60lbs of pressure until they wear more evenly. I went home and pumped them up to 60 pounds and the noise was considerably better. I'm gonna stay at that pressure for a while and see if it gets better. I guess the guy I got them from had run them without the proper pressure for a long time and they wore unevenly...causing the noise and feel I'm getting. Moral of the story is: Don't expect too much from second hand tires!

 

[hoser]

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