Nitto Trail Grappler Tires

The Nitto Trail Grapplers feature deep center siping for improved wet-road traction. The Z groove between the two center tread ribs keeps lateral stability in loose mud and other areas where you'd need your tires to not easily slide sideways. Something to also note about these Trail Grapplers is that there are two different sidewall looks and tread patterns on either side of the tires. You can choose which sidewall design you want facing out when you have your tires mounted. When mounting on the XD Series wheels, the tires took very little weight to balance, proving Nitto's impeccable tire contruction. Our biggest complaint with this tire, right off the bat, has to be with how heavy they are. They must be lined with lead to resist punctures (kidding).

Trail riding on dry dirt and some granite rock was pretty good. In Moab, these tires grabbed and pulled like an all-terrain on the slickrock. They did not, however, do as well as we had hoped in the sand as the tread dug the tires into holes.

It had been a while since it had rained, but we still found a small little mudpit set up at a local off-road park. Our friend, whose CJ-8 we had adorned with new Trail Grapplers on the premise that he'd do what we wanted for testing, started questioning our motives when his headlight slipped under the mud. Fortunately, the CJ-8 had found the deepest point in the little pit and entered there.

The bottom was actually pretty goopy, but with some higher engine rpms we were able to chug the CJ out of the sticky stuff. Later, we were on a trip with a Bronco on Trail Grapplers when we were caught on top of a ridgeline in a heavy rain storm that left off-camber, muddy trails fairly dangerous. The Trail Grapplers kept the Bronco from sliding sideways in the same spots that some other reputable mud tires allowed the trucks to slide off the trail.

During some fire road running, the Trail Grapplers seemed to keep on the course well even in some of the hardpacked corners where you might slide off at speed. Our test Bronco even managed to modify its fenders off this little whoop. Luckily, we had a camera pointing backwards in the truck ahead.

The Trail Grapplers even seemd to work in the snow. The deep tread gave good bite in the soft snow, while the siping on the tire helped in some of the icier and more slippery spots.