General Grabber HTS vs Firestone Transforce HT

[ktosv]

Last night coming home for "up north" we picked up a lag bolt 5 miles from home. It must be at least a 1/2" bolt and talking to a couple of shop it sounds like the tire itself may not be able to be patched.

I did a quick search and didn't find much information regarding the General Grabber HTS tires. I was wondering if anyone has any real world experience with them? Also, any real world experience with the Firestone Transforce HT?

Our Express currently has the Bridgestone V-steel Rib tires, which the performance has actually impressed me (with the exception of deep sand or real muddy conditions) especially in snow considing the "rib" style tread. I am looking for a tire that is going to give me good wet and snow traction and occasional two track usage. I guess that is why I am thinking I can get away with a highway type tire. The current tires with 240# of salt in the back of the van took me everywhere I wanted to in the snow last winter. Considering the tread pattern of these two tires vs the V-steel they should do the same shouldn't they?

Any thoughts or opinions are appreciated.

[Boskie]

Have had Transforce HT's on my last 2 trucks and have been very pleased with them..

[buntina]

I've had both on my 2006 2500 diesel and I prefer the Grabbers.

[john_bet]

I put TransForce HT's on both the truck and the 5er in Sept. Have about 2800 on the 5er and 4k on the truck since. Happy so far. We shall see in about 2 years if I still happy.

[Itching2go]

I put a set of Firestone Transforce HT's on our Cedar Creek fiver a few years back, and followed up AT's on our 2500HD earlier this year (2wd, and wanted the extra traction for winter snow). Just traded the 2500 in for a used Chevy 3500 D/A and put a set of HT's on that rig a week after getting it. In every one of these cases, the performance, reliability, and ride has been very good at a cost significantly less that the alternatives. Good bang for the buck from my experience.

[Ezlife55]

I bought 5 HTS's for my DMAX 2500HD 5 years ago and rotate them every 8-10000 miles. At the time these were the highest rated hwy all season LT tire. They were also one of the best bangs for the buck. I think I paid $126/tire for 265-75-16's at tirerack.......I note the price has gone up since.
Most of the 50K miles on this set is towing a 34 ft FW. All of them get 80 psi towing and 70 psi not towing. They have all worn evenly and all have remaining tread well above the wear bars
Next year I'll keep the best one as a spare and buy 4 more of the same.

[CKNSLS]

The Grabbers come in an XL rating and would be fine for what you tow. As another poster already mentioned, they placed near the top in Consumer Report Magazine a few years ago. You can get them at Walmart but they call them another name but they look like the same tire and the rating is XL is in many sizes.

However, if you go the Walmart route they will only be warranted at a Walmart, but then again there is a Walmart in every small town.

[LowRyter]

I've had good luck with the Firestones but it sounds like you don't want a highway tread. You might get the Firestones in an all seasons tread.

I was camping at the Indy 500- which is dry camping in a grass parking lot across from the track. In the rain, I needed a tow to pull my rig over the slick grass. It rained when I got there and again when I left Monday morning. The track had a tow truck when we got there but we had to call for a wrecker when we left. We were pulled by a half ton Chevy with 4wd. The wrecker was pulled by a half ton Ford 4wd.

[jus2shy]

Camper G wrote:
I put the Firestone Transforce ATs (Load Range E) on my 00 Expy EB when I needed new tires a few years ago, with the forethought that I would eventually want to tow a travel trailer with the Expy. It was around that time I puchased and installed a Prodigy P3 brake control (EXCELLENT unit). The tires have way more capacity then my Expy does, but I like a good stiff sidewall tire for trailer towing.

At any rate, I really like the Transforce's. They are NOT noisy on the highway at all, and provide good wet weather traction and the tread is VERY Deep! I expect they will last me a LONG time.

The ride quality is understandably harsh compared to the P series tires the Expy came with, but I really don't care. It's not my everyday driver. To those of you who say the sidewalls ballon, I have not seen that, how much weight are you running when you see that?

The one poster said he was running his at 45PSI? WAY too low in my opinion. These tires have an 80PSI max cold tire pressure, so I run mine at 70PSI. I don't know what your owner's manual or Firestone calls for, tire pressure wise, but I would bet 45 is under-inflated for a Load Range E tire.

I have no experience with the Grabbers.

Good luck!

-Greg

Mine were at 80psi from the factory, aired them down to 60psi to make the unloaded ride bearable. My Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs didn't balloon out nearly as much as these Transforce Tires. The Duratracs were ran at a lower pressure as well, I ran them at 45 to 50 psi on an F-150. There's roughly 1500 lbs difference between my F-150 and RAM 3500. Even at a full 80psi, the Transforce tires seemed to balloon out far more than the Duratracs ever did. I also don't notice so much ballooning on other tires equipped on other HD trucks. However, I'm thinking that was intentional as the ride is plyant and the truck doesn't wallow or bob around in the turns.

[Vulcaneer]

6.7 tow rig wrote:
Transforce HT on my new Ram 2500 and I really like them. They are super quiet on the highway, seem very stable under load are good in wet conditions. The only negative is they are awful off road. But hey thats what four wheel drive is for. I will probably replace them with another set when these where out.

Isn't that what they make the TransForce AT's for? "AT" as in All Terrain. A little noisier on road tho'.

[searaydave]

i've been using the HT Grabbers on my work truck with good succes.
2007 GMC 2500hd - running 265-75-16 size i will buy again

[JIMNLIN]

Every LT tire makers website I see starts at 35 psi at around 1800 lbs and goes to 80 psi at 3195 lbs.

I use 45 psi in my rear LT265/70-17 E Michelins on my 2500 Dodge truck when not hauling. With only 2900 lbs on both tires = 1450 per tire that = 35 psi and works great. Ran the 1st set up to 115k miles.

On a 2500 chevy 5.7 with stock LT245/75-16 E I use 35 psi when not hauling. I generally ran tires on that truck up to 75k miles on average. With 235k miles this truck has had several sets of tires on it.

I had a set of LT235/85-16 E Transforce HT on a GN flatdeck trailer. They lasted 11 years and probably 50k-55k miles before I got scared of the sun checks.

[Camper_G]

I put the Firestone Transforce ATs (Load Range E) on my 00 Expy EB when I needed new tires a few years ago, with the forethought that I would eventually want to tow a travel trailer with the Expy. It was around that time I puchased and installed a Prodigy P3 brake control (EXCELLENT unit). The tires have way more capacity then my Expy does, but I like a good stiff sidewall tire for trailer towing.

At any rate, I really like the Transforce's. They are NOT noisy on the highway at all, and provide good wet weather traction and the tread is VERY Deep! I expect they will last me a LONG time.

The ride quality is understandably harsh compared to the P series tires the Expy came with, but I really don't care. It's not my everyday driver. To those of you who say the sidewalls ballon, I have not seen that, how much weight are you running when you see that?

The one poster said he was running his at 45PSI? WAY too low in my opinion. These tires have an 80PSI max cold tire pressure, so I run mine at 70PSI. I don't know what your owner's manual or Firestone calls for, tire pressure wise, but I would bet 45 is under-inflated for a Load Range E tire.

I have no experience with the Grabbers.

Good luck!

-Greg

[monkey44]

One more in the mix - BF Goodrich All-terrain 'E' ... great tire for highway, off-road, dirt, snow, and wet conditions. And they always wear well.

Been using them on my trucks for over thirty years - always had good luck, only ONE bad tire in all those years and about six trucks. BFG replaced it with no hassle. Not cheap, but good tires never are.

[6_7_tow_rig]

Transforce HT on my new Ram 2500 and I really like them. They are super quiet on the highway, seem very stable under load are good in wet conditions. The only negative is they are awful off road. But hey thats what four wheel drive is for. I will probably replace them with another set when these where out.