The Nitto Ridge Grapplers...

When I began to sort the details of the new lift and suspension setup, one of the biggest decisions came into play...tires. With so many different options, brands, types and of course feedback and opinions, I took over 2 months researching and reading before making my decision on the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. I am now at a point where I wonder if or when they will hit their limit on what they can handle.

Not wanting to regear immediately and also not wanting to follow the typical jump to a 35" tire, I opted to get the Nitto tires in a 305/70/17 which is a 34" tire with roughly a 12" wide cross section. This not only gave me a small amount of extra room during any hard articulation, as stated, I hadn't found any information that pressed a regear like with that of a 35" tire. Additionally I had a concern for weight in mind as I wanted to run a 10ply or E-load tire, and a 35" tire in E-load rating added a bit more weight over the current 34". With the 17x9.5" Black Rhino wheels, each corner (and the spare) comes in at just over 120lbs. While very heavy, not keen on showing much squish while airing down and being tires that love to throw rocks, these tires have literally been through everything I can get them into.

From rainy, icy and snow covered paved roads, to muddy, sandy, snowy and icy trails, I have not been let down once. The Ridge Grappler is a hybrid AllTerrain/MudTerrain, and as advertised via Nitto, they are built to handle any conditions on any surface with equal performance. Highway speeds have proven to be comfortable and predictable with no unwanted wandering, only a very slightly audible humming, and stick to the pavement in a manner I wouldn't expect from a tire like this. At lower pavement speeds there is no obnoxious road noise, they soak up imperfections even at 37psi and dry or wet surface, they stop more like a passenger car tire and same during acceleration with no slips.

So road manners are nice and all, but what really matters is their off-road behavior and capabilities. Well, they have proven to me that they have no limit, except with some minor lateral slip on ice, but they do recover quickly and my 4runner still being in once piece proves it. They clean mud and snow out very easily, generally around 6-8mph they can go from completely caked to a clear tread pattern. Sandy conditions they just seem to float over the surface, and when the sand does get soft, the sidewall lugs add additional bite and allow to power out and don't seem to dig in resulting in a stuck vehicle. Over muddy and rocky surfaces, they just bite in and go. When there is some slip, a quick blip of the gas pedal cleans the lugs and they go right back to performing and have allowed me to power out of everything.

While pavement performance, mud, sand and rocks are important, lets not forget snow and ice. While they are not snowpeak rated, and having utilized tires in the past that do have the three mountain emblem and rating, these have far exceeded my expectations. Being in SE New Mexico we don't see much snow or ice, but my adventures mapping for OnX Off-road have taken me into snow depths up to 2.5ft and over some very icy terrain. Snow handing and performance is fantastic, and with the great ability to self-clean, the tires never packed with snow and retained a clear tread pattern at speed. On ice they did perform well, however, lateral grip on ice covered rocks did lack, but very slightly. This event occurred on an off-camber portion of a trail with some ice covered rocks hidden under ice. Leaning towards the passenger side, with nothing to catch me from sliding off into the small valley, I did experience some uncomfortable lateral slipping. However, after sliding 1-2 inches laterally, the tires seemed to grab and stop. This turned into a repetitive occurrence over the trails last 1/4 mile or so, I would move forward very slowly, slip and stop, move forward, slip a tad more and so on. But after each slip I was able to cut hard driver and recover the small amount of ground loss thus keeping me on track.

So with all of that said, what is my final impression? Will I even look at another comparable option, maybe one that is tri-peak snow rated? Never...Not only will I not consider another tire at this point in time, I am planning on setting up my wife's 4Runner with a set of Ridge Grapplers, and we are also considering adding another Toyota vehicle to our current collection of the two 4Runners and that will also get a set of Ridge Grapplers. I have run both MT and AT tires in the past, and with the several weeks of comparing and reading about possible options, and now putting these through the heavy paces they have experienced, their overall performance has proven to me to be hard to match even when looking at other Hybrid AT/MT options. Looking over the various brands of products and gear that I have applied to my 4Runner, its hard for me to say I am a brand-fan of any particular manufacturer, with the exception of Nitto Tires, which I will heavily recommend to others and would love to have the opportunity to be a part of the NittoPitCrew at some point in time.

Wheels and tires purchased from https://www.trailbuiltoffroad.com/