A General announcement Grabber GT is making tracks in NZ

Tyres may be round, black and made of rubber, but they are also very different animals when compared against each other, as we found when we put a set of Grabber GT’S to the test recently.

OK, so what’s a Grabber GT? This is a new tyre which hails from the rubber plantations of General Tires – a US tyre manufacturer with numerous historical distinctions and recognised as a tyre supplier to the adventure user, with a strong focus on serious rubber for high performance utes and competitive off-road vehicles.

The General Tire story is quite something. In a very short precis: from its earliest history back in 1915 as a small tyre company (family-funded) of Akron, Ohio, General Tire grew to become noticed and respected as a pioneering company, ultimately being purchased by Continental A.G. – the world’s fourth largest tyre company.

The first of the General Tire product range to land here properly is the Grabber GT – a tyre specifically designed to meet the needs of the everyday user of high-powered SUV’S – and we all know how popular SUV’S are in our market.

With tyre sizes available from 16 to 21-inch and a variety of profiles to suit, the 26-strong Grabber GT range offering is certainly extensive.

We were invited to supply a vehicle representative of the type General Tire is looking to market the Grabber GT to and test a new set of rubber.

Our testbed was a Ford Endura St-line, a strong performer, with plenty of get-down-toroad torque from a two-litre Duratorq Bi-turbo diesel throwing out 154kw at 3750rpm and 450Nm of torque from 2000rpm.

The Endura weighs in at 2555kg gross vehicle mass and – being a diesel with a conventional 6-speed automatic – it’s fair to say the Endura has road presence. It’s big, heavy and has a respectable amount of power, which made it perfect for the Grabber GT’S.

Typically, the Endura runs 255/45R20’s with a 105V load and speed rating – the V rating signifying the tyres are suitable for speeds up to – but not exceeding – 149mph or 240kph.

The Grabber GT in this specific size carries a comparatively new W speed rating, which indicates a sustained top speed of 168mph (270kph), lending credence to the claim the Grabber GT is aimed at higher performance applications. Not that we had access to a race circuit, you understand.

Our first experience of the Grabber GT was on the same afternoon as driving the OEM tyre brand to Mowbray Automotive, who – very professionally – handled the tyre changeover for us.

The OEM tyres had done probably somewhere around 5000 to 6000kms and were well and truly bedded in, yet they were still quite loud and coarse in terms of ride quality.

There also seemed to be a surprising amount of ‘lumpiness’ present, especially at low speed; something I remembered from a previous Endura drive.

Once the Grabber GTS had been fitted, balanced then put on the Ford, the SUV’S drive characteristics were immediately different.

The lumpiness had been smoothed out, the sound reduced – and this was noticeable on the halfway down the street trip from Mowbrays to the office.

Both observations were reaffirmed on my

drive back to Auckland city over the Harbour Bridge, when I turned down the volume of the radio because it didn’t need to be as loud as I had set it previously.

Later that night, I had a little ‘play’ on a deserted stretch of winding, varied camber roads in the western districts and discovered that yes, the Grabber GT’S were certainly designed with high torque output engines in mind.

Putting the Endura through some twisty bits saw the Ford exhibiting a fair rate of body-roll, but the tyres stayed firmly planted regardless, maintaining a good trackline without any indication of protest or uncertainty. “Sticks like s#%t to a blanket” was the phrase that came unbidden to mind.

The following day, in our attempts to make a spectacular introductory video for the Grabber GT’S, we set about finding some gravel to spit out from the back end of the Endura.

It was kind of like working with small children or animals, as the tyres just refused to co-operate, merely launching the big SUV smoothly and confidently away from a footto-the-firewall standing start with plenty of traction and – absolutely no spit-back!

And it was almost as bad (but that means it was good) coming to a halt. Were it not for clouds of dust burying my cameraman, and the ABS doing its best to find purchase, you’d think I was on blacktop for all the gravel shifting that was not going on...

We next found some rutted dirt tracks liberally dosed with pine needles – probably one of the worst tractive surfaces – and while the lead car slipped and slithered its way ahead of the Endura, the Grabber GT’S all but scoffed at the idea that this was a challenge.

Given the Grabber GT’S impressive ability to cope with anything we threw at them, I was keen to see if, after about 1000kms, the tyre’s innovative features would give me something to comment on.

I was looking at the Grabber GT’S tyre wear indicators, but not just the indicators which show that all-important 1.5mm tread depth. The Grabber GT’S have a number of V.A.I – or Visual Alignment Indicators – lined up against each other on the inner and outer shoulders of the tyre.

These are stamped imprints bearing the letters ‘V.A.I’ which will, in the case of a badly aligned tyre – wear away on the outside or the in, so that the user/driver can determine something is amiss with the wheel alignment and remedy the situation to prolong the life of the tyres.

The second innovation are three words, similarly indented into the centre tread block. The words “Replacement Tire Monitor” will eventually wear down and be replaced by the inscription “Replace Tire” in accordance with the wear indicators, which are often difficult to see.

Happily – and I was expecting this – the Ford had been looked after in terms of its suspension, so no untoward indications were found. I could see however, that yep, these would definitely do as advertised should anything go awry in the alignment.

As far as the sound suppression goes and to demonstrate that this was not a purely subjective opinion, the Grabber GT tread design is what General Tire refers to as ‘harmonised tread structure’.

This is done through closing up the shoulder blocks and containing unwanted sound in a smaller centre section of the tyre, as opposed to letting it disperse over the entire footprint.

Does it work? Shh, I’ll whisper the answer to you while we drive, and you tell me…

“While the lead car slipped and slithered its way ahead of the Endura, the Grabber GT’S all but