EXCAVATING With Rubber
Torture testing the Nitto EXO Grappler AWT
Yin and Yang. For the miserable hours, deplorable conditions and constant belittling, this “editor” gig does have its perks… Nitto’s release of the EXO Grappler AWT tire in Canada needed a great ‘hurrah’ to find the right genre of truck owner. We tried telling Nitto’s top brass that nobody watches TV ads anymore but our warnings went unheeded. However, they did require a vehicle to slap the new tires on and commence filming. Upon hearing this news, we eagerly raised our scarred paws to volunteer for a chance to try out the EXO during the shoot.
With some careful measuring, a dash of luck, and a call to www.wheelspacers.ca, we shod editor Irons’ 2012 Ram 1500 with a set of 35x12.5x20 EXO Grapplers (despite all the tire shop “that won’t fit” nay-sayers). We mention wheelspacers.ca because we like the look of the factory wheels, but in order to have enough clearance to fit big rubber without hitting the upper control arms, we needed a more room. A set of billet aluminum 0.25-in spacers to fit the 5x5.5 bolt pattern, and 14 mm bolts were sent our way super quick. The tires rub slightly at full lock on the plastic inner fenders up front, but “self-clearance” was the motto of the day.
Nitto’s EXO Grappler is a toughas-nails light truck tire for the nastiest working truck jobs and will return the rough usage with a long tread life. Plenty of siping combined with deep voids in the tread block allow for good winter weather tractions as the “snow flake” symbol on the sidewall depicts. For such a large tire, we were surprised with how square the tire sat once inflated. With our 20x9.5-in rims, we landed on 28-psi front and rear.
The Nitto’s produced a slightly louder ride than the super lightweight and flimsy Goodyear GSA’s, but this was anticipated with the more aggressive tread block design. Street handling was tight and controlled despite the deep lugs.
The shoot started with some spirited street driving done by our resident tire killer Budd Stanley, as he unleashed his vengeance on editor Irons’ innocent truck. After a few hours of low speed truck chasing and killer drive-by’s, the canyon
carving tarmac sessions were over. It was heavy hauler time.
We hooked up a car hauler loaded with two plus tonnes of CJ-7 strapped to the deck, and wheeled off to yet another shoot. We chalk tested the tires again only to discover we didn’t have to do a thing for an even wear pattern. We contribute this to the EXO’s strong 3-ply sidewall and very square construction. The tires, combined with the Hellwig airbag setup in the rear of the truck, provided great handling towing the trailer over rough roads and 100 km/h highway jaunts.
The eye opening filming sessions started with steep gravel service roads resembling a Baja desert run. With editor Stanley still firmly strapped in the driver seat, the throttle petal became an “On/ Off ” switch for his drifting amusement as rocks shot out from the tires like bullets from a P-51 mustang. The howl of the HEMI bellowing up the mountain was akin to angels singing sonnets that bring the burliest of men to their knees and weep. Editor Irons, on the other hand, was whimpering in the fetal position thinking about the payments he still had to make on the RAM as rocks and gravel were spewing from the rear tires. His only words; “What happened to traction control?”
All joking aside, the tires performed well, inspiring confidence on the loose and slippery marbles. Some chunking of the leading edge of the tires did occur, but taking into account the violence unleashed on them, and the harder compound used to give the tire a long life, we expected this. Thousands of kilometres after the shoot, we can confirm that this had no ill effects on the smooth ride of the EXO Grappler AWT.
We’re not going to tell you that we went rock crawling in a full size truck on 35’s with no lift, but the trails we did venture on for the shoot were challenging. At a well-known local trail, we normally traverse the area in our trail rig with 37’s in 2WD. With no lockers, an automatic (and payments still to be made), we dropped the tire pressure to 15-psi and lazily bumbled up the trail nary spinning a tire unless the truck lifted one.
The film crew was looking for more “epic” shots, as they just didn’t get any enjoyment
walking up the trail. A large, sandy hill climb was our next shooting location as “stomp on it” Stanley made like a fart in the wind disappearing up the hill in 4 high. Test two was to get him to stop half way and try again. The EXO did as commanded and trudged up the hill. However, 2WD found the tires limit as rooster tails of sand were excavated until the rear end became high centered. 4WD and a little throttle work to get through the massive ruts enabled the trucks escape. Matting the go-petal just dug to the core of the earth. A few dusty doughnuts in the sand ended the filming session proving nothing.
The post-shoot driving is where we really got a feel for the EXO’s behavior under normal conditions. Although not the tires fault, the way wide 12.5-in tire does like to find and follow grooves in well-worn pavement. On the other hand, during some massive local rainfalls, we didn’t feel any hydroplaning. The monsoon like rains also brought the mud; the EXO-Grappler performed slightly better than the other AT tires we had tested in the past. Overall, we’re really happy with the tires and our currently stuck with a dilemma; do we really want to swap these out for another tire test? Nah, we’re keepin’ the Nitto’s on!
Nitto Tire – www.nittotire.com Wheel Spacers – www.wheelspacers.ca