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.

Firestone transforce are top quality and of the 8 to 10 sets my son and I have had we have never a a failure.

Don't know anything about the Firestone. Consumer Reports rated the Grabber HTS as a top tire a few years ago. My wife had the Grabber HTS on her Acura MDX and they had good traction in all conditions and lasted about 50K miles. I have the Grabber currently on my truck and I've put only about 15K miles over the last two years and so far they have done well.

We have Firestone Transforce HTs on our truck. We have been very happy with them. They wear well and have excellent traction which is important with our dually.

I know 2 people who have had Firestone failures. Neither one could get Firestone to do anything for them! They may be great tires.

I have a set of Firestone Transforce HT's on my F250. They sing a little but traction is great and they have a good reputation.

General Grabber HTS vs Firestone Transforce HT

Boskie
Explorer
Nov 09, 2013
Have had Transforce HT's on my last 2 trucks and have been very pleased with them..
buntina
Explorer
Nov 09, 2013
I've had both on my 2006 2500 diesel and I prefer the Grabbers.
john_bet
Explorer II
Nov 06, 2013
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
Explorer II
Nov 06, 2013
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
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
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
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
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
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
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
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
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
Explorer
Nov 06, 2013
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
Explorer
Nov 05, 2013
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