The Nitto Ridge Grappler tyre was one of the first tyres that attempted to combine all terrain and mud terrain tyres. We're going to put these bad boys on our Tyre Review Ford Ranger for a good 10.000km to see how they will perform. In the meantime, check out our video and find out what makes the Nitto Ridge Grappler tick and what its features are.
Oh, and see if you can spot where the audio guy decided to have a nap... it's really obvious!
Full Transcript:
- Today in the studio, we have the Nitto Ridge Grappler. This is one of the pioneers of that crossover A/T M/T market.
So this the Nitto Ridge Grappler, and way back in 2016 or earlier than 2016, there was no real tyres that crossed that line between an all terrain and a mud terrain. So if you wanted to get serious off road, then you would have to choose mud terrain. If you wanted to go for trips and longer distances, then you go for the all terrain. You couldn't have something that blended both. The Nitto Ridge Grappler was one of the tyres that came along and changed that.
So it's basically a blend between the AT and the MT. It's got the A/T central blocks, and then the M/T inspired shoulder blocks. One of the interesting things I noticed about the Ridge Grappler as well is that it actually gives you the choice between two ply sidewalls and three ply sidewalls. So basically, you can choose to have side walls that are more comfortable.
So going to be a little bit better for having the family in the car, or three ply sidewalls are going to be a little bit stronger, less comfortable, but tougher off road. And so it's pretty cool you actually get that choice. It really depends on the size that you choose that they make it obvious which one has how many plys.
Just getting them out of the box as well I noticed that these, the compound feels stickier than a lot of the other A/T M/T tyres that we've had and through the warehouse. So it'd be interesting to see how that translates into where on the road as well because this will be going onto our long term test vehicle the Ford Ranger. In terms of the sidewalls, we've got differing sidewalls on each side.
So this has sort of a square block with a bit of a daggers thing. The other side has square blocks with square blocks. Both of them look like they're going to offer pretty good protection, but they're not necessarily going to help you with that digging. They don't have angled sort of blocks that some of the other tyres have. So that's an interesting side of that.
Let's have a closer look at the tread pattern. Hear them squeak. So these tyres have an alternating shoulder group. So you can sort of see here there's basic blocks, sets of two blocks. And in between every second set or so between every set, there's this stone ejector here as well. And they've also got this stepped block edges as well, so you can see in here how there's extra little fancy work in-between. And they also have this staggered shoulder lugs so you can see how it's a bit sculpted out of every second lug as well.
Apparently the blocks are actually reinforced underneath. So reinforced block foundation, and a variable tread pitch pattern. So can sort of see how it's repeating patterns of blocks.So the entire interface is for you know, that's the all terrain inspired section, which is going to make it quieter on road. And then you've got these spaces here on the shoulders which is the mud terrain inspired section. So, theoretically the variable tread pattern will make it quieter on the road.
However it's still going to be interesting to see how these extra voids in the shoulders contribute to that road noise. So these are actually an E rating tyre. So this is the two nine five 70R17. This is the three ply side wall. It actually has a 10 ply face. So you know there's 10 layers of fabric and steel and sorts of stuff in there, and also these tyres are made in the USA as well. So again, you know that you can get, that they're manufactured somewhere where it has a good manufacturing industry.
So these tyres come in a range of sizes between two six five six five R 16 and 37 12 and a half R 22. So they're going to cover a huge range of sizes from your stock standard Hi Luxes or Ranges or whatever, all the way through to your series off road 37 inch tyres. So for all the enthusiasts out there there's pretty much going to be a size for anyone. Out of the box they come with between 13 and 14 and a half mil of tread. So that's pretty decent amount of tread in comparison to some other tyres. So that's the Nitto Ridge Grapples, we're going to stick them on our Ford Ranger.
We'll report back to you in 10000 k's as to how they go and don't forget to subscribe and hit the little bell thing if you're on YouTube as well so you can keep up with what videos we're releasing over the next little while.
