10/16/2015
You drive a pickup or an SUV, don’t really drive off-road (beyond a gravel driveway or short 2-track to the boat ramp), and want a tire that delivers predictable handling, reasonable ride comfort, good treadlife, and traction to handle the variety of weather Mother Nature dishes out. That may be a lot to ask, but if this sounds like what you’re looking for, then a tire from the Highway All-Season category should fit your needs.
General Tire has recently released their latest Highway All-Season tire, the Grabber HTS 60. Replacing its eight-year-old predecessor, the Grabber HTS 60 is built for work and play, and designed to cope with the tough environment in which many drivers use their trucks and SUVs. The Grabber HTS 60 features a robust, longwearing tread compound, and a mildly aggressive on-road tread pattern designed to grip the road in any weather. To help balance its rugged side, the internal construction is tuned to help cushion the rough patches we all find out on the road.
To get an idea of how the Grabber HTS 60 drives and performs, the Tire Rack team conducted a Real World Road Ride and Performance Track Drive comparing it with the Firestone Destination LE 2, one of the most popular options currently available in the Highway All-Season category. Our evaluation used 2016 Porsche V6 Cayennes fitted with new, full tread depth 255/55R18 tires mounted on 18x8.0 wheels.
Our 6.0-mile loop of expressway, state highway and county roads provides a great variety of road conditions that include city and highway speeds, smooth and coarse concrete, as well as new and patched asphalt. This route allows our team to experience noise comfort, ride quality and everyday handling, just as you would during your drive to school or work.
Moving at the pace of surrounding traffic, both tires drove well with a small overall advantage for the Firestone Destination LE 2. Our team praised the handling of the Destination LE 2 thanks to its smooth, direct and consistent steering that felt natural and immediately familiar to driver muscle memory. The General Grabber HTS 60 also handled very well, but wasn’t quite as fluid and natural feeling as the Firestone tire.
Overall ride quality was similar between these two tires, with the Firestone again delivering a small advantage, doing a slightly better job of dulling the sharpness of expansion joints and breaks in the pavement. Both tires produced a modest amount of tread pattern noise, but thankfully for both it was a relatively broad white noise that quickly blended into the background as wind noise and the dull roar of surrounding traffic overwhelmed it.
Our 1/3-mile per lap test track course includes 90-degree street corners, a five-cone slalom and simulated expressway ramps. Run in both dry and wet conditions, the test track allows our team to experience the traction, responsiveness, handling and drivability normally only encountered during abrupt emergency avoidance maneuvers or competition events.
In dry conditions, both tires did an admirable job coping with larger inputs and the rapid changes in direction found during our handling test. The Firestone Destination LE 2 was somewhat more nimble, with quicker steering response that gave our drivers a sense of authority when initiating abrupt cornering maneuvers. The General Grabber HTS 60 followed driver steering inputs with authority, too, but with a little less instant response that in turn brought a favorable increase in stability in the faster sweeping turns on our course.
In wet conditions, once again both tires performed well, and with similar overall traction levels. The Destination LE 2 showed its quick steering response, but it was the Grabber HTS 60 that displayed more ultimate traction and reassuring handling aided by its characteristic feeling of stability in the faster sections of our course.
Winter weather is often unpredictable, and snow-covered roads change with every passing vehicle as they churn snow into slush or pack it down to polished ice. A constantly changing test surface makes side-by-side comparisons difficult, so we use a dedicated winter testing facility in Northern Sweden with acres of groomed snow that provides the consistency we need to get reliable acceleration and braking comparisons. This facility also has a prepared snow-handling course where we evaluate the stability and control of each tire during abrupt maneuvers. To simulate the icy conditions found at intersections or the black ice experienced out on the highway, we use ice at a local hockey rink and measure acceleration and braking traction.
In the snow, both tires delivered good traction. The General Grabber HTS 60 proved to be better during our stopping distance test, and during cornering/handling. Ice acceleration and braking traction were adequate, but not near the level provided by good winter tires.
Our Real World Road Ride features a relatively flat 6.0-mile loop of 65 mph expressway, 55 mph state highway and 40 mph county roads along with two stop signs and one traffic light every lap. Our team drove each tire approximately 500 miles over the course of several days. Since we wanted to compare fuel consumption results that typical drivers would experience, our drivers were instructed to maintain the flow of traffic by running at the posted speed limits and sustain the vehicle’s speed using cruise control whenever possible. They did not use hypermiling techniques to influence vehicle fuel economy.
| Tire | Test MPG* | Gallons/Year @ 15,000 Miles |
% vs. Most Efficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firestone Destination LE 2 | 22.4 | 669.6 | -1.3% |
| General Grabber HTS60 | 22.7 | 660.8 | -- |
| *Our evaluation used Race Technology DL1 data loggers to record true distance travelled. | |||
While none of the tires in this test were designed with low rolling resistance as a high priority, we did find a small difference in observed vehicle fuel economy between these two tires. Based on our results the 0.3-mile per gallon difference in observed fuel economy would result in an annual difference of almost 9 gallons of premium gasoline. At the current cost of $3.00/gallon, it would amount to just over $26 for drivers driving 15,000 miles per year.
It’s important to note our test’s fuel consumption measurements follow consistent procedures designed to minimize variables that could influence the results, however they do not represent an exhaustive long-range fuel consumption study. While our procedures require the test vehicles in each convoy to run under the same prevailing conditions, the week-to-week differences in ambient temperatures, barometric pressures and wind speeds that we experience over a season of testing can influence vehicle fuel consumption and prevent the absolute mpg values of this test from being compared directly against those of others.
Larger differences in consumption between tires may indicate a difference that might be experienced on the road, while smaller differences should be considered equivalent. As they say, your mileage may vary.
If you need a rugged, capable, longwearing tire for your SUV or pickup, then either of the Highway All-Season tires in our test will serve you well. The Firestone Destination LE 2 delivered a good blend of ride, handling and dry and wet traction. The General Grabber HTS 60 also performed well with a little more ultimate wet grip, but a slightly firmer ride.
Firestone Destination LE 2 (Highway All-Season): The Firestone Destination LE 2, Firestone’s Highway All-Season light truck tire, was developed for the drivers of light-duty pickups, vans, crossovers and sport utility vehicles. It is designed to combine long wear, a comfortable ride and all-season traction, even in light snow. Read more.
General Grabber HTS 60 (Highway All-Season): The Grabber HTS 60 is General Tire’s Highway All-Season light truck tire developed for the drivers of crossover and sport utility vehicles, as well as pickup trucks and full-size vans. Designed to combine style, comfort, durability and performance, Grabber HTS 60 tires blend pleasant road manners, a long life and year-round all-season traction, even in light snow. Read more.
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