General Grabber Hts Tires

[artbuc]

Getting ready to buy some new rubber. Based on my personal experience and reading this and ClubLexus forums I was ready to buy Bridgestone Alenzas. Went to Tirerack and discovered the #1 tire is General Grabber HTS which blows away the Alenzas. Grabber's are $90 vs $135 for Alenzas.

I've never had General tires on any of my cars. I'm very reluctant to move away from Bridgestone but the Grabber's look too good to pass up.

Anyone have any experience with the General Grabber HTS tires?

Update: I just talked with Tirerack. They said the Grabber's performance deteriorates as it wears. They said the Alenza is a far superior tire over its expected life and that the Grabber's ratings will definitely go down as consumers get more experience with them. I don't know if Tirerack has a vested interest in pushing Alenzas over Grabbers (they said they didn't) but the person I spoke with had a very strong negative opinion of Grabbers. Now, the person I talked with did ask me to mention his name when I placed the order because they are paid on commission so I assume he will make more $$ if I buy a $135 tire vs a $90 tire.

[RX in NC]

The entire General tire line is typically considered no better than mediocre by long-time tire industry employees. I doubt if I would purchase a set of General tires for any of our vehicles, regardless of the deal....

We have a set of Alenzas on my wife's 2004 RX330 AWD and they have indeed lived up to their reputation (now approaching 43,000 miles). I went with Alenzas because in her 18-inch wheel requirement, the tire choices were narrowed significantly at the time (February 2007). But if you have 16-inch or 17-inch wheels on your RX300, go with a set of Firestone Destination LE tires. I ran that tire for nearly 53,000 miles on her previous 2000 RX300 AWD and they performed flawlessly. The guy who bought that vehicle from us liked the Destinations so much that he put a new set on the vehicle when he hit 60,000 miles on my original set. I also put a set on my daughter's 2000 Grand Cherokee in November 2005 and they have done very well given the fact that my daughter does not check her tire pressure nearly as often as she should. The Destination LE is essentially the first cousin of the Alenza at a little more than HALF the price assuming you negotiate as you should (I recently negotiated that I would buy 3 and get 1 free). I believe that it is the best SUV/truck tire for the money on the market today. It uses most of the same technology and compounds as the Alenza and carries a 60,000-mile treadwear warranty as opposed to the Alenza's 65,000-mile treadwear warranty. Do the research at tirerack.com and on the Bridgestone and Firestone websites and I think you'll draw the same conclusions as I have. Plus, I have experience with this tire on two different SUVs as well as experience with the Alenzas on my wife's current RX. Trust me, the Destination LE will be at least 95% as good a tire for you as the Alenza is, and it will save you at least $250 if not more....

Check it out and let us know what you decide to do....

[artbuc]

The entire General tire line is typically considered no better than mediocre by long-time tire industry employees. I doubt if I would purchase a set of General tires for any of our vehicles, regardless of the deal....

We have a set of Alenzas on my wife's 2004 RX330 AWD and they have indeed lived up to their reputation (now approaching 43,000 miles). I went with Alenzas because in her 18-inch wheel requirement, the tire choices were narrowed significantly at the time (February 2007). But if you have 16-inch or 17-inch wheels on your RX300, go with a set of Firestone Destination LE tires. I ran that tire for nearly 53,000 miles on her previous 2000 RX300 AWD and they performed flawlessly. The guy who bought that vehicle from us liked the Destinations so much that he put a new set on the vehicle when he hit 60,000 miles on my original set. I also put a set on my daughter's 2000 Grand Cherokee in November 2005 and they have done very well given the fact that my daughter does not check her tire pressure nearly as often as she should. The Destination LE is essentially the first cousin of the Alenza at a little more than HALF the price assuming you negotiate as you should (I recently negotiated that I would buy 3 and get 1 free). I believe that it is the best SUV/truck tire for the money on the market today. It uses most of the same technology and compounds as the Alenza and carries a 60,000-mile treadwear warranty as opposed to the Alenza's 65,000-mile treadwear warranty. Do the research at tirerack.com and on the Bridgestone and Firestone websites and I think you'll draw the same conclusions as I have. Plus, I have experience with this tire on two different SUVs as well as experience with the Alenzas on my wife's current RX. Trust me, the Destination LE will be at least 95% as good a tire for you as the Alenza is, and it will save you at least $250 if not more....

Check it out and let us know what you decide to do....

Thanks RX. I know you really like the Firestone LE's and you should based on your direct experience. The Tirerack survey results are mixed on the LE's with quite a few folks complaining about short tread life, eg 30k miles. Tirerack survey's are not easy to understand with one person raving about a tire's wet traction and another saying that same tire hydroplanes easily and is unsafe. Go figure.

The Alenza does have a much higher treadwear rating and generally better test results so I will go with them. I'm not that concerned about the cost difference considering these tires should go at least 50k. I have 50k on the current Bridgestone Dueler H/T's and they could probably go a little longer. The Alenza's should easily outlast the H/T's.

Consumer Reports also rates the General Grabber HTS as the #1 LT/SUV tire. Of course, CR rates Behr paint as #1. I tried to use Behr paint once and I will never make that mistake again!

I guess it's possible that General has really stepped-up its qualty with the Grabber HTS but I will pass on it this time. If they are still the #1 rated tire, I'll buy them the next time.

[jimP]

[How about Toyo versados? 1010tires hads them rated much better than the alenzas,but their comments page is and will not be working, so there is no subjective opinions. in the 18 inch size toyos are $850.00 a set $200 more than alenzas. I dont mind paying more if they are that much better

[code58]

Getting ready to buy some new rubber. Based on my personal experience and reading this and ClubLexus forums I was ready to buy Bridgestone Alenzas. Went to Tirerack and discovered the #1 tire is General Grabber HTS which blows away the Alenzas. Grabber's are $90 vs $135 for Alenzas.

I've never had General tires on any of my cars. I'm very reluctant to move away from Bridgestone but the Grabber's look too good to pass up.

Anyone have any experience with the General Grabber HTS tires?

Update: I just talked with Tirerack. They said the Grabber's performance deteriorates as it wears. They said the Alenza is a far superior tire over its expected life and that the Grabber's ratings will definitely go down as consumers get more experience with them. I don't know if Tirerack has a vested interest in pushing Alenzas over Grabbers (they said they didn't) but the person I spoke with had a very strong negative opinion of Grabbers. Now, the person I talked with did ask me to mention his name when I placed the order because they are paid on commission so I assume he will make more $$ if I buy a $135 tire vs a $90 tire.

Artbuc- Yes to Bridgestones- No to Generals! I don't think there's much comparison between the 2. I have no vested interest in either 1. Just my experience that I have loved all of the Bridgestones that I have had and have not been very impressed with the Generals- very mediocre tire, though I can't address the Grabbers specifically. I would not generally ever chose to buy another General tire. The ones I have owned had a tendancy to develop fine cracking in the rubber.