Hey everyone. Been away for a while. Time for some new rubber and I have some questions. The truck is a 2007 F150 Lariat, 6" ProComp Lift with MotoMetal 951's (18x9).

I have 22,000 miles on a set of 35/12.50-18 ProComp Extreme AT's. They are shot, even with 5000 mile rotations and balances. I was never happy with the tires. Not even close to the BFG's or GoodYears I have owned in the past. The dealer said the problem is that the tires are directional and they wear faster if you can't do a normal (cross) rotation. Don't know if it's true or not. I do drive like an a**hole though!!

The question: I am trying to decide between two Nitto Tires.

The Trail Grappler, 35/12.50-18. Or the Terra Grappler, 325/65/18.

I have searched this forum and have learned alot. I know the sizes are very similar. Will I be able to visually see a difference in the tires when mounted on the truck? Will the 325's (34.8" tall) look a lot smaller than the 35's, in height? Will the 325's (13" wide) look a lot wider than the 12.50's? Or am I just wasting my and your time since the tires are within 1/2 inch each way, no matter how you look at it. One last question. The truck is my daily driver and sees mostly pavement. I do go to Moab and do some off roading on the Colorado front range. Lots of rocks and snow. Not much if any mud. Which tire would be best for my application. I'm not worried about road noise.

Thanks for your time and insight,

Jose.

 

As for the size you are not going to see much of a difference at all. Howerver according to Nitto's site the Trail Grapplers width is actually 13.39, so overall its the larger of the two. You will probably see a little more life out of the terra grapplers. I rarely have to deal with snow, but if I had to guess the terras would do better (i could be wrong), and I think the trails would do better on the rock, especially aired down some. So for the terrain I think it could be a toss up. When it comes to looks I think the Trails are superior, and they would be my choice.

 

i wold stay away from nitto,,two of my buddies have them(terra grapps) and they also wear fast,,according to what they have told me,,that was why i bought the dunlop max tractions (325/65/18) and i love 'em!!! but i see alot of guys here running nitto's so i guess they can't be to bad,,, good luck in your decision!!!!!!

 

I've gotta agree with pretty much everything mdhawkin said. We've had a couple bouts of snow this year and I think my Trail Grapplers have handled them superbly. I had BFG KOs on my old Blazer and my Trail Grapplers have vastly out performed them in the snow. I love my Trail Grapplers and will definitely buy another set.

 

Between the two, the Terra's would probably do better in snow, but the Trail's are probably better all around considering what you're doing with them. But even in the snow, you're splitting hairs between the two. Someone once told me nothing sticks better to snow than snow...meaning mud tires self clean too much and the lugs don't stick as good as an all terrain...but experiences vary.

I'd get the Trails hands down!!!

Philly...I don't know what your buddies are talking about or how they are on tires but my last set of Terra's wore like iron!! Great tire, but they're just so bloody boring I wanted to poke my eyes out.

 

Thanks for the quick replies fellas. I am leaning towards the Trail Grapplers.

Any of you have any opinions on how visually different the tires will appear mounted. If I do go with the Terra Grapplers I'll be going from a 35/12.50/18 to the Terras 325/65/18. I don't want the Terras different size to look much different from the 35's I'm used to. I know that on paper the tires aren't much diferent in size. The 325's are shorter but wider than the 35's. Just don't want to be disapointed if I do go to the 325's in their appearance once mounted.

Thanks again.

 

You're talking about less than 1/2 an inch. That's roughly a 1.2% difference in overall diameter. Unless you are really looking for it, you will never notice. In fact, I bet if you didn't know there was a difference, you wouldn't notice a thing after they got mounted.

 

yea i guess they have to be rough on tires,,seems no one else here really complains about them and there are alot of nitto owners here,,so they must be good!!!!!

 

Philly I too have had 2 sets of terra's, one on my FX4 and another on my GMC 2500HD with a diesel and I abuse them pretty hard (on the diesel especially) and I've never had a tire wear as well. They even beat my BFG AT's and those things wore great.

 

I figured as much, just wanted to get some opinions. I'm taking the truck to get the new rubber tomorrow. I'm 90% sure I'm going with the Trail Grappler. Seems most of you that own them are satisfied.

The tire dealer said he has both tires in stock and he will put them side by side for comparison.

I've been away for a long time , well to be honest, one deployment seems more like forever. That's the main reason I only have 22,000 miles on my 2007truck. Not driving it for 11 months. A new battery (turning over REALLY slow), oil change and the new rubber should do wonders for it. It seems my photo album disappeared from this site at some point. I will post some pics when I get the new rubber.

Thanks again.

 

Thought I'd try to help if possible. Here's my truck with both tires when they were brand new. They are the same tire size but on the Nitto site their actual dimensions are a hair different. Virtually identical width, but the Trails were actually a bit (.2") taller. To me their is a substantial visual difference. The Trails "look" much bigger to me. Also much better! I've been happy with them so far. Almost 10,000 miles on them. I was also very pleased with the Terra Grapplers. Got 56,000 miles out of them and they were actually getting old (cracking and chunking) more than they were running out of tread. I do agree with Galaxy, they got old to look at way before that though, haha. Hope this helps and good luck with your purchase today!

305/55/20 Terra Grapplers:



305/55/20 Trail Grapplers:

 

Great post Russ! There does appear to be a difference. I calculated the difference in area between the listed tire size that you're deciding on and came up with around a 3% difference which would be a little more noticeable. I will also say the aggressiveness of the Trail Grapplers compared to the Terras also probably makes them appear bigger.

Either way you go, make sure you take some pictures and post them up after you get them mounted.

 

Dang russ, now I don't know what I want to do. I've been itching for 20" wheels for some time now, but I really like the way my truck looks/sits with the 16's. Your's looks awesome, and I'm so glad you have 10" wide wheels...too many guys go skinny. These new pics of your truck have me leaning to getting 20's and your 305/55's. They're actually a tad taller than my 305/70's, which would not be a bad thing! Decision decisions...money money!!

Oh yea...HUGE difference in appearance between the two tires. Obviously the Trail's rock. I love my GY MT/R's but already checked...they don't have a 305/55 for the 20, so I will be going with the Trails if I swap wheels based off your truck.

 

don't know it this helps but here is a picture of that exact size terra grappler on my truck with 18x9s

 

Thanks.

Thanks. That would be a tough call. Your truck looks so good already. I don't think you can go wrong either way. And yeah, I'm happy with the wide wheels. I let the guy at 4wheelparts talk me out of it the first set of wheels I put on (17x8) and I hated it from the moment I drove away. That was prior to me really getting into this forum and doing research for myself. Was much happier with the 10" wide wheel. And I'm happy with the Trails so far. I love the way they look. Kinda like you, they were a little different from the Toyo's (which I was set on buying before these came out and still love). And they ride nice too.