American Toolbox

General Tire

Posted on June 4, 2017

Four harsh Pennsylvania winters have come and gone.  My truck tires started to feel like I would after buried in ice and snow several months a year.  Stiff & brittle.  OEM tires on American trucks are not performance tires, they’re work tires.  And work they did, perfectly, for four years and 50,000 miles.

I’d been researching tires for the past 18 months.  With 5/16″ remaining tread and even wear, my rubber is fine on dry pavement.  But the desert deluge and spring snowstorm?  Anything can be encountered within our duties maintaining this American products online resource.

Narrowing the field is easier than expected.  Noise and traction ratings were studied.  Forums consulted.  Experts queried.  My truck’s OEM tire, General Tire’s Grabber HTS,  is better than ever.  General manufactures worldwide but my Grabbers are domestic production, Mount Vernon, Illinois.  There’s even a new Grabber HTS60 manufactured in Sumter, South Carolina.

We went with OEM.  Our local Continental dealer gave us great pricing on a new set, mounted and balanced.  Immediately thereafter we embarked on a 6,000 mile adventure.  Two-lane highways preferred.  Through New Mexico deserts, a Wyoming snow and ice storm, and wind-swept plains of Montana and South Dakota.  Perfect traction and quiet.  Six Thumbs Up experience!