I have been researching replacements for the Toyo OC AT/2 LT285/70-17 tires on my truck for several months and have finally settled on and installed the Nitto Ridge Grapplers. I have read dozens of articles, reviews, forums and reports on possible replacments for the Toyos and based my decision on the following criteria.

1. Durability, must be at least a 50k tire.
2. Quiet
3. Perform well on and off road
4. Snow/wet performance

When all my research was distilled down the Nitto bubbled to the top of the short list.
My next decision was whether or not to go with "pizza cutters" or stick with 285's. Much more research and I ended up going with 255's for several reasons most notably gas mileage, snow performance, road performance.

Fitment details:
3" lift (shock +spring)
JBA UCA's
Spidertrax spacer (1.25")
Stock Trail wheels
Caster at 3.8 and 4.2
Front fender trim

Tirebuyer was having a 10% sale on Nitto for the month of December so I made arrangements to have them delivered to Firestone in Hillsborough OR and then have them installed while visiting family over the holidays. With no OR tax + sale price the out the door cost was $917. Not bad.
When I rolled up to Firestone for the install I noticed the stack of tires out front and saw the Nittos tucked in a bunch of 285's and 305's and thought. holly crap those 255's are skinny! Too late now, lets roll with it!
The tire tech at Firestone did a great job on the install and commented on how great Nitto tires were. He also said a couple of them only needed an ounce to balance and all balanced well. They looked better on the truck than in the stack so I was feeling better with my decision so I was pretty stoked.
Road test.
We left Portland area for Olympia to visit more family and I immediately noticed the difference between the 285's and the 255's. They "spun up" much quicker that the 285's and made the truck feel a bit perkier. Turning was much more fluid. With the 285's I always had rubbing when backing with wheels locked, either direction. With the 255's no rubbing at all! Whoohoo! This was a big unexpected win for me. On the freeway they were stable, responsive, without being twitchy, and rolled really smooth. They tracked very straight with no pulling. They were very quiet and I really had to listen closely for the noise they did make which was at a 550Hz tone and just below wind and engine noise levels at 70mph. Definitely quieter than the Toyos.
I was able to put 500+ miles on them as we worked our way back home in various conditions from dry to wet, freeways to country roads, rain, snow, ice, everything but off road so far. I was super impressed with the performance in all conditions, especially rain and snow.
In rain, I noticed when hitting a puddle in the road at speed there was no pulling to the side of the wheel that hit the puddle. The truck stayed well in control. These tires do a great job of slicing water.
In snow, I tested some panic stops and turns while accelerating and experienced no skidding or slipping, just great traction. The snow was not a good, cold, "grippy" kind either, it was more wet at 30 degrees, it would be a red klister snow for you XC ski types. Drove the snow for about 60 miles and also packed ice. No issues at all at speeds up to 60mph in the snow.
Gas millage. I reset my millage at the start of the trip and logged the reading of 14.1mpg when I got to Firestone. I reset again after the install and logged a reading of 15.7 on the same route, opposite direction. Speed was kept at 72mph both directions. I'll take that. Speedometer is dead now according to GPS, another bonus.
Bottom line, I am super impressed with these tires and with the "pizza cutter" format. I have no buyers remorse or regrets. I'm very happy with them.
Final specs: the tire raised the height of the truck about 1 1/8". Some of that of course is new tread height + 80 vs 70. Tire height on the ground is 32 1/8".
Next up and final mod, Shrockworks rear bumper.

Here are a couple of pics of the pizza cutter look.

Careful in the rain, they are probably the worst tire I have ever run in the rain. Took them off after 6000 miles that's how bad they were. This was on the E rated 295/70/15, the C rated may be a different rubber compound since people seem to be happier with those. Just in case though, keep it in the back of your mind.

I think the difference here is these are 255 and your are 295. The 255 will "slice" through the water and the 295's will "float" over it. I drove these a couple days in the Seattle rain, heavy at times, no issues at all. Felt totally secure.


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Wonderful write up man. Thank you for taking the time to outline with as much detail as you did. Will be buying these next week.

How do they ride on the highway? Is there much noise?

I run these C rated. No issues in the rain and we get lots of rain. I honestly feel the like the tires grip the road quite well if braking aggressively. in both wet and dry. I have had them on for 8 months

See this above:

I am amazed at how quiet they are. At least the C rated.

Great write up. I don't need tires now, but will possibly consider these in the future. If you remember to do so, a write up on them at the 25k mark would be greatly appreciated.

The Ridge Grapplers worked well for the first year. Second year was trash after putting over 30k miles with 60% tread left. Fishtailing on wet surfaces and poor snow performance. Got rid of mine last week.

OP addressed this issue in his post, the tire for this post is a 10" wide tire, yours was 11+".

what did you replace them with???

To be clear ...the tire size the OP is reporting on do not come in LR C.
Yes, Nitto RG do come in LR C, but not in the 255/80/17 variant that is being highlighted on this thread.

Roger that,, E only. And the ride is just fine.


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Did you consider the Cooper ST Maxx? I have been researching 255/80/17’s too and those seemed to be the most popular among pizza lovers. Those are E range too.