Romeo1
Member
Recently I went to a Load range C General Grabber X3 from a load range E Kanati Trail hog. Both are 3 ply sidewall tires. They Kanati’s did phenomenal with the abuse I put them through. Lots of sharp rocks while air’d down, and great traction overall. They’re basically a knock off of the Duratrac. Lots of high speed rally stuff in the desert also.
While they held up fantastic, the rig always felt “over tired” if you will for a lack of a better way to describe it. It had a set of 245-something SL tires before I went to the 265/75/16 Kanati’s. Obviously it’s an apples to pineapple comparison between a 245 street tire and 265LTE basically mud tire. But the one thing that always nagged at me was how “heavy” the tires felt while driving. They just didn’t want to roll easily and sucked out the power. If I set the tire pressure to 38-40, it basically solved the rolling issue on the road to wherever I go wheeling, but it rode like wooden wheels. Anything under 36 psi and the 4runner almost couldn’t make it to interstate speed. At 30 psi, over 60 was difficult.
Now my impression of these LTC generals are only on the street so far. Lately I’ve just been just working on the rig (installing a winch and new seat belts/seats this week) instead of out wheeling it. So I need to get out and deflate them, do a few 60mph burns through the desert and some crawling…. But, man o man does the 4runner feel so much lighter on its feet with the Load C tires while driving. They weigh about the same at around low mid 50lbs range as the other Kanati LTE tires, and same factory 16”wheels cause, well……. I’m going to get rocks thrown at me for saying this, but they are the lightest wheel there is. Period. So that was an easy decision to keep the factory wheels this go again.
But wow…. After reading all the threads on practically every Toyota forum there is on the C vs E tire subject, I thought what the hell I’d take the plunge. She has felt like she needed more power for a while, and I considered a supercharger….but eventually talked myself out of the commitment of that one.
I found one tire that met the criteria. General Grabber X3, Load C, 3 ply sidewall, and what seems to be a good reputation. It still likes to be aired up to 38 psi for the 70+mph part, but the wooden wheel feel is completely gone going over bumps and gutters, and man does it roll easy. Light pedal gets up and moving in a way the LTE tires never could despite being almost identical in weight. Dramatically different. To the point where I doesn’t really feel under powered now. Cause let’s face it, the lack of modern power is the only wrong with the 3rd gen. Outside of some of the finer points like ease of large tire fitment and fuel tank placement, there just isn’t anything else wrong with what they are.
Only about 50 miles so far, but I think load E tires just aren’t the appropriate fitment for a light suv that will never see over 40 psi pressures. That said choices are limited for Load C tires in 16.
Like I said earlier, I need to go thrash on them before a verdict can be made, but the initial impression is wow. So much better in every way. The struggle of getting to speed just seems all but gone. Still not modern 300hp fast, but at least I don’t feel like holy hell, is this a dog and I’m waiting for a 6.2 gm diesel to pass me…. Ok maybe not that bad, but compared to my other rides, she’s slow.
Biggest problem is the lack of choices in a 16” load C 3ply MT tire. If you move to AT and remove the 3ply requirement, you get a few more choices and open yourself to the duratrac. If you go to 17”, there are way more choices. I’m glad I tried it so far. It’s made the 4runner way more fun to drive.
As long as it wheels good and still feels light and quick on its feet at 18ish psi, it seems like a home run so far.
While they held up fantastic, the rig always felt “over tired” if you will for a lack of a better way to describe it. It had a set of 245-something SL tires before I went to the 265/75/16 Kanati’s. Obviously it’s an apples to pineapple comparison between a 245 street tire and 265LTE basically mud tire. But the one thing that always nagged at me was how “heavy” the tires felt while driving. They just didn’t want to roll easily and sucked out the power. If I set the tire pressure to 38-40, it basically solved the rolling issue on the road to wherever I go wheeling, but it rode like wooden wheels. Anything under 36 psi and the 4runner almost couldn’t make it to interstate speed. At 30 psi, over 60 was difficult.
Now my impression of these LTC generals are only on the street so far. Lately I’ve just been just working on the rig (installing a winch and new seat belts/seats this week) instead of out wheeling it. So I need to get out and deflate them, do a few 60mph burns through the desert and some crawling…. But, man o man does the 4runner feel so much lighter on its feet with the Load C tires while driving. They weigh about the same at around low mid 50lbs range as the other Kanati LTE tires, and same factory 16”wheels cause, well……. I’m going to get rocks thrown at me for saying this, but they are the lightest wheel there is. Period. So that was an easy decision to keep the factory wheels this go again.
But wow…. After reading all the threads on practically every Toyota forum there is on the C vs E tire subject, I thought what the hell I’d take the plunge. She has felt like she needed more power for a while, and I considered a supercharger….but eventually talked myself out of the commitment of that one.
I found one tire that met the criteria. General Grabber X3, Load C, 3 ply sidewall, and what seems to be a good reputation. It still likes to be aired up to 38 psi for the 70+mph part, but the wooden wheel feel is completely gone going over bumps and gutters, and man does it roll easy. Light pedal gets up and moving in a way the LTE tires never could despite being almost identical in weight. Dramatically different. To the point where I doesn’t really feel under powered now. Cause let’s face it, the lack of modern power is the only wrong with the 3rd gen. Outside of some of the finer points like ease of large tire fitment and fuel tank placement, there just isn’t anything else wrong with what they are.
Only about 50 miles so far, but I think load E tires just aren’t the appropriate fitment for a light suv that will never see over 40 psi pressures. That said choices are limited for Load C tires in 16.
Like I said earlier, I need to go thrash on them before a verdict can be made, but the initial impression is wow. So much better in every way. The struggle of getting to speed just seems all but gone. Still not modern 300hp fast, but at least I don’t feel like holy hell, is this a dog and I’m waiting for a 6.2 gm diesel to pass me…. Ok maybe not that bad, but compared to my other rides, she’s slow.
Biggest problem is the lack of choices in a 16” load C 3ply MT tire. If you move to AT and remove the 3ply requirement, you get a few more choices and open yourself to the duratrac. If you go to 17”, there are way more choices. I’m glad I tried it so far. It’s made the 4runner way more fun to drive.
As long as it wheels good and still feels light and quick on its feet at 18ish psi, it seems like a home run so far.
