General Grabber STX Review & Rating for 2024

At the cost of repeating ourselves, we have to remind you that these tires are only made for light trucks and SUVs. Even if you choose to ignore our caution and try to install them on a not-so-lightweight vehicle, the features of the General Grabber STX will make sure to remind you of the same.

Flang rib

Tires which come with a Flang rib have grooves in them. Sounds simple, right? What isn’t so simple is the purpose of the grooves. They are there to help the vehicle provide on-road traction, both in dry and wet conditions. Which is why most passenger vehicles, as well as light-duty trucks, choose these tires.

The grooves which you can see from outside run parallel to the direction of a rolling tire. There’s a reason behind this method as the parallel movement of both the tire and the grooves decreases rolling resistance. It also enhances the tire’s efficiency to help it consume less fuel.

Furthermore, while rib treads come in a variety of types, those on the General Grabber STX are extremely straight. Which is a good thing as the straighter the the more easily your tire will evacuate water when moving on wet roads to prevent any chances of hydroplaning.

Protection bead

First things first, the protection bead has no purpose of its own. It comes fitted on the inside of the Flang rib and that’s where its true purpose lie. In other words, if the Flang rib has done rogue, you can’t expect the protection bead to do its job.

And what is the job of the protection bead? It reinforces the Flang rib to make your tire durable. Made of steel, it belongs to the family of substances which make your tires durable. Some of the substances which other manufacturers use in place of beads include steel belts, reinforced sidewalls, and multiple plies.

All these substances differ in their shapes but all have one thing in common. They join their forces with that of the Flang rib to make your tires durable. That means that if you want your tire to last long, make sure it comes with one of these substances. 

Duragen Technology

In contrast to your average tire manufacturer, General always provides its models with exclusive technologies. Luckily for you, the General Grabber STX isn’t any different as it comes equipped with the latest Duragen Technology.

What this technology has done is to introduce cuts in the tread of the Grabber STX. That’s a bold decision once you consider that not many tires which aren’t meant for off-road conditions have such deep cuts. Though this bold decision does have its merits.

With deep cuts caressing the road surface, this tire is able to provide extreme road grip, especially on wet surfaces where other road tires tend to struggle. So you can easily drive your vehicle in the rain without the danger of the slippery surfaces taking everything out of your control.

Eco Ride

It’s up to you whether you believe in climate change or choose to deny it. General isn’t making your opinions for you. What it is doing is something that’s far better: it’s designing tires like the Grabber STX which reduce the carbon footprint of your rides without requiring you to even lift a finger.

General has made that possible by equipping this tire with what it calls Eco ride. This feature reduces the rolling resistance which your tire might otherwise encounter on dry tarmacs. That, in turn, helps improve fuel economy and reduce CO2 emissions for a cleaner environment.

General Grabber STX Review: Test Drive

How do the features of the Grabber STX make their presence felt on the road? To answer this all-important question, we took this high-quality on-road tire to a test drive. And guess what, barring one or two negatives, we were impressed with its overall performance.

Treadwear and Durability

Even before we installed these tires for a test drive, the presence of Flang rib, protection bead, and a 60,000 miles warranty had enhanced our expectations of the STX’s treadwear and durability. Fortunately, this tire met our expectations with aplomb.

Even after driving this tire for 5,000 miles up and down the country, there were barely any trouble-indicating signs on its tread. General says that you need to replace them after 60,000 miles but as our ride showed us, you can go far more if your drive isn’t on extra-rough roads.

Still, not everything about the treadwear impressed us so much. The one area where we thought this tire could have done a lot, lot better is indicators. General provides all of its off-road tires with either the Visual Alignment Indicator (VAM) or Tread Wear Indicator (TWI) (or both). We think it’s time that General provides its off-road tires with the same indicators so as to take any guesswork out of the equation.

Dry Performance

Given the fact that this tire is strictly designed for dry tarmac, it wasn’t surprising for us to note that it really shined on paved roads. Its ability to absorb vibrations emanating from speed-bumps is second to none and so is the comfort which the tire provides with its vibration-absent rides.

On further inspection, we found out that it’s its aggressive tread design which deserves our praise for this tire’s superior performance in dry conditions. Such is the trust General shows in this tire’s dry performance that it has provided it with an eye-watering speed rating of 118 miles per hour.

For those of you who are uninitiated with the term, speed rating means the optimal speed which a tire can maintain safely over long distances. The higher the speed rating – and 118mph is pretty high – the better steering control and handling the tire provides at higher speeds.

Wet Performance

Although General hasn’t marketed the tire in this manner, our test drive of the Grabber STX revealed that it performs much better in wet conditions that most of the other tires we have tested. Think we’re being too biased here? Then let’s turn our attention to its Dura Gen technology.

That’s because it’s the Dura Gen technology which is responsible for this tire’s superior performance on wet roads. It has been able to do that by introducing large cuts in the tire’s tread. These cuts, in turn, increase the surface area of the tire which would come in contact with the road.

As a result, with a bigger portion of tire caressing the road, the road grip of the tire has improved to a considerable degree. Equally important in taking this tire’s wet performance to a whole new level is the Flang rib – as it quickly evacuates water and prevents hydroplaning.

Off-road Performance

To put it bluntly, the Grabber STX isn’t for off-road conditions. Its speed rating of 118 mph is simply unattainable on off-road conditions.

And while there is no mention in this product’s T&Cs that its warranty will go void if you take it off-the-road, we saw nothing in the treadware which could convince us in assuring you that this tire will hold its own on loose dirt or gravel. It’s better that you avoid these surfaces with this tire.

Comfort and Noise

As is the case with most on-road tires, the General Grabber STX is a comfortable tire which isn’t going to trouble you with its noise. It might have an aggressive tread pattern, but one that pales when you compare it with off-road tires to reduce any friction between the tire’s tread and the road, which is how some tires generate an inordinate amount of noise.