Vehicles used:
2006 Porsche Cayenne V6

If you ask people about General tires, many will remember the decades-old ad slogan "sooner or later you'll own Generals" & think of a full-size American sedan cruising around on non-descript whitewall tires. These days, General Tire is working hard to change this perception & give drivers new reasons to own Generals by developing modern tires that match today's wide variety of vehicle & driver needs - from low-profile high performance summer tires to aggressive all-terrain tires for off-road use & everything in between.

General recently introduced the Grabber HTS as the newest member of the Grabber family of SUV & pick-up/light truck tires, focusing on all-season traction & ride quality for drivers who never need to venture off paved roads & highways. To gain a better underst&ing of how well the new General Grabber HTS fits with today's modern SUVs, the Tire Rack team conducted a Real World Road Ride & Performance Track Drive using our 2006 Porsche Cayenne V6 SUVs, comparing the Grabber HTS with the Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza & Pirelli Scorpion STR. Our evaluation used new, full tread depth 255/55R18 tires mounted on 18x8.0 wheels.

What We Learned on the Road

Our 6.6-mile loop of expressway, state highway & county roads provides a great variety of road conditions that include city & highway speeds, smooth & coarse concrete, as well as new & patched asphalt. This route allows our team to experience noise comfort, ride quality & everyday h&ling, just as you would during your drive to school or work.

Since these products & the vehicles they are intended for usually travel only on paved roads for everyday driving duties, ride quality is often an important parameter for most drivers. The Grabber HTS led the group in this area, doing a good job minimizing the annoying rhythmic impact of expansion joints & smaller ripples in the road surface. Larger impacts delivered a more noticeable jounce to the driver but at a level comparable to the other tires in the test. The Pirelli Scorpion STR & Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza were found to be very similar in ride quality, just behind the Grabber HTS, with a slight advantage to the Pirelli.

The Grabber HTS & Pirelli Scorpion STR did a good job minimizing tread noise, while the Dueler H/L Alenza produced slightly more tread noise at lower speeds. The Dueler H/L Alenza & Grabber HTS did a good job at muffling impact noise while the Scorpion STR produced a subtle but noticeable boom when encountering medium- & large-sized bumps.

Our team found the General Grabber HTS offered the best road h&ling & driving feel of the group with excellent on-center feel when travelling straight at highway speeds combined with responsive steering when cornering. The Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza was also well-liked by our team, displaying a somewhat heavier feel in the steering wheel that felt solid & as if the tire was connected to the road. Close behind was the Pirelli Scorpion STR with h&ling characteristics that are appropriate for the category but lacking a bit of the precision & stability of the other two tires in the test.

What We Learned on the Test Track

Our 1/3-mile per lap test track course includes 90-degree street corners, lane changes & simulated expressway ramps. Run in both dry & wet conditions, the test track allows our team to experience the traction, responsiveness, h&ling & drivability normally only encountered during abrupt emergency avoidance maneuvers or competition events.

By the lap times alone, it's virtually impossible to find a difference in dry tire performance among this group, but from behind the wheel our team was able to feel noticeable subjective differences. The General Grabber HTS felt nimble & responsive & was easy to negotiate our course at maximum speed. The Pirelli Scorpion STR displayed responsive steering & excellent front & rear balance that minimized understeer but felt as if it needed more overall traction. The steering response of the Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza felt sluggish in comparison to the Grabber HTS & exhibited some gentle understeer when cornering hard.

In wet conditions the differences were more apparent, both from behind the wheel & when comparing overall lap times. Again the Grabber HTS led the pack with excellent overall wet traction, responsive steering & sure-footed braking. While the Scorpion STR displayed noticeably more understeer & engaged ABS much more easily under hard braking than the other two tires, it provided enough overall wet performance to post the 2nd fastest overall average lap times despite being more difficult to drive at the limit. The Dueler H/L Alenza was found to have good subjective cornering traction with gentle understeer when reaching the limit but was not able to match the pace or overall traction level of the other tires.

Product Details

Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza (Highway All-Season): The Dueler H/L Alenza with UNI-T & UNI-T AQII is Bridgestone's light truck & SUV Highway All-Season tire that was developed for the drivers of premium, luxury sport utility vehicles. The Dueler H/L Alenza is designed to provide elegance with an edge, as well as year-round traction, even in light snow.

General Grabber HTS (Highway All-Season): The Grabber HTS is General Tire's Highway All-Season light truck tire developed for the drivers of crossover & sport utility vehicles, as well as pickup trucks & full-size vans. The Grabber HTS was designed to combine style, comfort, durability & performance in a tire that offers pleasant road manners & a long life, as well as year-round traction, including in light snow.

Pirelli Scorpion STR (Highway All-Season): The Scorpion STR A & Scorpion STR tires are Pirelli's premium Highway All-Season tires that were designed to deliver the Stability, Traction & Ratings (STR) appropriate for today's light trucks by adapting their performance to the needs of crossover vehicles, sport utility vehicles & light duty pickup trucks. The Scorpion STR tires are designed to combine a quiet & comfortable ride along with ease of h&ling & year-round traction, even in light snow.