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Last updated 6/27/2024 - Originally published 6/27/2024
Written by SimpleTire
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For off-road enthusiasts seeking exceptional performance and durability, the Japanese tire brand Nitto manufactures some of the most robust mud terrain tires, while the American brand Firestone continues to be a trusted name. A part of the Bridgestone family now, Firestone’s legacy dates back to 1900, when the tire industry was in its nascent stage. Nitto is comparatively newer, launched in 1949, but the Japanese brand has established its reputation as a leading tire manufacturer thanks to its advanced engineering techniques. What if you want to choose a mud terrain tire from these brands? In this comprehensive review, we dive deep into details about the following two tires to help you make an informed buying decision.
The Firestone Destination M/T2 and the Nitto Trail Grappler M/T claim to offer outstanding durability, superb traction, and longevity to tackle some of the toughest terrains with confidence. These tires provide significant resistance against tears, chips, and cuts to ensure a confident off-roading experience. Let’s compare Firestone Destination M/T2 vs Nitto Trail Grappler M/T, based on our proprietary SimpleScore and find out which of these mud terrain tires perform better.
Firestone launched its Destination M/T2 in 2017 in the US, replacing the Destination M/T as a durable mud terrain tire. The M/T2 is engineered for SUVs, Jeeps, and light trucks to tackle challenging off-road terrain. Drivers experience better off-road traction, durability, and grip, while the Destination M/T2 resists chips and tears. The tread design is aggressive and features mud and stone ejectors to clear debris, restoring traction on unpaved surfaces. The tire has been designed to handle deep mud, sand, gravel, rocks, dirt, and even snow, making it a great choice for off-roading enthusiasts. With its biting edges, the tread offers optimal traction in wet and muddy terrains, enhancing the tire's overall performance amidst nature’s challenges. With its new-generation rubber compound, aggressive upper lugs, and robust 3-ply sidewall construction, the Destination M/T2 ensures longevity during off-road adventures.
With a great SimpleScore of 8.3, the Firestone Destination M/T2 offers dependable rides in adverse conditions.
Designed for SUVs and light trucks, the Nitto Trail Grappler M/T excels in off-road environments, offering puncture resistance and robust performance on beaten tracks. The balanced void ratio in this tire removes dirt and mud, ensuring consistent traction on off-roads and various terrains. With a 3-ply sidewall construction, these tires provide added durability to resist punctures and abrasions, which enhances their longevity during demanding off-road adventures. The dual sidewall design of the Trail Grappler M/T is one of its outstanding features that allows drivers to customize the appearance of the tire to suit their requirements. This tire is capable of conquering dirt, mud, and rocks, offering adequate stability and strong performance. Integrated with advanced sound analysis equipment, the mud-terrain tire reduces noises while exploring beaten tracks.
Boasting a great overall SimpleScore of 8.6, the Trail Grappler M/T promises stable rides and durability on off-roads.
For off-road tires, traction is among the crucial aspects as it ensures stability and grip on various terrains. Proper traction helps the tire retain surface contact, preventing the vehicle from slipping or skidding. Both the Firestone Destination M/T2 and Nitto Trail Grappler M/T assure great traction.
The Destination M/T2 boasts an impressive 8.4 traction score, thanks to its aggressive tread pattern and specialized rubber compound. The deep tread blocks and biting edges offer enhanced grip on mud, dirt, rocks, and other off-road surfaces. Thanks to the self-cleaning features of the tread, the footprint remains clear of mud and debris to maintain consistent traction.
The Trail Grappler M/T performs equally well in traction, scoring 8.4 on this parameter. While its balanced void ratio efficiently removes mud and dirt to provide consistent off-road traction, the tread design of the Nitto tire features robust blocks and sidewalls that enhance stability and grip in challenging conditions.
Both the mud-terrain tires fare equally well when it comes to traction, offering off-road enthusiasts confident performance on various terrains.
ADVANTAGE: Tie
Durability is paramount for mud-terrain tires, especially in rugged off-road environments. Both these tires are highly durable and come with features like puncture, cut, chip, and tear resistance, as well as rim protection.
With an 8.3 durability score, the Destination M/T2 features sturdy construction and multi-ply sidewalls for enhanced durability. With its reinforced tread blocks, the tire offers excellent puncture resistance against sharp rocks and debris. While the optional studs provide extra biting edges for improved winter performance, the rim guards enhance protection against wheel damage, ensuring long-lasting performance on challenging terrains.
Boasting an 8.6 score, the Trail Grappler M/T prioritizes durability with a robust 3-ply sidewall construction and advanced rubber compound. Its sidewall design enhances resistance to cuts, chips, and abrasions, ensuring dependable rides during off-road adventures.
Both tires are engineered to withstand tough conditions; however, it's the Nitto Trail Grappler M/T that delivers better durability to off-road enthusiasts looking for rugged performance.
ADVANTAGE: Nitto Trail Grappler M/T
The longevity of a tire determines its service life or the number of miles it will serve. For mud-terrain tires, high longevity indicates its ability to withstand wear and tear over time.
With a longevity score of 8.2, the Destination M/T2 promises a long-lasting performance thanks to the durable rubber compound and reinforced construction, which prolongs its lifespan. The optimized contact patch of the Destination M/T2 distributes pressure evenly, ensuring even wear throughout its lifespan. It is backed by Firestone's 90-day buy-and-try guarantee on tires sold in sets of 4 or more.
Comparatively, the Trail Grappler M/T is built to withstand off-road challenges, returning a fantastic longevity score of 8.3. It comes with a strong 3-ply sidewall construction and an advanced rubber compound that enhances the tire’s resistance to cuts, chips, and abrasions, ensuring even tread wear, and improved longevity.
As evident from their SimpleScores, the Nitto tire gains an edge over its Firestone counterpart for longevity.
ADVANTAGE: Nitto Trail Grappler M/T
Mud-terrain tires are designed to handle the toughest challenges of nature, as they excel in mud, sand, dirt, rock, and gravel. These tires feature aggressive tread designs and reinforced sidewalls to resist damage during off-roading adventures. Although mud-terrain tires are meant for exploring beaten tracks, they can also be used on highways and paved roads from time to time.
Off-roading enthusiasts may also go for all-terrain tires to experience a good mix of on and off-road driving. You can also check out rugged terrain tires, which comes with the benefits of all-terrain and mud-terrain tires. Thanks to the larger grooves and tread blocks these tires maximize traction and boost durability.
Now that we have compared Firestone Destination M/T2 and Nitto Trail Grappler M/T tires, it’s time to choose the winner. Off-road enthusiasts prioritizing traction and resistance to hydroplaning can choose any of these tires as both have the same traction scores, with no clear winner. Whether its durability or longevity, the Trail Grappler M/T has an edge over the Destination M/T2.
Comparing the prices for the LT255/75R17 tire size, the Firestone Destination M/T2 costs around $344 per tire while four such tires cost $1376. Similarly, the Nitto Trail Grappler M/T costs about $278 per tire, with four costing $1112 (a difference of $264).
Based on SimpleScore, you can choose the Firestone Destination M/T2 if you:
You can go for the Nitto Trail Grappler M/T if you:
Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help, and our helpful agents will be more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.
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