Continental Tire the Americas LLC recently showed off the capabilities of two new tires at a ride-and-drive event for some its biggest customers at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, Pa. One was a General brand — the Grabber X3, and the other was the Continental TerrainContact A/T (see article here).
The “X3” in the new General Grabber X3 stands for extreme dirt, mud and rock, making it Continental’s first true M/T tire in the U.S. It will replace the original Grabber, which was “really intended to take us into the off-road market for desert racing and short-course racing,” said Travis Roffler, Continental’s director of marketing, when the company previewed the tire for its Gold dealers earlier this year.
“For rock, we have multi-angled gripping edges,” said Joe Maher, product manager for passenger and winter tires. “So basically, the tire (provides) traction in every direction.” In addition, a series of ribs in the shoulder protect the upper sidewall from damage.
The tire will be available in 29 sizes beginning in September. There will be 16 LT sizes with rim diameters ranging from 16 to 20 inches featuring an 18/32-inch tread depth; and 13 flotation sizes with rim diameters ranging from 15 to 20 inches with a 21/32-inch tread depth.
Thirteen of the sizes will be available with either black lettering or red letters. Some of the tire’s design features are:
- For mud, the tire offers a high void pattern design, evacuation channels and alternating shoulder scoops.
- For dirt, there are block chamfers, traction notches and stone bumpers.
- For rock, the tire is equipped with multi-angle gripping edges, deflection ribs and pads, and sidewall lugs.
- For on road driving, the Grabber X3 has a siped tread design for wet and winter performance and a multi-pitch pattern to minimize noise.
- Duragen technology provides three-ply construction in all sizes, a robust compound and ultra-high strength steel belts.
The tire maker reported a comprehensive benchmarking, development and evaluation program was created to ensure a robust entry into the mud-terrain segment. The program included over three years of development, 16 tread patterns, over 500 hours of off-road testing, more than 1,000 tires built and tested and well over 2 million miles of testing in a variety of extreme conditions.
