General Grabber H/T vs Firestone Destination LE3 tires

Drivers of sedans, coupes, minivans, and crossovers love all-season tires. All-season tires make the most sense all the way around for a number of reasons. All-season tires deliver long, even wear (usually with a generous limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty) and dependable year-round performance in every kind of condition other than heavy snow. All-season tires offer capable, predictable handling, a quiet and refined ride, and short braking distances on wet or dry roads. All-season tires dominate passenger tire sales for all those reasons, and you can think of highway-terrain tires as being the light truck tire equivalent of passenger all-season tires.

Highway-terrain tires are designed around many of the same performance targets as all-season tires, but with tougher tread compounds and reinforced internal design that give them the ability to easily handle the extra weight and loads of light trucks and SUVs. Today we’re going to look at two premium tires in the highway-terrain category, the Grabber H/T from General and the Firestone Destination LE3.

Are you acquainted with SimpleScore? SimpleScore is the rating system that the SimpleTire team came up with to give you a quick, at-a-glance idea of a tire’s strengths and weaknesses. We look at a tire’s technical details, spec sheet, manufacturer info, customer reviews, and other data points, then process all that down to a 1-10 numerical score for the categories of traction, handling, and longevity, as well as an overall average SimpleScore number for the tire. In the case of the General Grabber H/T and Firestone Destination LE3, the SimpleScore numbers shake out like this:

General Grabber H/T:

• Traction: 8.2
• Handling: 8.6
• Longevity: 9.9
• Overall average SimpleScore: 8.9

Firestone Destination LE3:

• Traction: 8.3
• Handling: 8.3
• Longevity: 9.4
• Overall average SimpleScore: 8.6

As you can see, the General Grabber H/T and Firestone Destination LE3 are both great premium highway-terrain tires that bring a lot to the game when it comes to the important SimpleScore categories. As handy as SimpleScore is, though, it’s still the 30,000 foot view that doesn’t really get you up close to see what a tire offers as far as performance and features. Let’s go in and get a closer look with this head-to-head comparison of the Firestone Destination LE3 and General Grabber H/T:

General Grabber H/T tires

So what does the General Grabber H/T have to offer? The Grabber H/T is a great all-purpose light truck tire that’s ready for just about anything you can ask of it. The Grabber H/T starts with a polyester casing and wide high-tensile steel belts along with a spiral wound nylon cap ply and a robust damage-resistant tread compound. A cushioned absorption layer of rubber in the subtread helps deliver an accommodating ride and low noise, and (as with other General tires) the Replacement Tire Monitor features the words “REPLACE TIRE” molded into the tread, only exposed when the tread depth reaches the legal minimum of 2/32”.

The Grabber H/T gets great grip year-round with a system of circumferential, angled, and lateral grooves as well as a dense network of 3D sipes to multiply grip on wet or snowy roads. General’s Duragen technology package helps keep the Grabber H/T on the road longer with enhanced durability and stability, and General covers the Grabber H/T with a 70,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty (50,000 miles for R- and S-rated sizes). SimpleTire’s price on the Grabber H/T starts at $183.99 per tire.

Firestone Destination LE3 tires

The Firestone Destination LE3 is an all-season that gets some of the most consistently high ratings of any on the market today and for good reason. It’s extremely durable thanks to its internal construction and damage-resistant rubber compound, with a 70,000 mile warranty, which registers a SimpleScore of 9.5 in longevity. Get confident performance year-round with Firestone’s TractionTech package, a combination of 3D full-depth sipes, open shoulder slots, and circumferential grooves working together as a system, for a SimpleScore of 8.6 for traction.

The Destination LE3’s stability, roadability, steering response, driver feedback, and drivability are all confident and capable, with that tread design boosting performance in all those areas as well as helping to keep road noise to a minimum. Select sizes of the Firestone Destination LE3 are available with a great-looking outlined white letter (OWL) sidewall. The redesigned tread footprint of the Destination LE3 helps with short braking distances and consistent handling properties, and SimpleTire’s price on the Firestone Destination LE3 starts at $97.64 per tire.

General Grabber H/T vs Firestone Destination LE3 tires on traction

How do the General and the Firestone stack up against each other when it comes to traction? This one’s a squeaker, with a SimpleScore of 8.3 for the Firestone vs 8.2 for the General. Obviously, neither tire is built for all-terrain or off-road use, and neither tire has the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake rating for severe winter service, so let’s get that off the table right away. The TractionTech package with the Firestone and the all-season design of the General is actually pretty similar: circumferential grooves, angled grooves, lateral grooves, and 3D sipes for wet-weather or winter grip. With everything lining up in such a similar way and with the SimpleScore ratings that close, this is when we usually defer to customer reviews and our customers give that slight edge to the Firestone. It’s a close one, but our decision:

ADVANTAGE: Firestone Destination LE3

General Grabber H/T vs Firestone Destination LE3 tires on handling

In the handling category, it’s another pretty close one, but not quite as close: SimpleScore of 8.6 for the General vs 8.3 for the Firestone. Neither tire is going to offer the handling of a performance tire for passenger cars (and light trucks don’t handle like cars anyway), and in most cases, traction and handling properties are tied in with each other. One of the most important attributes of how a tire performs in terms of handling is its rigidity. As a vehicle enters a corner or a sharp turn at a higher speed, its momentum tries to keep it moving forward and that puts a lot of stress on a tire’s shoulder and sidewall. That stress leads to deformation and “tread squirm,” sometimes with the inboard side of the tire leaving the pavement slightly. In the case of the General Grabber H/T, the Duragen technology that gives this tire such great durability and service life also helps with the rigidity it needs for crisp handling and steering response, resisting tread squirm even at higher speeds. Our decision:

ADVANTAGE: General Grabber H/T

General Grabber H/T vs Firestone Destination LE3 tires on longevity

In the longevity category, this one is a bit of a puzzle. Both tires have identical limited manufacturer’s tread life coverage of 70,000 miles, but the Firestone Destination LE3 comes in with a SimpleScore of 9.3 vs 9.9 for the General Grabber H/T. Again, this is one where we are going to leave the final call up to customer reviews, and customers give the nod to the General in this instance. Our decision:

ADVANTAGE: General Grabber H/T

When to use each

Let’s talk about what you really need and expect from a set of highway-terrain tires for a light truck or SUV. If you have to contend with tough winter conditions every year and deal with several inches of snow and slush, these won’t be the best tires for you. If you like to go off-road in deep mud or sand, or if you like to do some four-wheeling over rough terrain and obstacles, then you probably won’t be satisfied with the General or the Firestone one.

If, on the other hand, you need a set of tires that are going to deliver long wear, dependable traction, and braking performance on wet or dry roads, a comfortable and quiet ride, and the kind of durability that will let you haul heavy loads or tow trailers with ease, then you’ve come to the right place. With their lengthy limited manufacturer’s tread life coverage, tough tread compounds, and robust design, the General Grabber H/T and Firestone Destination LE3 would even be great candidates for commercial vehicles. Both tires are a good representation of what a highway-terrain light truck tire should be able to offer and both will give you great service for the kind of use we just described.

Which one should you choose?

When it comes down to an either/or equation between the General Grabber H/T and Firestone Destination LE3, it’s pretty tricky. Both tires compare well with each other when it comes to SimpleScore rankings, both offer premium quality and features and both are covered by generous factory mileage warranties. The General comes with the Duragen package for longevity and stability, the Firestone has TractionTech for enhanced grip and braking performance. Both tires are really equally good choices, with the General having a slight advantage in a couple of the SimpleScore categories.

So let’s look at prices, then: the General starts at $183.99 per tire vs $97.64 per tire for the Firestone. That’s a pretty sizable price gap between the two, so let’s just put it this way: if you can afford the General Grabber H/T, it would make a great choice and it’d be a tire you’d be very satisfied with. If you want to save some money on a set of highway-terrain tires, go with the Firestone Destination LE3. Either way, you won’t be making a bad call, and you’ll get a set of highway-terrain tires that’ll be a great fit for your truck and your needs.

Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help as our helpful agents are more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.