The original General Grabber quickly became known for its survivability in the desert. Used by multiple race teams in both the SCORE and Best in the Desert racing series, the Grabber was adept at resisting punctures, providing traction, and handling being spun by lots of horsepower. It propelled many trucks and buggies to the finish line after surviving brutal conditions. The new General Grabber X3 builds on that success in the desert – but ultimately expands on it. While the Grabber was a bit of a specialized tire, the Grabber X3 is designed to excel in a wider variety of terrain. In fact, the X3 name comes from the tire's intended mission: extreme performance in dirt, rock, and mud. Using what the company learned in the desert, General constructed the X3 with its Duragen three-ply sidewall using ultra-high-strength steel belts. A high void pattern design, with evacuation channels and alternating shoulder scoops, provides traction in the mud. For the dirt block chamfers, traction notches and stone bumpers are used. To provide maximum grip on the rocks, the X3 uses multi-angle gripping edges, deflection ribs and pads, and sidewall lugs. General wanted the X3 to be a versatile tire, not only built for just trail use. To achieve that, while enhancing performance on the road in wet and winter conditions, the X3 employs a siped design. To keep it quiet on the pavement, a multi-pitch pattern is used to reduce noise. These features result in a tire that is both capable on the trail and comfortable driving back and forth to it. All that sounds great on paper, but we wanted to see how the new General Grabber X3 performed in the real world. We grabbed a set of 37x12.50R17 General Grabber X3s, wrapped them around Method's sexy new NV 305 wheels and screwed them on our Ram 3500 diesel. While not a hardcore rock crawler, our Ram sees plenty of use both on and off the highway. That makes it an ideal platform to test this versatile tire. Here's what we discovered.

The General Grabber X3 definitely looks aggressive and right at home in the dirt. We used a 37x12.50R17 X3 with a D load range. It measured out at 36.8 inches tall with a 12.5-inch section width. The X3 is fairly lightweight, weighing in at 81 lbs. without the wheel.

A close up of the tread shows the General Grabber X3's aggressive nature. The open tread design helps clear mud, while the multiple biting edges and angles help grab at the rocks. Full depth sipes are visible, opening up in snow and wet pavement conditions to provide more traction. The General X3s surprised us as being one of the quieter mud tires we've tested. At 70 mph we measured 81 decibels inside the cab, which isn't too bad for an older Dodge with a 24-valve Cummins engine on a very windy day. We love that the X3 is aggressive enough for the vast majority of trail work we will encounter, but quiet enough on the pavement to keep us from going insane.

We were impressed with the amount of bulge we got in the three-ply sidewall aired down to just 25 psi. Grant it, this was on a 7,000 lb. truck, but the flexible carcass and multiple biting edges helped the tires grip on the rocks. We got the chance to drive a Jeep JK with X3s in bigger rocks, and they did a great job of providing traction in even more technical terrain.

We love a fresh set of wheels and Method's new NV 305s definitely look swanky. A one-piece wheel, it uses a simulated beadlock ring with zinc-plated bolts. The twelve-spoke design is super clean while looking aggressive. We used a 17x.8.5-inch size in matte black. The NV 305s also come with a matte clear coat that helps keep them clean and protected.