Tires are one of the most significant upgrades you can make to any car, truck, or SUV. Just think about it: four small patches of rubber connect your vehicle to the road, and these contact patches have a substantial influence on how the vehicle accelerates, brakes, corners, and copes with rough or slippery terrain. However, tires are also a compromise. Heavy-duty mud tires make sense for a 4×4 truck, but don't make much sense for a small crossover SUV that only needs to deal with gravel and snow. Nitto Tire has released a new all-terrain tire called the Nomad Grappler that's designed to maximize the performance of crossovers (CUVs) and light SUVs in off-road and snowy conditions.

The Nomad Grappler is made for light SUVs like this Toyota RAV4.

In a press release, Nitto said that this new tire offers “a bold tread pattern to provide comfort on-road and traction in off-road and snowy conditions.” Since crossover SUVs aren't usually rock-crawling, fording rivers, and clambering through mud pits, this seems like an appropriate balance for their capabilities. In general, all-terrain tires offer much better traction than all-seasons, but also a smoother ride and less road noise than mud-terrains.

With many small SUV owners using their vehicles for camping, overlanding, and mild trail excursions, there's definitely a need for improved tire capability in this segment. The Nomad Grappler features a 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake (3PMSF) rating, which means that they've been tested and proven to meet an industry standard in medium-packed snow conditions. They also feature a rugged tread pattern with two different sidewall designs, so the owner can mount the tires with either pattern facing outward.

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The Nitto Nomad Grappler tires are available in 25 sizes for wheels ranging from 17 inches to 20 inches. For more information, go to NittoTire.com.

Written by Patrick McCarthy