When you hitch up a heavy trailer, the tires on your truck become one of the most important safety and performance factors on the road. Not only can a poor performing tire make for an uncomfortable towing experience, choosing the incorrect tire can be downright dangerous. Our 2021 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD has proven itself as an amazingly capable tow rig. We regularly utilize its 6.6-liter Duramax diesel power to tow a 40-foot gooseneck trailer across this great country. That’s why when the truck’s factory-installed tires finally wore down to an uncomfortable (yet not unsafe) level we ventured down the rabbit hole of what would be the best performing replacement option.

We knew that for this truck and its intended use a highway terrain tire would be the best choice. Highway terrain (H/T) tires are designed with pavement pounding in mind, but not all of them are built to handle the extra stress of towing. There’s a lot more than marketing hype to be considered when so much is riding on a tire (metaphorically and literally).

Let’s dive into what exactly we look for when selecting a tire for a truck whose life is spent hitched to a camper, boat, car hauler, or anything else that follows behind.

Load Rating Comes First

Towing is all about capacity, and your tires need to carry their share (read: all) of the weight. Always check the load index and load range printed on the sidewall. For serious towing, a Load Range E (10-ply equivalent) or higher is often the standard. Skimping here can mean overworked tires and excessive heat buildup that can eventually lead to blowouts. Bottom line: make sure the tires that you’re choosing are rated to safely handle the truck’s full gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). This will help ensure long, safe, life even with the truck fully loaded with people, gear, and the trailer’s tongue weight.

Sidewall And Tread Design Matters More Than You Think

Pulling a heavy trailer puts a lot of stress on sidewalls. Between crosswinds, cornering, and the natural sway that comes with towing, a weak sidewall can make things feel squishy and unstable. Tires with reinforced sidewalls, dual steel belts, or heavy-duty construction keep the truck planted and the trailer under control. If stability is high on your wish list, sidewall strength should be too.

While aggressive off-road tread looks tough, it isn’t the best match for highway towing. A ribbed or symmetric tread pattern designed for highway use offers better water evacuation, a smoother ride, and more predictable handling. You’ll get quieter performance, less vibration, and longer tread life—exactly what you want when you’re logging long miles with a load behind you.

Heat Resistance Is Critical

One of the biggest threats to a tire under load is heat. Long grades, hot weather, and heavy weights all add up to extra stress. Look for tires designed with cool-running compounds or internal construction that dissipates heat more effectively. These features can mean the difference between a safe haul and a roadside emergency.

What Is The General Grabber H/T?

While rolling through our checklist of needs, we found the General Grabber H/T to check all the boxes. General developed the Grabber H/T as an all-around solid performing all-season tire. While we were focused on the tire’s towing attributes, the Grabber H/T provides so much more. In General’s internal testing, the Grabber H/T outperformed the competition when it came to important areas such as wet braking, snow traction, and treadwear.

General covers the Grabber H/T with its Sheild+ Advantage Plan, which aims to help customers feel more confident in their purchase. For the first 12 months, this free plan adds a limited warranty that will replace a tire if it becomes unserviceable, this includes road hazard damage as well. There’s also a 45-day customer satisfaction trial, which if you’re not happy with the purchase General will replace the tires for free. Finally, the company offers a treadwear warranty of up to 70,000 miles. That warranty for LT-sized Grabber H/T tires is 50,000 miles. Naturally, some limitations to all of this will apply.

The General Grabber H/T is available in 62 sizes, with 10 being LT. These tires range in size from 28 inches in diameter to 34 and are available for 16 to 22-inch wheels.

Selecting The Right General Grabber H/T

From the factory our 2021 Chevy Silverado 2500HD came fit with a set of LT275/65R20 Goodyear Wrangler TrailRunner AT tires. These Goodyear tires were a decent all-around solution, as things from the manufacturer typically are. They offered an “E” load rating, came with 12/32nds of tread depth, and were three peak mountain snowflake rated for severe winter driving. When purchased from the aftermarket these tires carry a 55,000 miles treadwear warranty. Unfortunately, we had consumed all useable life in just under 45,000 miles. Still, a good run.

In replacing the factory tire we opted to stick with the same size, LT275/65R20, as we wanted no issues with speedometer or odometer while towing cross-country and really didn’t want to have to crank the front torsion bars or trim the truck’s valance to fit a slightly upsized tire. Boring, we know, but in this case reliability and durability were the end goal.

Many of General’s LT-sized Grabber H/T tires come offered with a white lettering option. We opted to mount the tire black side out to maintain the truck’s dark appearance.

The LT275/65R20 General Grabber H/T tires carry a load range “E” rating with a max load capacity of 3,750 pounds at 80 psi. The four tires combined offer 15,000 pounds of load carrying capacity, which is a safe margin greater than our truck’s 11,350-pound GVWR. Rear gross axle weight rating (GAWR) also comes into play when talking about towing heavy. Our Silverado 2500HD has a rear GAWR of about 6,000 pounds, which these tires safely exceed as well.

While the tread pattern of the Grabber H/T is decidedly less aggressive than the factory Goodyear rubber, they do offer a deeper tread depth of 14/32nds. The Grabber H/T tread also comes with what the company calls Visual Alignment Indicators (VAI) along with a Replacement Tire Monitor (RTM). Looking at the shoulders, the VAI will display asymmetrical wear markings should the truck’s alignment be out of spec, helping to diagnose the issue before it destroys the tires. The RTM is a center rib indicator that will display the words “REPLACE TIRE” when the tread depth reaches 2/32nds.

The biggest trade off for jumping from an all-terrain to a highway-terrain tire is losing the three peak mountain snowflake severe winter rating. However, the Grabber H/T retains a M+S mud and snow rating, which means it will still work fine in mild winter weather.

Vision also offers the Ojos wheel in satin gray and bronze colors along with a beadlock option as well.

Vision Wheels For Our General Grabber H/T Tires

While our tire selection was all business, not all fun was lost as we opted to replace the truck’s factory wheels with a fresh set from Vision Wheel. Vision Wheel, founded in 1976, has been a family-owned company for 50 years. The company makes high-quality wheels for all different types of vehicles, including heavy-duty and off-road trucks.

When selecting a wheel, it’s equally important that the wheel’s load rating matches that of the tires. We opted for a set of the company’s 350 Ojos in satin black. These wheels retained the factory 20-inch diameter with a 9-inch width. With an offset of 12mm and 5.5-inch backspacing these wheels maintain a near factory fitment. And with a load rating of 3,650 pounds per wheel they fall in the acceptable range for our heavy-duty truck.

How Does It All Work

First impressions are always key, and we could tell right away that the General Grabber H/T are a quality product. Mounting the tires was a breeze and the Vision Wheel and Grabber combo required just a minimal amount of weight to balance. Once on the truck the ride improvement was immediate. While we had become accustomed to the old tires, swapping the fresh rubber revealed a truck that was far quieter than we had ever experienced. The ride was smoother, as well, with far less vibration being transmitted through the steering wheel.

The truck isn’t a driveway queen, either. Almost as quickly as we got the Grabber H/T tires mounted we hitched up our 40-foot trailer and hit the road from California to South Carolina, and back. Over the course of the first 6,000 miles Grabber H/T tires performed flawlessly. The truck tracks straight and true with a trailer in tow and we experience less tire squirm than with the previous all-terrain tires. Fuel economy is likely improved, as well, but at these loads who’s really counting. Overall, the Grabber H/T tires have made our Chevy Silverado 2500HD comfortable to tow long distances with again, in all sorts of weather and road conditions, leading to less driver fatigue and an overall safer experience.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot to consider when choosing a tire. And when towing is the main objective things become even more complicated. The General Grabber H/T, with its high load carrying capacity, durable construction, all-season traction, wet braking performance, and maintenance-friendly features all support the demands of towing. And it does so quietly and comfortably.