When it comes to all-terrain tires, the Nitto Terra Grappler G2 and Hankook Dynapro AT2 are two popular choices for SUVs and pickup trucks. Both offer a balanced off-road capabilities/on-road comfort, but they have their own unique features and performance characteristics. Lets find them all.
From my standpoint as a tire engineer, the Nitto Terra G2 is only better in two performance areas, mud traction and snow grip, whereas Hankook Dynapro A/T2 provides better wet grip, fuel economy, comfort and off road it rocks on rocks. Moreover, it’s also a good tire on snow, and has 3 peak mountain snowflake rating like the Terra Grappler.
Sizes Info
The Hankook Dynapro AT2 has total of 90 sizes which come in 15″ to 22″. They have following specs.
- Speed ratings of S, T and H.
- Available load ratings: SL, XL, C, D, E and F.
- Weight Range: 27 to 80 lbs.
- Tread Depth Range: 12/32″ to 16.5/32″.
- Warranty: 60k miles.
On the other side, the Nitto Terra Grappler G2, comes between 17 to 24″ and they offer following specs:
- Speed Ratings: R, S, T and H.
- Load Ratings: SL, XL, D, E and F.
- Weight Range: 30 to 80 lbs.
- Tread Depth: 12 to 17/32″.
- All sizes have 65k miles warranty for P metric sizes, whereas LT sizes have 50k miles.
Detailed Review of Nitto Terra Grappler: https://tiredriver.com/nitto-terra-grappler-g2-all-terrain-review/
Internal Construction
The durability of an all-terrain tire is primarily determined by its internal construction, specifically the sidewalls.
And here the Hankook Dynapro AT2 take things to the next level by providing 3 ply polyester casing, providing 3 ply sidewalls.
The Nitto Terra Grappler on the other side, provides you with just 2 ply.
Though both tires have similar 2 steel belts on top reinforced with 2 ply nylon cap plies.
Outer Construction
The Hankook Dynapro AT2 tire has a 5-rib design, with the innermost rib being slightly wider and featuring sideways-facing notches.
A secondary continuous layer runs beneath this rib, to which all the lugs are attached, resulting in lateral grooves that are not full depth.
The surrounding ribs have lugs that run in pairs and feature similar groove notches.
These lugs do not have traction notches, but their offset edges provide sufficient chewing power.
The shoulder lugs also have offset edges, but they have a less aggressive siping design compared to the central lugs, which feature a full depth interlocking pattern of sipes.
This is because the shoulder lugs are optimized for maximum highway grip, and all the lugs are joined together to enhance lateral stability and steering communication.
On the other side, looking at the Nitto Terra Grappler G2, you get a very similar looking structure.
The tire consists of 5 rib design containing 4 longitudinal channels where the inner two are narrower in comparison.
That’s because the middle most rib is made thicker for better on road stability.
This rib contains blocks with chamfered edges, notches and thunderbolt lightening sipes, (Same siping pattern is also seen on all other ribs as well).
The surrounding ribs have notches facing the shoulder lugs.
And these shoulder blocks also have similar notches and are connected with inner ribs with stone ledges/ejectors.
Moreover, these outer ribs are actually continuous, as all shoulder lugs sit on a secondary rubber layer underneath.
This allows it to have great cornering abilities, as you’ll see below.
Highway Traction
To accurately evaluate the dry performance of an all-terrain tire, we need to consider traction, steering, and cornering ability. I’ve examined each of these elements in the upcoming sub-topics.
Dry Grip
The section width and footprint of a tire are the main dimensions that affect grip.
Though when it comes to weight and composition, both tires are pretty much the same, that’s why both have speed ratings going up to H.
But still with more biters, the Hankook Dynapro AT2 produces better results, with shorter braking distances.
The Nitto Terra Grappler although makes a great contact with the road from the middle, its rib there is not continuous like its competitor and it also lacks in biters, so it takes longer to stop when fully braked (on an equal sizes/vehicle, with similar other conditions).
Dry Handling
The lateral traction of a tire, or its ability to corner, is largely determined by the tread structure and composition of the shoulder lugs. These lugs need to have a strong bond with the road to maintain traction during turns.
And here the Hankook Dynapro AT2 offers superior lateral traction g forces and shorter handling times, thanks to it’s more compacted shoulder lugs.
The Nitto Terra Grappler is also pretty firm there, but it’s lugs still don’t make as stable a connection with the road as it’s competitor does.
Steering Response
Steering Response has a lot to do with continuity, so it makes sense why Hankook Dynapro with better directional grip, and handling traction offers quicker times, as same factors affect it as well.
It’s handling is pretty direct and on corners, there a very smooth transition of load form middle section of the tread moving towards sidewalls. This is credited to it’s streamlined outer ribs with the consecutive ones.
Considering this, you really appreciate the engineering that went into this tire.
Terra Grappler on the other side, does one thing weird, it feels that it corners better in one direction compared to other. And I’ve seen this with multiple tests on many different tire sizes. Go figure.
Wet Traction
Gripping and Hydroplaning are the two performance areas you should always consider to judge the overall tire’s abilities on wet.
Let’s me start with Grip.
Wet Grip
Good traction on wet roads is not solely dependent on the size of the tire’s contact patch, but rather on the efficiency of its siping.
But how do sipes work?
Well, sipes simply put provide slits which literally suck in any water coming underneath. And to do this they need a flexible functionality.
Now both tires here are no where near flexible, in fact, that’s one of the main reasons why they both do so great on dry. So compared to other all-terrain options, they don’t offer ample performance values here.
Though still, the Hankook Dynapro AT2 offers better efficacy, as this tire has better siping design.
With full depth interlocking pattern and yes, more in number sipes, the tire still offers better water wiping abilities in comparison.
But like the Nitto Terra Grappler, it also needs some hydroplaning resistance.
Hydroplaning
The risk of hydroplaning increases at higher speeds, so it’s important to have good resistance to it for safe driving on roads filled with water.
Now both tires although offer good enough circumferential tread voids,offering 4 aqua-channels, they don’t offer decent sideways cleaning, with their closed up shoulder lugs.
Fuel Economy & Mileage
The fuel usage and the tread wear are both dependent on rolling resistance, especially when it comes to these two tires. That’s because they have almost similar weight range and tread depth across all their sizes.
That’s why here, composition and tread design is seen and in these two ares, the Hankook Dynapro is showing less rolling resistance.
It’s compacted central and outer ribs allow consistent communication with the road as it rolls, and with it’s lugs aren’t pushed more. And they need more energy to be pushed/flexed in the first place, because of their stiffer composition.
In comparison, the Nitto Terra lugs have more mobility, and so they want to stick on the roads longer, which not only consumes more fuel but also the rubber resulting in faster tread wear.
Noise and Comfort
The grooves of the tire is filled with air at all times, and as the tire rolls, that air starts to pump in and out of the tread, (where it enter/leaves out the most, through shoulders).
This air then hits the tread walls to generate unwanted sounds, we call tread noise.
To deal with this, both tires have compacted shoulder lugs, so less air can pass through. But out of the two, the Hankook Dynapro A/T2 is more efficient at it.
Besides more closed up shoulders, it features less tread voids in the middle as well, so its much quieter in comparison.
With consistent pattern the tire also produces better results in terms of overall comfort too. As you don’t feel the bumps a lot that way.
Winter Performance
The versatility of all-terrain tires allows them to handle a decent range of winter conditions, including ice, deep snow, light snow, and hard-packed snow.
In them, although both tires are equal in deeper terrains, the Nitto Terra G2 does better with light on-road snow, whereas the Dynapro A/T2 is good at harder, packed up tracks.
Nitto basically updated its model to give it 3 peak mountain snowflake rating, so it’s sipes are although not so efficient for water removal, they sure perform better than expected on snow.
It’s sipes are thick and allow snow to get trapped in, and this way it’s able to offer better friction, as snow simply sticks better on snow.
Hankook Dynapro on the other side, has a lot of biters, along with interlocking sipes, and though it’s also great on snowy roads, it’s performance on ice is much more appreciative.
Off Road Traction
All-terrain tires need to have a good balance of both on-road and off-road traction to handle a variety of terrain types. And some of those terrains to consider are following.
Let’s see how these tires performed on them all.
Mud Tracks
On this terrain, you need two things, cutting/breaking down the particles and faster evacuation.
The Hankook AT2 offers better cutting of the mud with it’s multiple sharper notches everywhere, but the tire has packed up lugs, so they can’t let that mud out.
On the flip side, the Nitto Terra G2 offers slightly wider grooves, with more open design especially form the middle, so it can evacuate the mud better but cam slash through.
So I am going to rate these both tires equally here, though keep them on lighter terrains, as they’d packed very quickly when things go even slightly deeper.
Rocky Trails
Out of all the less aggressive all-terrain tires I’ve reviewed, the Hankook Dynapro AT2 comes on the very top for climbing on rocks.
Here, as you need a lot of biters and durability, the Dynapro gives you both. It’s redundant notches along with groove biters create a better gripping effect and it’s 3 ply polyester sidewalls allow you to have more confidence during crawling.
Though I do miss the sidewall lugs on this puppy, it could have done things so much better, especially with lowered air pressure. I think that’s the only think missing here.
And same can be said about Terra Grappler (about sidewalls). It’s lugs there are not thick enough, though the good thing about this tier is that you can rely more on it’s lateral traction with its’ staggered shoulders (missing in Dynapro AT2).
But with stiffness and limited no. of biters, you don’t get as better of the directional grip as it’s competitor.
Check my list of favorite A/T tires here.
On Sand
Sand requires footprint, softness and generally a lighter tire.
And although both tires are almost similar in weight (considering all sizes), with slightly softer rubber the Nitto Terra Grappler offers better footprint but only from the middle.
The tire has staggered lugs, and they dig in more especially on climbs.
The Hankook Dynapro AT2 on the other side, has smoother sides and with those it focuses on the forward momentum in a better way.
Conclusion
Both of these all-terrain tires are pretty hyped up and out of them, Hankook Dynapro AT2 takes away a larger piece of the pie.
The tire is better in dry/wet traction, noise/comfort, ice traction, rocky terrain performance and fuel economy.
On the other side, Nitto Terra Grappler would not disappoint on snow and mud.
