The Motivo 365 is marked with the 3PMSF symbol on the sidewall. If you don’t know what this means, in 1999, The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) and the Rubber Association of Canada (RAC) agreed on a performance-based standard to identify passenger and light truck tires that attain a traction index equal to, or greater than 110 (compared to a reference tire which is rated 100) on a packed snow surface. This test measures acceleration but not braking or covering.
The American Society for Testing and Materials Association conducts these tests and issues the certification and permission to run the three-peak 3PMSF symbol on the sidewall. The standard is intended to help ensure drivers can easily identify tires that provide a higher level of snow traction.
Tires marked with the 3PMSF symbol are expected to provide improved snow traction beyond a standard all-season or M+S branded tire, being categorized in Nitto’s case as an Ultra High-Performance All-Weather Tire, 3PMSF-branded all-season tires cannot match the traction of dedicated winter/snow tires in all winter weather conditions and should not be considered a replacement for where and when a dedicated winter tire is needed.
We thought it was best to do an A-B comparison of the old Motivo vs the new Motivo 365 and we happened to have a Volvo V70 Sports wagon that had the old Motivo on it. We also have a Supercharged Cobalt SS that was equipped with some generic Chinese Summer performance tires (hahaha) to do a comparison between a cheap summer tire and a high-quality all-season tire.
At a glance you can see the difference in tread pattern between the old Motivo and the Motivo 365. The Motivo 365 has smaller blocks, more grooves and much more siping.
The Motivo 365 has slightly more rounded shoulders than the old Motivo. We have noticed that rounded-shoulder tires sometimes provide a more gradual breakaway feel at the limit than square-shouldered tires. The Motivo 365’s more aggressive tread pattern and siping is very noticeable.
We also noted that the Motivo 365 tread compound felt much softer than the Motivos, surprisingly soft, they felt like track use R-Compound soft. This is probably to help cold weather performance. If we did not know any better we would be worried that these tires would wear out quickly but the 365’s 540 UTQG wear rating is actually higher than the old Motivos 500 rating!
2 comments
Having the old Motivo’s on an e70 X5, they have been phenomenal in the snow, rain, etc. Never had an issue short of ice, which of course is the wrong application of tyre for the environment.
I can only imagine these new versions to be even better as a daily
I ended up replacing the old Motivo’s with the newer Continental DSW06, but when the time comes, I’ll keep my eye out for these.
Great write-up! The new Motivo 365’s move to a 3PMSF snow-rating, combined with an ultra-high-performance all-weather design, really stands out. It’s impressive how they’ve improved wet and winter traction (thanks to the multi-wave sipes and redesigned tread) without sacrificing too much dry performance. For a daily driver in a four-season climate, this looks like a smart choice.