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| The Nitto Invo was an excellent all around tire performing well in both the wet and dry. |
The Invo did exceptionally well on the slalom too, its broad shoulder that I used to think was more of a gimmick than a real piece of tire technology was doing its job of providing excellent grip at the limit. The Invo was a little less crisp than the NT05 due to its less blocky tread squirming around more, the Invos also felt like they had a softer sidewall.
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| The Invo did well on the wet course. |
Last up was the Motivo, and even though it’s an all season tire, it more than held its own in the slalom. For an all season tire, the Motivo had exceptional grip, nearly as much as the NT05 and Invo and an order of magnitude more grip than the stock tires. The Motivo’s softer sidewalls had more give and we each felt it roll over a bit more on the Motivo than the other Nitto tires, but ride quality was noted as being better than the stock tires. The Motivo was also exceptionally quiet with little tread noise. Here is where I must disclose my initial surprise. I expected a tire with “all season” to have no grip in the dry and very little steering response. I worked in the wheel and tire business for many years, and had learned that when you see a lot of tread block, you either have to shave them down like we do on some race tires or expect a lot of tread squirm and no steering feel. The Motivos were really starting to impress me.
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| A wider view of our dry performance test course. |
The final test was a figure eight where we could bring the tire up to its limit and have it maintain a high level of grip that would put a lot of heat into the tires quickly and show just how much performance was in each of these tires. The stock tires performed abysmally with a lot of mushy steering, screeching and sliding.
The NT05 took top honors in this test, allowing us to repeatedly lap the course and not wash out. The large, continual tread allows for a lot of heat dissipation, and when combined with a tread compound that wants heat, the Jags were in over their heads. The suspension and chassis were at their limits with the drivers pushing the NT05 with the tires vast grip causing a huge amount of body roll, and braking dive. The NT05 was a little less forgiving at the limit, breaking loose with a little less warning than the others. The Invo is probably also too much tire for this chassis, as it held on very well during this test with good grip, only when being obviously abused did the tire start to lose grip, but did so very progressively and without adversely complicating recovery (a little left foot brake usually got the car back on course). Overall the Invo was a little less grippy and responsive compared to the NT05 but the tire was more forgiving and predictable at the absolute limit.
