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| The Nitto Invo had a pretty open tread design to help channel water. |
In my rush to judgment, the all season Motivo should have been abysmal on this course, but it was actually very surprising in its response and over all level of grip. Sure, when compared to the NT05, it doesn’t have the ultimate grip, but it was leaps and bounds better when compared to the stock all season tires. Turn in was nearly as crisp as the other UHP (Ultra High Performance) Nittos, and while lacking the ultimate grip the NT05 had, it wasn’t all that far behind the Invo when it came to performance in the dry.
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| The Motivo had the highest tread to groove ratio and siping for all season traction. The Motivo amazed us with its all around grip for wet and dry pavement. It also amazed us with how quiet and smooth riding it was. |
“So big deal” I thought, put some sticky compound on an all season tread and market it to the masses who need an all season tire that does a great impression of an Ultra High Performance tire. Sell’em and see’em in in 20k miles, right? Then the Nitto rep told me something that blew my theory out of the water, the Motivo has a 60 thousand mile tread life warranty.
There’s almost too much to read when trying to figure out what tires you want or really need, and besides how much of it is just marketing smoke and mirrors anyway? Too many people think a decent tire is three things, round, black and holds air. Conventional wisdom says a tire can’t be two things a once. Dry Ultra High Performance is the opposite of All Season in my book, or at lest it was until I drove on the Motivo. Tire technology has come a lot further than my simple mind would have thought and while the secret is in both the compound and construction of the Motivo, the result is a true jumbo-shrimp of a tire. Excellent wet abilities and actual high performance in the dry.
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| With its minimal tread and large blocks the NT05 is obviously designed for dry traction. We were pretty surprised how well it did in the wet. It was slightly worse in standing water but when the pavement was merely wet, it gripped quite well. |
What did we learn from all of this? If you are going to the track on weekends, you’ll want the NT05. If you have a high performance car and demand very high performance on the street for your daily driver, the Invo is for you. If you bought a BMW, Lexus or other high performance, decent handling car but don’t want to replace your tires every 20K miles, the Motivo will leave you feeling confident in the rain and with a smile after every set of curves. If you want your wife to have the ultimate safe tire with the best possible traction in all around conditions, the Motivo would be it as well.
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| All finished for the day it was time for Nitto to pack up the cones and for us to head home. |
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