ChaiLatte

A few weeks ago when I was about to purchase a set of tires I wanted info on the new Motivo's but couldn't find any customer reviews. I bought them anyway and figured I should leave an in-depth review for anyone curious about them.

First off, the Nitto Motivo is a brand new all-season tire that debuted a few months ago (if I'm not mistaken). The reason I bought it instead of the much acclaimed DWS' was that I figured the Motivo had an edge because it's brand new and thus makes use of newer technology rubber, production procedures etc. The 560 tread-wear rating, 60,000 mile tread life warranty, and "advanced" tread design & compound that promised to provide a smooth and quiet ride were the biggest selling points. Plus, it looks pretty cool.



I feel compelled to say that this review should be taken with a grain of salt because my previous tires (MXM4's up front and a crappy Chinese brand out back) were 215/45/17's while these are 215/50/17's.
Anyway, I got them installed without a problem and the tire guy said they balanced nicely without needing too much weight. So far I've driven around 700 miles on them and this is what I think.

Pros:
- They're very smooth on all surfaces (though lets be real, what brand new tire is less smooth than a 6 year old worn set?)
- They are pretty quiet. Take a look at the outer & inner ribs and notice how the tread blocks aren't all the same, that's supposedly what makes them quiet. Unfortunately, if you want a tomb-like environment, a TL is not the car for you because it seems the quieter tread noise just "amplifies" the wind noise around the A-Pillars. I don't know if they'll get louder over time but I'll keep you guys posted.
-When pushed, they grip at least as well as the MXM4's, though I haven't pushed them to 10/10th's yet because my CV boot has been torn for months and I don't want my worn joint to pop-out mid-corner.
-They have an extra lip to prevent rim-damage.
-LA had a massive downpour a week ago and I was driving around 60mph on the freeway while it was pouring harder than it had all winter. The Motivo's handled it well.There were some spots were the steering went slightly light but I didn't actually hydro-plane.

Cons:
- There's considerable squish upon turn in (It could be that they're brand new, or my previous tires were shorter, or both)
-At around 70+mph, the steering seems to float around more, losing that sense of being "glued to the road".
-These tires are beefy for 215's. They're significantly wider than my old 215's and I don't think the height difference plays a role with it. I e-mailed Nitto on this matter and they replied as follows (they really should proof-read):

"Unfortunately not all 215/50R17 tires are all alike. Each and every
manufacture with that tire size will have different overall dimensions
and tread with dimension. Even with the same manufactures, depending on
the tire pattern the dimension and vary slightly."

"Thank you,
Nitto Technical Department."

I wouldn't normally care but the extra width combined with the Civic Si wheels that go outward from the bolts results in my tires poking out of the wheel-well all together. This makes it really easy to scrape against the wheel-well lip and prevents me from dropping my car at all. I scraped many times with 5 people in the car over seemingly insignificant bumps. I was looking forward to installing my H&R race springs and now they're useless.

In a nutshell, it's a quiet, smooth, and pretty grippy all-season tire I'd recommend to a friend. I'll keep you posted on how they wear and how good ultimate grip is when I get the chance.

ChaiLatte

Also, if you guys like the review and find it helpful, feel free to move it to the "off topic" section or somewhere it can get more hits. This is my testing grounds to see if anyone actually cares about a review like this in the first place.

02type-s

Nice review!

Yeah, Nittos and Yokohamas run wide from experience.

ChaiLatte

Just a short update, they've completely broken (a few thousand miles on them) in and here's what I've learned.

Maybe it's just me, but they seem absolutely hushed when it's warm out, over any surface.
When it's colder they're slightly louder, nothing annoying, but it's noticeable.

The vague float-y feeling at 70+ mph has been greatly reduced if not eliminated. I'm guessing this was due to the softer, new rubber that hadn't "broken in" yet. Tire Rack says new tires have an oily surface from the molding process that might compromise rigidity, that might have been the case here. urn in squish seems to be reduced as well.

I pushed these hard on some tight corners, they grip well, better than the MXM4's like I said before. They seem to break away with some warning, but I'll need to "experiment" some more and get back to you.

They deal with bumps well, but not extraordinarily. Cracked patches of road are heard from afar, the Motivo can isolate the noise but not quite the feel. That's it for now, I'll keep you guys posted.

ChaiLatte

I took these to Big Willow race track a week ago. They grip well for what they are and break away with lots of warning. They did need to warm up a bit before full grip. However I now have dry melted gobs of rubber on my tread that's un-balancing my tires and creating an irritating humming noise at highway speeds. Who would have thought All-Season 560 Tread wear rated tires weren't made for the track?

damaged442

Would have never thought...lol. I have about 5000 miles on my Motivos so far. They are worlds better than the OEM Michelins. They seem to ride and handle great in both dry and the craziest rain I have ever driven in. I am definitely impressed with them. As I keep saying, I'll see how they hold up over the long haul, but you can not argue with what you have based on what you paid.

jjashaa

iTrader: (23)

as for your springs..

with the drop, your wheels will naturally camber in..

the fronts will take care of itself but for the rears.. depending on how far it sticks out after the drop.. its not that hard to take care of.

i hope you got some good shocks to pair those springs with.. imo.. not worth putting them on oem shocks.

ChaiLatte

I'm just going to sell the springs. I decided the best route for me is to eventually buy some Tokico Illumina's to pair with stocks or maybe some OE H&R's. I sort of stopped caring about dropping her, the negatives out-weigh the positives in my eyes.

ChaiLatte

Quick update. Unfortunately I have a new car so the TL isn't being driven much anymore. However the tires have a few more thousand miles on them and I'm pleased to say they are still smooth and grip is still great (relative to being an all season tire). The gobs of rubber that were accumulated during my track day and were un-balancing my wheels are now worn off and the humming has disappeared. However, be aware the Motivo has many slits where melted rubber can (and did) permanently sit in. This is not enough to throw balance off, but I would avoid multiple track days, something I'm sure most Motivo owners would never do anyway.

thelastaspec

Hi,
Would you recommend these tires 215/50R17 with a slight drop on coilovers?
It rains about 4 inches per month where I live.
I'm debating between these and the Michelin Primacy MXV4's...

Cheers

ChaiLatte

Sorry I missed your post. I definitely recommend these tires if you want a smooth ride without giving up all your grip. However like I said in an earlier post these tires run wide for this particular size, so keep that in mind if you're planning on tucking.

thelastaspec

Thank you very much for your eariler posts. Based on your posts I went with the Motivos. I managed to fit 225/45ZR17 tires on my 6.5" rims.
Initial impressions are: less body roll, better breaking, car feels more planted in corners. If I could pick a negative, they have louder road noise on older roads, however the tires are were not on the shelf for long and I have barely put any miles on.

Thanks for all your help.
Cheers

05tlguy

Could very slight out of balance cause annoying thrumming noise with these tires?I had them installed in october and have experienced this noise on the highway over 50 mph..

ChaiLatte

Yes I believe it could. It's possible they were not balanced well. I had a similar sound but it was because I had gunk on the inside of my wheel un-balancing it.



Just an update. I rotated the tires. They have about 8K miles on them now and are as great as ever. They are Smooth, quiet, and offer up plenty of grip in the canyon's with a nice, easy break-away. I've noticed the side-walls are slowly losing their black color, and some have an orange-y tinge to them despite me cleaning them well when I last washed the car. It's very slight, nothing obvious. In their defense, I am a lot harder on the tires them most people will ever be, and the front tires with the orange-y-ness were caked with mud for a couple weeks from a mud puddle I waded through. Tread-wear is pretty good for the spirited driving I do. Overall still a great tire.

ChaiLatte

Rotated the tires again. Wear has been minimal, and I'm expecting at least 35K more miles of spirited driving from these. Other than that they're still smooth, quiet, and grippy.

GraveDigger

Thinking of getting these. Where did you find them?

ChaiLatte

Sorry for the late response GD. I bought them from Discounttiredirect.

ChaiLatte

I've since sold the car to a buddy of mine, but the tires are just now reaching the half-way mark on their tread life. They're still smooth and quiet despite they're age and the considerable abuse they've taken. Even he has independently commented on how well they grip.

If I had to say something bad about them it's that it sucks they run too wide. The beefy look is great on the TL, but might catch some off guard if they're running a slammed car or one that has barely any room to fit in the wheel wells to begin with.

03TLSinCO

Just replaced my Hankook V2 Concepts with these tires. The Hankooks were stock size for my TLS (215-50-17). The Nittos are 235-45-17 on 17x8 wheels from a 2007 TL. I've put about 2k miles on them (in about a month ... quicker than expected due to a long weekend trip) and here are my initial impressions:

1) These are louder noticeably than the Hankooks on all but the smoothest, newest pavement, regardless of pavement type
2) Perhaps due to the wider footprint, they don't seem to be as good in the rain
3) Also possibly due to the footprint, I believe I've seen a decrease in gas mileage (will verify soon)
4) They handle well in the dry, with slightly quicker turn-in than the Hankooks.

I've felt a bit of wondering in the steering. I'm getting an alignment done this weekend and hope this resolves the issue.

As these were slightly more expensive than the Hankooks of equivalent size (paid $110 from Discount Tire Direct plus Road Hazard warranty. Total to door was $598, then paid for mounting/balancing) I'm hoping for at least 40 - 45k from them. I'll be putting winter tires on my old TL-S wheels for the first time. Looking to get Dunlop Winter Sport 3Ds in the stock size.

03TLSinCO

I've had these tires on for nearly 2 years now. Figure I've got about 20+k miles on them. They're wearing well enough that I should reach 45 - 50k miles before I need to replace them. I still like them and will consider buying them again when this set wears out. My car's got over 288k miles on it and I anticipate doing a timing belt change at 325k miles, so I'll be buying a few more sets of tires before I retire the car.