TTRANK

iTrader: (25)

My review of the Nitto INVO

Nitto was nice enough to send me a set of Invo’s to review on my sedan. I agreed as long as my review could be 100% honest whether I loved or hated them. Without missing a beat they sent me a set and were confident I would like them.

My car presents a few challenges when it comes to tires. First and foremost it is my daily driver and my only car so I need a tire with decent tread life. My #1 choice would be to run R compound race tires all the time but that won’t work because they are too expensive for a daily driver due to short life and become a mess in the rain. The second problem is my 15” 12-piston brakes don’t allow for me to run 18” wheels so a nice set of light 18’s with track tires for those fun times is out. I could get 19’s but finding a good track tire in 19’s is not easy and the price jump in wheels and tires for 19’s is substantial. I want to find a good tire that can be run on my car all the time.

So I have been trying a number of ultra high performance street tires over the last couple years. I have previously tried the Nitto 555, Falken FK452, Toyo T1R and Kumho SPT. All been good but left some to be desired so my expectations were similar for the Invo.

My car is not your average G35; it has a built motor, twin turbo kit and many, many other supporting modifications. It currently is at 538whp at 13psi on 91 octane pump gas and I am changing the fuel system and going for more in less than 24 hours. Needless to say, traction is an issue and I like to go fast.


So here is my review:

1st Impression:

When I waked out of my house and saw them for the first time, the first thing I noticed was the tread design. It really stands out, so much more in person than any picture I had seen. These tires are sick looking! Looking over them the quality was very good compared to some of the other tires I have seen before that have shavings still hanging on, etc. The two large groves were wider than I expected and immediately had me thinking these would not grip very well due to the reduced contact patch. Time will tell…

The only think about the look of these that I didn’t like was how simple the sidewall was. I have been used to very busy sidewalls on my tires for some time so this took a little time before they looked normal to me.

I was very happy to see these are an asymmetrical tire so even with my staggered setup I can rotate from side to side. This is a big plus on my car as like many other G’s I have seen on here the wear patterns are not quite the same from side to side.

Wet Conditions:

So here in Phoenix we spend ~300 days out of the year in dry driving conditions. You would think that we don’t even care about the wet days and make due as needed. One of my previous tires had very poor wet traction and almost caused a few accidents so this is still high on my list. Well the Invo did not disappoint, these are the best wet traction high performance tire I have ever driven on. The tire was very predictable and I was able to push them harder in very wet conditions than any other tire my car has had so far.

Dry Conditions:

The first thing I noticed after the tires were installed is how much quieter they were than the Kumhos I had removed. I have noticed that many of my past tires get louder as they wear but the Kumhos still had a lot of life left on them. Over the next couple weeks it became obvious that these are surprisingly quieter than other tires I have had. That’s a big plus for my sedan that still has some class to it. When I drive around my wife, kids, friends and even co-workers I have found that conversations are easier and even alone the stereo is turned down lower most of the time.

Overall grip is shockingly better. I used two factors to judge the dry performance of this tire: straight line acceleration (how much it could take before it let go) and cornering (both accelerating and turn-in). for straight line my last three sets of tires could not hold at all in 1st gear and at times could grab near the top of 2nd gear. Now 1st gear is still the same (I wonder if any tire aside of a slick could hold on my car in 1st) but 2nd gear was a pleasant surprise when it consistently caught and held near 3k rpm every time. I decided to play around some more and test 2nd gear rolling starts and these things kick @ss. So much more grip than I had before. I can’t wait to try them at the drag strip. As for cornering I found similar results. There are a number of new overpasses and intersections being built near my house that never have any traffic at them. More days than not I would take the corners very fast drifting from the inside lane to middle and sometimes even into the outside. Under the same conditions I found these to be flat out better performers under all corner situations. One example is a freeway off ramp that makes a very sharp 90 degree turn. I found I can now take that corner 10mph faster and with almost no tire squeal. Talk about an ear to ear grin!


Overall I am very impressed with these tires. If I had to purchase another set of tires right now it would be these hands down.

rkd350z

iTrader: (3)

how much camber do you have?

I would love to try them, just that I have more than -2.5 all around...

arizzee

iTrader: (28)

Nice review, I'm currently running Invos 255/40/18 front 285/35/19 rear. I should have gone with the 305/30/19 rears as I scared the s*** out of myself on I-40 passing a semi in heavy rain on an inclined turn - not fun having the rear start to come around doing 75+ mph.

Overall these are very quiet, comfortable tires that offer a good balance of dry vs. wet traction. I will buy again for sure also.

RudeG_v2.0

iTrader: (1)

Just curious... Were the wet conditions simulated on a closed course? Cuz we haven't had any wet days in the Phoenix valley for a little while. How long have you had these tires on your G?

TTRANK

iTrader: (25)

I have about -2 in the front and ~-0.5 in the rear.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Great tires , i have 33k miles on mine now and they are spent. I will have another rear set in a week or two.

MyV6IsFast3r

iTrader: (38)

What Kuhmos did you have? I don't see these being stickier than the MX's, but I do see them being quieter, the MX's are LOUD lol.

SchismX

iTrader: (1)

I don't think it has even rained but maybe 2 times in the past couple months. I have the same tire and they don't disappoint. Quietness is definitely a plus.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

I've had them in the rain many times, they hook very well. Surface streets are fine, and freeway speeds, these tires inspire confidence on how stable they are at speed.

WTX350Z

iTrader: (8)

buddy of mine has them on his 03 Track w/ -2.5 all around. he really only uses the car for autox's and he's put about 4k on them. including driving 300 miles to get to a few of the autox's. but anywho. He'll be lucky to get another 2k out of them....so if you drive the car hard they won't last long at all. Our shared perception on them is compared to the older 555's. Invo's win hands down as the 555's are sub par in wet...and the invo is marginally better in all other aspects as well. except tire wear...(not a fair comparison)my Z is a DD and I have 10k on the 555's and will get at least that again before needing to trash them.

turismo

iTrader: (33)

Nice review

TTRANK

iTrader: (25)

The wet conditions were up in Prescott. I spend a lot of time up there too because I grew up there and most of my family is still there.

TTRANK

iTrader: (25)

I had the SPT's.

BlackWidowZ

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the review ttrank, been thinking of buying this tires for my new wheels.

RudeG_v2.0

iTrader: (1)

Awe... gotchya Did you (or anyone else with Invo's who has posted here) ever have a set of Michelin PS2's or Bridgestone RE050A's before these Invo's? If so, how did they compare?

FYI... Saw your G sedan at HIN last month. Badass and very clean. Much props.

TTRANK

iTrader: (25)

Thank you very much.

I also have a set of G35 coupe 19's (the Ray's ones) and they have RE050's on them but they are 245's and also 19's on different wheels so I can't compare the two. I have never tried the PS2's.

z-u-later

iTrader: (43)

Good review. I'm also looking at the Invo's to replace my RE040s. I checked the Nitto website but for whatever reason, I cannot view the sizes/specs on their tires. I specifically want to know the diameter of these Invo tires:

275/35/18
295/35/18

If you can provide me a link to the Invo's specs, please post it here. Thanks!

BrianLG35C

iTrader: (2)

Very informative review. What sizes are you running?

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

http://www.nittotire.com/#index%2Etire%2Einvo%2Esizes how does that work ???Its listed under "sizes and specs"

z-u-later

iTrader: (43)

Thanks, my work site must have been blocking the multimedia stuff on the Nitto website since I can see them at home now. Based on this review, and others I've read on other forums, it looks like I'll be getting these Invos (for my street setup) instead of the 615s or 452s.