Nitto Motivo All Season 225/50ZR18 99Y XL Passenger Tire

I wasn't able to find many reviews on this tire and reluctantly purchased them. So far I am glad that I did. These have, so far, been the best all season tire I have ever purchased. They are much quieter and more comfortable than expected, comparable to the Michelin Primacy MXM and the Conti Pro Contact. They way out performs both of them. I can be confident and ignore the maximum safe speed signs when entering or exiting highways, and on twisting back roads and easily go 20 mph faster than posted without tire squeal. Weather is no problem. The tires handle wet surfaces almost as well as dry surfaces. They grip the road extremely well with light snow, 2 or less inches, also. I was also pleased with the look of the tire. They are a little wider than the previous two tires I have had, and both the sidewall and tread pattern look more aggressive than the pictures indicated.

I tried these tires because Subaru cars are not sound insulated well and the Michelins that came on the car were making enough noise to test the limits of the stock radio. I also needed decent all-weather performance for my Colorado 4 season driving conditions. These have been the quietest tires I've put on my WRX so far! Even my carpool buddy commented on them. The natural under-steer of the WRX is not abated much on dirt or sandy roads; but performance on dry pavement seems better than other all-season tires I've had on this car. Wet performance was good enough to allow in-corner passing of other mountain commuters. Snow performance is about as expected from all-weather tires, fair, with braking on ice not being very good. Surprisingly, acceleration and hill climbing in the same conditions is good enough to inspire false confidence... so leave some extra room for stopping, especially on hills. I drive about 100 miles per day, with 12 miles of that being on washboard dirt roads. On the dirt, I adopt Colin McRae's motto of "if in doubt, flat out", and retired my Motivos at ~40,000 miles with little tread left and plenty of rock damage. Overall, these were great non-winter tires for the daily commute around Pikes Peak, and serviceable tires during the winter months. Spirited driving will result in increased tire wear; so if you like to hear your tires "talking to you" in the corners, expect to only get about a year's worth of driving from these.