Nitto INVO's

Was wondering if anyone else was running these tires and if they were having the same findings as me.

Rear tires - 295/35/R20 Nitto Invo's

A while back when making a left turn onto a dry road the rear end completely broke loose and the car kicked sideways on me. No gravel, no oil, and I did not romp on the gas. It caught me 100% off guard as I have never had a car kick sideways that easy before. What was odd was there was no screech like a tire should make when sliding, no smoke, it was almost like I had hit a huge patch of ice in the road...but it was 95 degrees outside....

Another time, me and the fiance were in the car and she had never done doughnuts before, I found a completely empty parking lot at 1am and decided to spin around some. Again, no screech...no smoke, and the car felt like it was on ice when it broke loose, and again it didn't take hardly anything to break the rear loose, Im talking 1/2 turn in the wheel, dead stop and I gunned it to about 2000 rpm in first. Car whipped like a mofo.
Dry road - 80 degrees out - Had been driving for probably 20 miles before doing this.

Then tonight on the way home I had been driving for roughly 8 miles, 50 some odd degrees out. I had some jackass on my ass and decided to punch it and leave him in the dust...well, I almost made an ass of myself because when I punched it, the rears broke loose and I almost went completely sideways into on coming traffic...Again, it caught me 100% off guard. Traction control was on and I was going about 45mph when I punched it. After that happened I waited till I was on a road all by myself and tested it out again. Probably 18 miles worth of "warming up" on the tires by now. 45mph, traction control on, punched it and it broke loose and started whipping around.

It kinda makes me iffy about going to fast around turns and such...I mean if the tires can break loose this easy, imagine taking a sweeping turn at say 60mph and loosing the rear....

Im not complaining about this because its fun as hell to do when alone. Just curious to see if anyone has had the same encounters as me with these tires.


2006 Stock GT - Tires have maybe 10k miles on them, tread is fine, No dry rot, hell they still have nipples on them...



Thanks in advance.

may not be the tires. Your limited slip diff. could be acting up.

is the issue how easy the tires break loose or the fact that when they do break loose, the rear comes around on you too easily?

The INVOs are not great tires for sure, but you have to drive appropriately for the level of grip you have. At 50 degrees, your grip level is going to be significantly reduced with any tire.

I have the same tires, and found lots of good comments online before I bought them, but you never know till you try them.

I find they grip better than the Pirelli Rossos they replaced in all conditions, neither these tires nor the Pirellis ever made noise when traction was lost. Just butter slick.

They tend to follow the grooves in the road MUCH more than the Pirellis, and feel like they float more at high speeds, which I originally attributed to wind. I have had no issues when cornering as you have described, but my suspension is different than yours. I do find them to feel like the sidewall is softer and rolls more than the Pirellis (I saw that warning online before I bought them).

Bottom line for me is I won't buy another set of these for this car.

Commbubba19 said:

may not be the tires. Your limited slip diff. could be acting up.

is the issue how easy the tires break loose or the fact that when they do break loose, the rear comes around on you too easily?

Click to expand...

Yea, its how easy they break loose, I know how easy the rear comes around because of the lite weight in the rear. Just didnt expect them to break loose that easy.

Vapour Trails said:

The INVOs are not great tires for sure, but you have to drive appropriately for the level of grip you have. At 50 degrees, your grip level is going to be significantly reduced with any tire.

Click to expand...

True but the first time it happend it was over 90 degrees outside. I drive accordingly with the weather.

Meikol02 said:

Neither these tires nor the Pirellis ever made noise when traction was lost. Just butter slick.

They tend to follow the grooves in the road MUCH more than the Pirellis, and feel like they float more at high speeds, which I originally attributed to wind. I do find them to feel like the sidewall is softer and rolls more than the Pirellis (I saw that warning online before I bought them).

Bottom line for me is I won't buy another set of these for this car.

Click to expand...

YES! I forgot to mention all that, they do float and the sidewalls are a lot softer than what im used to.

Thanks for the replys

Seems something else does seem off...with the wide tire it should not come around that easy.

What else could it be?

I have invo on the front of my car (245/45/18) and 555 on the rear (285/40/18).
The invos are designed for luxury sport cars that are heavier with less torque. Their main purpose is to make less road noise. I think they are just the wrong tire for muscle car really. I run them up front with no problems with grip or steering. However I could see that having them on the rear could cause problems beacause the tires are so quiet. Also due to the unique tread pattern if they are wearing unevenly from an alignment issue it will cause the tires to act funny, follow grooves in the road, or break loose unexpectedly so I would check that too. I got a good deal on them to run up front so i tried them, they have been good to me, but I will most likely not run them again. Good luck!

My buddy had put these on his GT and another on his 08 Z06. Both disliked the tires and my Vette buddy replaced them with Pilots and sold the Invo's. I think the Invo is more of a luxury high perforamance tire and thereofre not as sticky.