Nankang Tyres?
Discussion
I think you can glean enough from the brand generally. Nankangs are marketed as being cheap which should say everything. If I see them on anything approaching a prestige car for sale it says to me it's been run on a tight budget - not necessarily a criticism as everyone has a budget.
If I saw them on the back of a BMW M6 I'd walk away for example.
If I saw them on the back of a BMW M6 I'd walk away for example.
plenty said:
TBH that's just a tad ill-informed. NS-2Rs are far from cheap, and are well regarded by. enthusiasts who know what they're looking for.
They may well make something half decent but you've just said it's not cheap. If it's not cheap then its competing against more well known brands presumably and needs to be judged as such.Nankangs are the sort of things I'd expect to always be in stock at the local garage for £40.
NS2-R semi slicks are awesome tyres, I have them on two of my cars (a 470hp Evo 6 and an 2xxhp Astra Turbo 5dr sleeper on steelies). Wet or dry, awesome tyres!
I ran them on my old EP3 and still managed a low 9min lap round the Ring in the wet. That said... I wouldn't touch any normal Nankang road tyre!
I ran them on my old EP3 and still managed a low 9min lap round the Ring in the wet. That said... I wouldn't touch any normal Nankang road tyre!
aaron_2000 said:
Quite like to put them on the Focus, is the hard compound a good shout for road use? 215/45R17's just for reference.
I think the 180 street version is the road/softer choice if using more on the road. There was a big thread here a year or two ago about them.Found it-
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...
Ah, nothing brings out the badge snobs on PH like a good tyre discussion. The idea that you can judge a tyre purely by its brand is laughable.
As some people have said above, the NS2-R is a very capable semi-slick. You need to be a bit careful when making direct comparisons though because like many track/race focused tyres it's available in a wide variety of compounds and load ratings. The hardest compounds (180) is roughly equivalent to something like an AD08R, albeit with slightly worse water dispersion; anything else is too soft for road use, IMO.
Personally I have a marginal preference for the AD08R for road use for its slightly friendlier behaviour in the wet; for track use I'd seriously consider 120 compound NS2Rs.
It's an interesting strategy by Nankang really, to put so much effort into a semi-slick when their mainstream tyres are still very much at the budget end of the market (although they're generally among the better budget offerings). I can only assume they're intending to push their mainstream offerings upmarket and think leading with a good track/race tyre will give the brand the credibility to do that.
As some people have said above, the NS2-R is a very capable semi-slick. You need to be a bit careful when making direct comparisons though because like many track/race focused tyres it's available in a wide variety of compounds and load ratings. The hardest compounds (180) is roughly equivalent to something like an AD08R, albeit with slightly worse water dispersion; anything else is too soft for road use, IMO.
Personally I have a marginal preference for the AD08R for road use for its slightly friendlier behaviour in the wet; for track use I'd seriously consider 120 compound NS2Rs.
It's an interesting strategy by Nankang really, to put so much effort into a semi-slick when their mainstream tyres are still very much at the budget end of the market (although they're generally among the better budget offerings). I can only assume they're intending to push their mainstream offerings upmarket and think leading with a good track/race tyre will give the brand the credibility to do that.
Edited by kambites on Friday 18th August 08:17
plenty said:
The NS-2R is a very good semi-slick for dry fast-road and track.
The NS-2 is complete garbage with ridiculously soft sidewalls, to be avoided at all costs.
Just shows that evaluating tyres by brand alone is meaningless - you have to assess at the variant level.
I have a set for my Westfield, as yet un-used.The NS-2 is complete garbage with ridiculously soft sidewalls, to be avoided at all costs.
Just shows that evaluating tyres by brand alone is meaningless - you have to assess at the variant level.
HannsG said:
Are they the same kind of class as Accelera?
Not even close, I had Accelera's on the Alfa when I bought it and they were frankly scarily bad in some circumstances (fine in the extremes, dry or soaking wet, slicker than snot in between the two). I swapped them for the Nankang AS1 tyre which was a perfectly acceptable tyre and streets ahead of the Accelera in all conditions (remarkably good in the snow as well).Been running Nankang winter tyres all year round on the C6 which is a heavy beast. No problems whatsoever. They maybe aren't quite as quiet as other tyres I've used, but I put that down to them being winters more than the brand
I got put onto Nankang initially by the HSA hill climb and sprint mob. The NS2R is one of the tyres in the MSA Blue Book and is approved for competition use. Those guys were finding that the NS2R was a pretty decent performing tyre but for significantly less than the Toyo 888 and the like.
I got put onto Nankang initially by the HSA hill climb and sprint mob. The NS2R is one of the tyres in the MSA Blue Book and is approved for competition use. Those guys were finding that the NS2R was a pretty decent performing tyre but for significantly less than the Toyo 888 and the like.
MDMA . said:
I think the 180 street version is the road/softer choice if using more on the road. There was a big thread here a year or two ago about them.
Found it-
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...
Thanks alot, I'll go have a read through. Found it-
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...
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