Am I daft to consider Nankang tyres?
Discussion
In my searches for 245/45R16s I generally get T1R, TR1 and Nankang as options. I've seen plenty of posts on here saying not to go for T1R and nothing much about the TR1. T1R and TR1 have a C rating for wet grip on the site I'm looking at (camskills) but the Nankangs have an A rating.
However, the Nankang is a cheap tyre so maybe that is a bad idea? I don't really care how long they last, it is all about how they perform on day to day road driving...
However, the Nankang is a cheap tyre so maybe that is a bad idea? I don't really care how long they last, it is all about how they perform on day to day road driving...
Without personal knowledge of those tyres I’d try and find said tyre on either another road car or from a tyre fitter and try to manipulate the tyre blocks with my fingers, if they are stiff and you can’t manipulate them I’d not buy them.
Rainsport are now very popular but sadly don’t do all sizes but two things are very obvious when you touch them, the sidewalls are soft and the tread blocks are easy to manipulate, this is a sign of how hard the compound is and Rainsport are a soft compound compared to many tyres I’ve felt up ( oh err missus )
Look up your chosen tyre and look for load rating and max speed. I chose Rainsport with a V rating rather than W
149 mph Max speed for the V which is more than enough for me.
The load rating also gives you info on what weight that tyre can cope with say in corners and, I made a guess as to how much weight I could dump onto one or two wheels into and out of corners ( road use only) and decided the V rating was about right. Over the moon with the grip ain't the word, to be honest I was not even bothered about high speed, I just wanted to keep my teeth fillings in place and create a more GT like performance, it’s worked out marvellous and truly transformed the ride and grip.
Anyway the point is look up the specs and weights the tyre can take. Mine can cope with about 500 lbs each tyre and decided for road use that would be enough and sure enough it grips like crap to a blanket.
Even in hard cornering on a very smooth surface chucking a tonne at one side of the car would be quite difficult so 500lb each tyre or was that Kg’s! works out quite well as you’ll rarely manage that amount of weight transfer on a road going car but this is my car my choice. Look up the details carefully then decide would be my way of doing it.
Good luck.
We need all their tyres we can get so hopefully you might have found a decent tyre for decent money.
Rainsport are now very popular but sadly don’t do all sizes but two things are very obvious when you touch them, the sidewalls are soft and the tread blocks are easy to manipulate, this is a sign of how hard the compound is and Rainsport are a soft compound compared to many tyres I’ve felt up ( oh err missus )
Look up your chosen tyre and look for load rating and max speed. I chose Rainsport with a V rating rather than W
149 mph Max speed for the V which is more than enough for me.
The load rating also gives you info on what weight that tyre can cope with say in corners and, I made a guess as to how much weight I could dump onto one or two wheels into and out of corners ( road use only) and decided the V rating was about right. Over the moon with the grip ain't the word, to be honest I was not even bothered about high speed, I just wanted to keep my teeth fillings in place and create a more GT like performance, it’s worked out marvellous and truly transformed the ride and grip.
Anyway the point is look up the specs and weights the tyre can take. Mine can cope with about 500 lbs each tyre and decided for road use that would be enough and sure enough it grips like crap to a blanket.
Even in hard cornering on a very smooth surface chucking a tonne at one side of the car would be quite difficult so 500lb each tyre or was that Kg’s! works out quite well as you’ll rarely manage that amount of weight transfer on a road going car but this is my car my choice. Look up the details carefully then decide would be my way of doing it.
Good luck.
We need all their tyres we can get so hopefully you might have found a decent tyre for decent money.
Edited by Classic Chim on Friday 17th May 08:34
Edited by Classic Chim on Friday 17th May 08:45
^^^^^^
As an alternative I’m just fitted a set of Kumho Ecsta Le Sport KU39s.
They get a good rating for dry and wet and are fairly priced.
The absolutely best thing about them is they have transformed the ride of my car. It is far more compliant with these and I just can’t say how much I enjoy driving it now compared to the old 2/3 worn Toyo R1R tyres.
Admittedly the Toyos Probably perform better in the dry if pushed to the limit but where can you do that on the road!
This is the best thing that I have done to the car, (Well apart from increase the power dramatically).
As an alternative I’m just fitted a set of Kumho Ecsta Le Sport KU39s.
They get a good rating for dry and wet and are fairly priced.
The absolutely best thing about them is they have transformed the ride of my car. It is far more compliant with these and I just can’t say how much I enjoy driving it now compared to the old 2/3 worn Toyo R1R tyres.
Admittedly the Toyos Probably perform better in the dry if pushed to the limit but where can you do that on the road!
This is the best thing that I have done to the car, (Well apart from increase the power dramatically).
I treated country lanes with huge respect, and often felt moments away from disaster, now I love lanes, car performs great, really confidence inspiring and of course the ride is sublime in comparison to stiff older tyres.
I forgot to add do a feel test for heat after you’ve had a run, if the tyres are barely warmed they are likely off and or simply to hard to react,,, thats a really dangerous tyre on such s light car.
The Rainsport warm up lovely and that says everything to me.
I felt like a right berk as soon as I changed to better tyres, i’d Had at least 3 sets of shock absorbers trying to create a compliant ride and none helped much,,, it was all in the tyres after all!
I forgot to add do a feel test for heat after you’ve had a run, if the tyres are barely warmed they are likely off and or simply to hard to react,,, thats a really dangerous tyre on such s light car.
The Rainsport warm up lovely and that says everything to me.
I felt like a right berk as soon as I changed to better tyres, i’d Had at least 3 sets of shock absorbers trying to create a compliant ride and none helped much,,, it was all in the tyres after all!
Classic Chim said:
Without personal knowledge of those tyres I’d try and find said tyre on either another road car or from a tyre fitter and try to manipulate the tyre blocks with my fingers, if they are stiff and you can’t manipulate them I’d not buy them.
Rainsport are now very popular but sadly don’t do all sizes but two things are very obvious when you touch them, the sidewalls are soft and the tread blocks are easy to manipulate, this is a sign of how hard the compound is and Rainsport are a soft compound compared to many tyres I’ve felt up ( oh err missus )
Look up your chosen tyre and look for load rating and max speed. I chose Rainsport with a V rating rather than W
149 mph Max speed for the V which is more than enough for me.
The load rating also gives you info on what weight that tyre can cope with say in corners and, I made a guess as to how much weight I could dump onto one or two wheels into and out of corners ( road use only) and decided the V rating was about right. Over the moon with the grip ain't the word, to be honest I was not even bothered about high speed, I just wanted to keep my teeth fillings in place and create a more GT like performance, it’s worked out marvellous and truly transformed the ride and grip.
Anyway the point is look up the specs and weights the tyre can take. Mine can cope with about 500 lbs each tyre and decided for road use that would be enough and sure enough it grips like crap to a blanket.
Even in hard cornering on a very smooth surface chucking a tonne at one side of the car would be quite difficult so 500lb each tyre or was that Kg’s! works out quite well as you’ll rarely manage that amount of weight transfer on a road going car but this is my car my choice. Look up the details carefully then decide would be my way of doing it.
Good luck.
We need all their tyres we can get so hopefully you might have found a decent tyre for decent money.
What size did you go for? What you are describing is what I'm after as well. A quick look for the rainsport and the widest I can find on my 16" rear rims would be a 225/55. On the upside demon tweaks are offering this in a Y rating but is the width reduction an issue?Rainsport are now very popular but sadly don’t do all sizes but two things are very obvious when you touch them, the sidewalls are soft and the tread blocks are easy to manipulate, this is a sign of how hard the compound is and Rainsport are a soft compound compared to many tyres I’ve felt up ( oh err missus )
Look up your chosen tyre and look for load rating and max speed. I chose Rainsport with a V rating rather than W
149 mph Max speed for the V which is more than enough for me.
The load rating also gives you info on what weight that tyre can cope with say in corners and, I made a guess as to how much weight I could dump onto one or two wheels into and out of corners ( road use only) and decided the V rating was about right. Over the moon with the grip ain't the word, to be honest I was not even bothered about high speed, I just wanted to keep my teeth fillings in place and create a more GT like performance, it’s worked out marvellous and truly transformed the ride and grip.
Anyway the point is look up the specs and weights the tyre can take. Mine can cope with about 500 lbs each tyre and decided for road use that would be enough and sure enough it grips like crap to a blanket.
Even in hard cornering on a very smooth surface chucking a tonne at one side of the car would be quite difficult so 500lb each tyre or was that Kg’s! works out quite well as you’ll rarely manage that amount of weight transfer on a road going car but this is my car my choice. Look up the details carefully then decide would be my way of doing it.
Good luck.
We need all their tyres we can get so hopefully you might have found a decent tyre for decent money.
Edited by Classic Chim on Friday 17th May 08:34
Edited by Classic Chim on Friday 17th May 08:45
phazed said:
^^^^^^
As an alternative I’m just fitted a set of Kumho Ecsta Le Sport KU39s.
They get a good rating for dry and wet and are fairly priced.
The absolutely best thing about them is they have transformed the ride of my car. It is far more compliant with these and I just can’t say how much I enjoy driving it now compared to the old 2/3 worn Toyo R1R tyres.
Admittedly the Toyos Probably perform better in the dry if pushed to the limit but where can you do that on the road!
This is the best thing that I have done to the car, (Well apart from increase the power dramatically).
I'm failing to find anything wider than a 205 on my 16" rims for these and that is a big reduction from my 245s, I'm guessing you have 17s or above? or do you have a secret source As an alternative I’m just fitted a set of Kumho Ecsta Le Sport KU39s.
They get a good rating for dry and wet and are fairly priced.
The absolutely best thing about them is they have transformed the ride of my car. It is far more compliant with these and I just can’t say how much I enjoy driving it now compared to the old 2/3 worn Toyo R1R tyres.
Admittedly the Toyos Probably perform better in the dry if pushed to the limit but where can you do that on the road!
This is the best thing that I have done to the car, (Well apart from increase the power dramatically).
Rob_the_Sparky said:
What size did you go for? What you are describing is what I'm after as well. A quick look for the rainsport and the widest I can find on my 16" rear rims would be a 225/55. On the upside demon tweaks are offering this in a Y rating but is the width reduction an issue?
I use 17 in rims all round so I’ve gone for 215/45/17F
235/45/17R
Both these tyres are slightly larger circumference from the standard tyres but makes next to no difference although the fronts do rub on full lock but only when reversing? Very weird.
“Will they fit” is a good tyre size comparison site that’s fairly easy to use and allows you to put your existing size in and your preferred choice and see an overlay of what difference that makes.
Basically my tyres fill the arches a bit better and look great let alone stick like s
t to a blanket. The size and width of the tyre is also determined by the profile height so going from 215/40/17 to 215/45/17 has increased the overall tyre size quite a bit or enough to make the fronts look fatter. An accountant friend who actually understands math Qbee on here is really good at explaining tyre sizes and the difference or % of size increase based on that profile height.
I was after restoring some profile height as 17 wheels on low profile hard tyres were terrible if I'm honest!
I’d not be to concerned about width if I could get the right compound tyre.
I have also added 5mm spacers all round to bring the tyre line out a bit and it’s all worked out very well. It looks right which is the main thing
joke! I don’t seem to have a decent pic, but here’s one with the Rainsport tyres and spacers, uneaven ground so not the best shot but hopefully gives you some idea of how they look.
They grip which is the main thing. It’s like a go cart into corners, chuckable
Or this one maybe!
Rob_the_Sparky said:
Thanks all. Takes some hunting but have found the rain sport 3s in a few sizes (best selection was demon tweaks):
225/50R16 92Y (+0.8% diameter)
225/55R16 95Y (and 95V) (+4% diameter)
225/55R16 99Y (+4% diameter)
Will be ringing my local tyres place next to see what they can get...
Were early cars supplied with 55 profile? 225/50R16 92Y (+0.8% diameter)
225/55R16 95Y (and 95V) (+4% diameter)
225/55R16 99Y (+4% diameter)
Will be ringing my local tyres place next to see what they can get...
If so I can’t see much of an issue.
Using this website for a tyre size comparison, it seems 225/50R16 is the nearest match to 245/45/R16.
https://tiresize.com/calculator/
This is a US tyre (tire) website that lists options for 225/50R16. Quite a few to chose from, but maybe not all available in the UK. I fitted a set of the Yokohama S-Drive on my OEM OZ wheels on my Griffith and they seem great.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.j...
Correct rated tyres in general for 80's and 90's performance cars are getting hard to find. I had a Jaguar XJS with 15" wheels that was a challenge, found Yokohama's. I have an '84 Turbo Esprit, and its damn near impossible to get a matching set to original specs. Maybe the tyre manufactures will start to wake up the new generation of up and coming classics and re-introduce compatible tyres.
https://tiresize.com/calculator/
This is a US tyre (tire) website that lists options for 225/50R16. Quite a few to chose from, but maybe not all available in the UK. I fitted a set of the Yokohama S-Drive on my OEM OZ wheels on my Griffith and they seem great.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.j...
Correct rated tyres in general for 80's and 90's performance cars are getting hard to find. I had a Jaguar XJS with 15" wheels that was a challenge, found Yokohama's. I have an '84 Turbo Esprit, and its damn near impossible to get a matching set to original specs. Maybe the tyre manufactures will start to wake up the new generation of up and coming classics and re-introduce compatible tyres.
While I'm looking at options does anyone know the difference between an "XL" tyre and a standard tyre?
The web mentions XL meaning "Extra Load" but some options out there I'm seeing are labelled XL but the load rating is not high, in some cases the same as the not XL version of the tyre. The idea of an XL tyre on a light car feels wrong but not idea what the actual difference will be.
The web mentions XL meaning "Extra Load" but some options out there I'm seeing are labelled XL but the load rating is not high, in some cases the same as the not XL version of the tyre. The idea of an XL tyre on a light car feels wrong but not idea what the actual difference will be.
Looks like Yokohama do a 245/45/R16 performance tyre, the ADVAN A052.
https://www.yokohama.co.uk/Tyre-Finder
There is also the Yokohama ADVAN Fleva available in the original Griffith sizes front and rear.
https://www.yokohama.co.uk/Tyre-Finder
There is also the Yokohama ADVAN Fleva available in the original Griffith sizes front and rear.
Rob_the_Sparky said:
Thanks all. Takes some hunting but have found the rain sport 3s in a few sizes (best selection was demon tweaks):
225/50R16 92Y (+0.8% diameter)
225/55R16 95Y (and 95V) (+4% diameter)
225/55R16 99Y (+4% diameter)
Will be ringing my local tyres place next to see what they can get...
I have Nankang NS-2R in 225/50 16 - 89XL loading iirc - in 'hard' compound on the Tamy and they have been great. Have them in 195/55/15 on Wendy and Samy which have been driven on the road in monsoon downpours on the continent without issue.225/50R16 92Y (+0.8% diameter)
225/55R16 95Y (and 95V) (+4% diameter)
225/55R16 99Y (+4% diameter)
Will be ringing my local tyres place next to see what they can get...
That said I have also run Uniroyal Rainsport 3 on Suni and Tamy in 18 inch size. Done euro tours and trackdays with them and have no complaints.
Found something interesting in digging around for what XL really means.
In the British Standards (I am looking in BS_ISO_4000-1_2015-10-31) the load rating is largely defined by tyre size. For each tyre size there is then a Light Load (LL), Standard Load (no marking) and an eXtra Load(XL). Not all sizes are standardised some (including the 245/45R16) are "Not internationally harmonised" so there is some flexibility in load ratings where they are not harmonised but there is little point for hunting around for dramatically lower load rating tyres of the same size unless you can find LL tyres, which I have never seen.
P.S. The definition of XL marked tyres is "...tyres designed for loads and inflation pressures higher than the standard version." and for the harmonised tyres the XL does have a higher load rating than the SL.
In the British Standards (I am looking in BS_ISO_4000-1_2015-10-31) the load rating is largely defined by tyre size. For each tyre size there is then a Light Load (LL), Standard Load (no marking) and an eXtra Load(XL). Not all sizes are standardised some (including the 245/45R16) are "Not internationally harmonised" so there is some flexibility in load ratings where they are not harmonised but there is little point for hunting around for dramatically lower load rating tyres of the same size unless you can find LL tyres, which I have never seen.
P.S. The definition of XL marked tyres is "...tyres designed for loads and inflation pressures higher than the standard version." and for the harmonised tyres the XL does have a higher load rating than the SL.
Can I just add a word of caution about using incorrect rated tyres on a car (besides the possible lack of insurance implications)
The rating isn't just about top speed, but is about a performance package.
Years ago before all the current ratings, we had nothing, H and V. I had H rated tyres (correct rating) on my TVR Taimar, and my firend had V rated tyres (correct rating) on his TVR M Turbo. We did a joint trackday (at a slow max speed circuit - Blyton Park) with his car and my wheels and tyres, at the end of the day my H rated tyres were missing whole blocks of tread, we went nowhere near the max speed of the H rated tyres, but obviously accelerated harder than my car.
IMO just be cautious about using lesser rated tyres 'because I never drive at that higher speed', its not just about the top speed but how you get there.
The rating isn't just about top speed, but is about a performance package.
Years ago before all the current ratings, we had nothing, H and V. I had H rated tyres (correct rating) on my TVR Taimar, and my firend had V rated tyres (correct rating) on his TVR M Turbo. We did a joint trackday (at a slow max speed circuit - Blyton Park) with his car and my wheels and tyres, at the end of the day my H rated tyres were missing whole blocks of tread, we went nowhere near the max speed of the H rated tyres, but obviously accelerated harder than my car.
IMO just be cautious about using lesser rated tyres 'because I never drive at that higher speed', its not just about the top speed but how you get there.
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