Are Nankang tyres really that bad?
Discussion
I recently bought a Mini Cooper S which had 4 brand new Nankang tyres fitted. Had problems with them loosing pressure. Rang the dealer where I had bought the car to complain and was due to take the car back to have it looked at.
Came out of work to find one tyre completely deflated and in no way could I get it inflated. Had to have the car towed to the garage who subsequently found 3 of the 4 tyres were defective and replaced all 3, unfortunately with more Nankangs. 2 had cracks along the inside side wall, one had a major big bubble in the inside sidewall.
Had no problems since and I'd say for normal driving I've not any real complaints with them. But I will definitely buy better once they are worn out.
Came out of work to find one tyre completely deflated and in no way could I get it inflated. Had to have the car towed to the garage who subsequently found 3 of the 4 tyres were defective and replaced all 3, unfortunately with more Nankangs. 2 had cracks along the inside side wall, one had a major big bubble in the inside sidewall.
Had no problems since and I'd say for normal driving I've not any real complaints with them. But I will definitely buy better once they are worn out.
JohnnyMac said:
I recently bought a Mini Cooper S which had 4 brand new Nankang tyres fitted. Had problems with them loosing pressure. Rang the dealer where I had bought the car to complain and was due to take the car back to have it looked at.
Came out of work to find one tyre completely deflated and in no way could I get it inflated. Had to have the car towed to the garage who subsequently found 3 of the 4 tyres were defective and replaced all 3, unfortunately with more Nankangs. 2 had cracks along the inside side wall, one had a major big bubble in the inside sidewall.
Had no problems since and I'd say for normal driving I've not any real complaints with them. But I will definitely buy better once they are worn out.
But you have a hot hatch why not fit the best tyres you can? Or in this situation ask for the cash he was going to spend on new replacement Linglongs so you can get some proper rubber on it. Came out of work to find one tyre completely deflated and in no way could I get it inflated. Had to have the car towed to the garage who subsequently found 3 of the 4 tyres were defective and replaced all 3, unfortunately with more Nankangs. 2 had cracks along the inside side wall, one had a major big bubble in the inside sidewall.
Had no problems since and I'd say for normal driving I've not any real complaints with them. But I will definitely buy better once they are worn out.
Personally I only use Michelin hard wearing long lasting tyres and I'm happy with the price I want that shorter stopping distance wet or dry and better lateral grip wet or dry it could make all the difference between having an accident or not.
Axionknight said:
I bought a Volvo 850 T5R that had them on all four corners, they weren't old and had only covered 2000 miles tops so they weren't well worn, but on a car that usually struggles for traction at the best of times they really were poor. The grip in the dry whilst cornering was acceptable at best, but off of the line they were crap, especially in the wet, laughable actually - I had a friend in an old 1.6 Fiesta away from the lights faster than me outside of the Huddersfield University, I just sat there spinning the wheels whilst he sped (?) away.
I had them taken off at my earliest convenience and had the car fitted with Pirelli P Zeros, which were excellent and well worth the extra money - they were also brilliant on my Volvo C30 (factory fit).
My experience of owning 2 Volvo T5's was that anything less than a top brand was laughable. I experimented with a few brands (BFGoodrich, Falken etc) and eventually ran Goodyears on mine and even they dropped off badly after about 6k miles.I had them taken off at my earliest convenience and had the car fitted with Pirelli P Zeros, which were excellent and well worth the extra money - they were also brilliant on my Volvo C30 (factory fit).
Had Nankangs on the front of my 406, just replaced with vredestein which to be fair are loads better but quite a bit more expensive.
As an aside I now largely ignore online tyre tests. I bought Falken FK452's on the back of good online reports and really thought they were s
t.Edited by Fattyfat on Sunday 6th April 22:31
poing said:
And this is the exact reason all my tyre purchases are massively researched and almost always premium brand. A few hours of internet research for something that will be saving my life for the next 24 months seems a fair trade off to me. If the result costs £50 extra per corner then I guess I'll not be eating out a few times to cover it. It's not about the cornering limits it's about safety margins.
Driving a bit slower also increases safety margins. Not all cars are the same, we should adapt our driving style accordingly.Saying nangkangs are dangerous is akin to saying speed kills, IMO.
Edited by Countdown on Sunday 6th April 22:28
SteBrown91 said:
I know that because a good friend had a very lucky escape after his budget tyred Clio caused him to flip 5 times as he misjudged a corner in the wet. He literally had no control and the car snapped and flipped before he had chance to even try to correct it.
Ok - just so I understand this correctly.A friend of yours had an accident big enough to roll the car 5 times and you believe he would have avoided this accident if he'd not had budget tyres.
scherzkeks said:
Worse than a Nankang product? Ventus V12s were pretty highly rated in most tests, and I thought they were quite good for a mid-priced performance tire...
That's what I thought when I bought them but the car was far more skittish and spongy on corners, notably less grip than the Sporttracs and gods knows what else budget numbers I had fitted over the years, it's a strange one. The Rover's actually got a good set up and quite forgiving with the tyres (or so it seems), I eventually swapped the V12s on to the back and put the budgets on the front and that made all the difference.northwest monkey said:
SteBrown91 said:
I know that because a good friend had a very lucky escape after his budget tyred Clio caused him to flip 5 times as he misjudged a corner in the wet. He literally had no control and the car snapped and flipped before he had chance to even try to correct it.
Ok - just so I understand this correctly.A friend of yours had an accident big enough to roll the car 5 times and you believe he would have avoided this accident if he'd not had budget tyres.
Your friend was driving like an absolute tool to lose it, with no other car involved and flipped 5 times due to a misjudgement. Thats not the tyres.
Sometimes no matter how good the tyre some people run out of talent before their tyre runs out of grip.
Thankyou4calling said:
Food from ASDA
Clothes from Matalan
Flight by Ryanair
Car from Vauxhall
Tyres from Nankang
Cheap, serviceable, fine in every day use.
Obviously you can buy
Food from Waitrose
Clothes from Marks and Spencer
Fly with Emirates
Car by Audi
Tyres from Pirelli
More expensive, better quality, fine in every day use.
This.Clothes from Matalan
Flight by Ryanair
Car from Vauxhall
Tyres from Nankang
Cheap, serviceable, fine in every day use.
Obviously you can buy
Food from Waitrose
Clothes from Marks and Spencer
Fly with Emirates
Car by Audi
Tyres from Pirelli
More expensive, better quality, fine in every day use.
Drive carefully, brake steadily and you wouldn't know the difference.
Not too many choices for the 13" alloys on my 2.8i Capri,the owners club had some new Nankangs going cheap so I took the plunge.
As a combo of car and tyre I should be dead,the car does try to kill me in the wet but it did that before the Nankangs!
I think theyre fine,but my winter Alfa Gtv runs on P6000s and I think theyre fine too!
As a combo of car and tyre I should be dead,the car does try to kill me in the wet but it did that before the Nankangs!
I think theyre fine,but my winter Alfa Gtv runs on P6000s and I think theyre fine too!
Got a set on my Audi. No problems in 4 years and haven't noticed any appreciable difference with the Pirelli they replaced. 40k miles and tread still good.
My view is I look at the EU ratings and together with the speed rating you make your choice. If they are rated to a speed then I would expect them to deliver it.
The suggestion of paying extra for tyres on a non performance road car purely to prevent you going off into a ditch on the first corner sounds like you drive like a complete knob. Driving beyond where the conditons allow and your own ability.
My view is I look at the EU ratings and together with the speed rating you make your choice. If they are rated to a speed then I would expect them to deliver it.
The suggestion of paying extra for tyres on a non performance road car purely to prevent you going off into a ditch on the first corner sounds like you drive like a complete knob. Driving beyond where the conditons allow and your own ability.
steve_bmw said:
I had some ns-2 on my car ages ago, they were fine for everyday use, grip was fine wet and dry, however they were very noisy, sounded like my wheel bearings were going, changed the tyres for my usual potenza's and all is well again.
I've got ns-2s fitted on the front of my e46 and found them really noisy too. I've not got round to swapping them yet but the noise they make made me think my wheel bearings were shot right down to varying in intensity when cornering and braking. It's good to hear that it's likely to be the tyres causing the issue. Unfortunately I can't swap front and back due to staggered wheels.As for the grip they weren't as bad as I was expecting. In the dry they're fine but in the wet they don't really inspire confidence.
jonah35 said:
This.
Drive carefully, brake steadily and you wouldn't know the difference.
Also, you can save a few quid in petrol by hugely over inflating your tyres. If you don't see many police round your way you could also try running them down to the canvas. Just drive extra carefully.Drive carefully, brake steadily and you wouldn't know the difference.
Next week, how to refurbish your own brake pads with only araldite and hardwood off cuts.
There is a lot more to consider than just the brand name - different tyre models within the brand, age and condition of the tyre, cars they're fitted to, road surfaces driven on, driving style and so on.
Most people I know that have used them reckoned they were decent enough all round, one of the better 'budget' brands.
Most people I know that have used them reckoned they were decent enough all round, one of the better 'budget' brands.
jonah35 said:
This.
Drive carefully, brake steadily and you wouldn't know the difference.
Not this at all - it's the skinflints mantra and it doesn't work. No matter how carefully you try to drive, people make mistakes. You usually can feel the difference as well IME, way before you reach the limit of grip.Drive carefully, brake steadily and you wouldn't know the difference.
To be fair Nankang tyres are a lot better than they used to be, but still well in the budget territory. Try driving on a set of Triangle tyres and tell me they are perfectly good, because they are anything but.
Edited by Mr2Mike on Monday 7th April 08:16
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