Nankang NS2R Reviews - Page 2

I've ran one set of these just on the front wheels and currently run them on all 4. Pretty solid in the dry but you won't get the most out of them unless you get them hot.... You won't be getting them hot from road driving quite frankly. In the wet these tyres are quite dangerous. Very, very slippery and being semi-slick they like to hydroplane. Definitely exercise a lot of caution driving these in the wet, have to be very careful with acceleration around corners. These have nearly cost me my car after being the slightest bit too heavy on the throttle out of a very slippery corner. In short I only recommend these if you're looking for some cheaper tyres that you can take to the track and drive around on through the week. They probably won't reach their ideal temperature from spirited mountain driving, so basically don't bother with these tyres if you don't track your car at all. I don't think there's much to really compare these to at least around the smaller 195/55 R15 size I run, all other semi-slicks are more expensive and RE003's don't quite match the dry grip of these supposedly.

Genuinely shocked with these tyres! Fitted to my focus st225 on all corners, heard a few stories of them being rubbish but I went ahead and tried them anyway and I’m glad I did. They can be a bit sketchy until they’ve got some heat in them but once they’re warm they’re like glue! My car used to spin all way into 4th before but with these tyres, once they’re warm it just grips. So far I’ve drove them in dry and damp/slightly wet conditions and they’ve been brilliant. Not too much road noise, they’ve made my car feel more “connected” to the road and more confident in corners. Hard for me to comment on wear as I’ve not had them on long but once they’re due for replacing I’ll be using them again

Replaced a set of Toyo TR1's with these, the 205's are actually 215 wide. They look good too. Much stiffer sidewall giving better turn in and much more direct steering. They don't roll over onto the sidewall either, so the tread stays in contact with the road with no squealing. Dry handling on road or track is excellent with solid feel, good turn in and they hold on well when loaded. Straight line and corner braking performance is very good, solid and confidence inspiring. They will progressively understeer at the limit under power, but that's 200hp in a fwd car. If they do lose traction, they recover easily. Surprisingly good on wet road and track, but they won't cope with much standing water. They're probably quite high rolling resistance, being a sport oriented tyre. Low noise levels as long as you don't drive along the cats eyes. Relatively hard ride due to the firm sidewalls. They appear to be wearing ok. I don't expect too much due to the occasional track day. They are a relatively inexpensive road/track tyre. Excellent for the price and I'd buy again for the Lotus, but not for my daily.

The tyres look great I have them on my cls Mercedes, I have no issues with handling in dry or wet, the reason I would be reluctant to buy these tyres again is the road noise, I’ve replaced front and rear bearings because I thought they had gone. Turns out it’s the tyres. I have to play radio really loud to drone out the noise while driving and braking

1998 Dodge Neon: Race day 2019 Road Atlanta. Temps. 328F and Snowing. Okay from the heading you should see that there is snow on the track. SNOW ON THE TRACK !!! I am writing this to some of those dim-whits that think than when some here say or that the company promotes that these are good in the wet, chances are that they MIGHT be pretty good in the wet ! Should you check your speed...YES. Its a Extreme summer performance tire ! Meaning its got compounds for the dry, with some elements and silcia mixed in to stick in the wet. How many here have performed actual racing on tires ? All just track day guys? When you're racing amongst race cars, all on different types of tires, some prepared for the wet, others not so prepared. The difference is a tire enstilling confidence for the driver that the car will stick in the corners and brake zones is what sets a tire apart from others. On these Nankang's we were running circles around the competition ! A dry track turned wet. I was in the Neon, when that wet started showing up, i turned on the heat and went for it abd pushed hard. Collected 15 positions in my drive time in a 2 day endurance race. It started snowing during my stint as well as into the other drivers on my team. Was the car slippery ? Yes..Yes it was. But what i was able to do is to predict that over steer, grab it, and get back on gas stronger than the competition. Alot of you guys here would say that this is a terrible rain tire due to your pure impression that you should be able to hold the same speeds as in the dry. Very few wet tires can actually do that. But you cant tell if youre doing any better or not than the competiton. John here in Tyre Review does a great job of determining wet tire characterisitics. Some of these reviewers however just puke their guts to say that this tire or that tire is just terrible or that they wrecked their car. Its hard to read some of these inputs and then put my reviews of the tire on here to share with others and thisnk, am I wrong or are they !?!? My impression. I like these tires. Are there better ones? Sure. I really really like the Conti Extreme Contact. Raced those at Road Atlanta as well in 2018. Cooooollld, Rainy. The 1989 Ford Mustang was running circles around the competiton. No Stock Mustang is supposed to do that in the wet BTW. We came prepared with these tires. TOOOOONS of cornering grip with the Contis. Did they slip ? SUUURE! But i was also going waaaay faster than the other cars. With that said, the Nankangs are a good cheap tire to try. Good dry, good wet, Good, cheap tire to try. Will review Khumo Ecsta V730 in 1989 Mustang coming shortly. Sorry for the rant Chaps (My Brits Friends).

I have these fitted to my 240 bhp Mk7 Fiesta ST, driven mainly on the road but with occasional track days. Had these tires fitted approx 1500-2000km ago, and so far I only have good things to say about them. They grip well in dry, better than other street tires that cost twice the price. Wet grip is pretty poor, but thats kinda what you expect from a semi slick. The tires can be a bit slippy under power when they're cold, but they're pretty easy to get up to temp and when they get up to temp they stick very well. Tire noise is pretty bad, but can be pretty easily drowned out with music. The NS2R's feel very predictable on their limit, and are easy to read. For reference I was running the harder 180tw version of the tire.

When you read online feedback (for anything, not just tyres) people tend to do it very early on, you do wonder how the product faired long term. Tyre was a 225/45/17 on a Mk3 MX5 so not a very heavy car. We never ran these in very hot conditions, both times about 15'c ambient. My experience of these is on the first time out on track they were fine, they take a couple of laps to warm up and the rear could step out until they were up to temp, but after that were ok. Second time out on track on a different date they were pretty useless. Just very little grip no matter how long we ran them. The suspension setup was the same, but we were softening the damping all day to try and find some grip. They're also very noisy on the road, not only normal tyre roar from having a lot of rubber and less groove, but also they make a throbbing noise like a bearing or the diff was on the way out. They are at least half the cost of any other track tyre out there and it shows, I won't be using them again.

Just a word on these on initial fitting. I had a set put on my spare set of wheels for a track day. They came with the releasing agent still on them and in the damp it was like driving on ice. Once this layer is gone (doesn't take much, a few miles maybe) then they grip really well. BUT - don't assume you can put them on a road car and drive in the wet without scuffing the releasing agent off of them first. Now to the tyres - I ran these on my mini over the winter and other than being a bit lacking grip in frosty conditions early in the morning, they coped fine, even in the wet. Stiff sidewalls and a very 'square' profile, and not the lightest of tyres either but semi-slicks/slicks aren't light anyway due to the stiffer construction. On the track they have been fine so far. 2 track days and 1000 miles or so on the road and I've taken 2mm off the fronts (car is 200bhp roughly). I'm sure with some more spirited track work I would expect them to last another 3-4 track days for me at least.

Bought these tyres after I couldn't replace my set of Yokohamas AD 08. Handle almost as well as the Yokos but a stiffer ride. What was unbearable for me though was the noise, I replaced my wheel bearings as I was convinced that's where the noise was coming from... It was the tyres! Replaced them after 3 months with the new Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport... Awesome tyres! NS2R... Never again thank you!

Bought these tyres after I couldn't replace my set of Yokohamas AD 08. Handle almost as well as the Yokos but a stiffer ride. What was unbearable for me though was the noise, I replaced my wheel bearings as I was convinced that's where the noise was coming from... It was the tyres! Replaced them after 3 months with the new Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport... Awesome tyres! NS2R... Never again thank you!

Use these on track mostly as they are too.stiff and noisy for the road. They hate cold and wet conditions. On a dry track, they are very good. Grip and feedback are impressive for a cheapish tyre. They do not overheat or wear on the edges like road tyres Overall wear rates are good. In the wet, they are very poor. To be fair, I used them in very cold conditions. Unable to get heat into them, they were hopeless. Overall, a good tyre, but I would push you towards the Goodyear Eagle Super Sports. 99% as good in the dry, excellent in the wet and good on the road

Is a very direct feeling you get from this tyre. You lots of confidence going through a serie of corners. It makes a lot of noise but ok to live with.