Given
77%
while driving a
Nissan 350z
(235/40 R18) on
a combination of roads
for 2,000
spirited miles
Normally wouldn't have bought these, but money was tight and my last set of tires were balder than Jeff Bezos. Read some reviews from other users and decided to bite the bullet and give them a shot. First off the price is essentially unmatched for the tire size that I needed. While I would have gone with a more established "budget" tire brand like the Nankang NS-II or Sailun, my size was unavailable due to shortages. Ultimately, I came across the Farroad FRD26 in stock and in the size that I needed. 4 tires at 235/40/r18 came out to $420 CAD. That's almost the price of a single Michelin Pilot Super Sport. As good as the Super Sports are, I had my doubts that they are roughly 4 times better as these tires.
After having used these tires for about 2000 miles, I can say these are pretty fantastic tires given their price. I would recommend anyone who looks at these tires to manage their expectations as they will not outperform the top tires like the Super Sports etc., but rather they will perform up to 80-90% of their abilities at a quarter/third of the price. For my car (Nissan 350z), dry grip is excellent, the tires can handle the 300hp and rarely if ever, spin or lose traction on launch. Handling is fine, potentially one of the weaker points of the tire, but at this point I am uncertain whether that has to do with the tire sidewall or my current suspension setup as I'm still dialing it in. I will report back at a later interval to confirm.
I had read previous reviews stating it had excellent wet grip and I held off on this review until I had the chance to put that to the test. I can confirm these reviews to be true now. Wet grip is rather amazing when considering tire price and place of origin. Without driving like an idiot, the tires can maintain good wet grip under moderate acceleration and turning but I wouldn't push these too far. When compared to my last set, it was like driving on ice, so this was a very pleasant surprise. I even attempted to put the car sideways in an empty wet parking lot and the tires really fought the slide.
In terms of wear, these are very soft tires (tire tread rating is 320) so once again manage your expectations. Personally, I will feel blessed if they manage to get to 10000 miles, but I'm skeptical. For the purpose that I bought them, they were supposed to last me a season with decent performance on a budget and they have far and away exceeded that goal. To expect any kind of longevity out of them is to expect too much. Comfort is surprisingly good as well, but I think that has to do with the softness of the tire. Very little road noise is generated by the tires.
Overall, I would buy these tires again if I found myself in the same situation. While there are definitely better tires out there, if cost is an issue, these are top contenders. Being completely honest, the next set of tires I'll buy will be an established "quality" budget tire such as the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500, which commands a premium over these tires but offer increased longevity, as the long-term feasibility of the FRD 26 is questionable at best having to potentially buy a new set of tires every season. The FRD 26 excels in a pinch offering an inexpensive tire option for those who just need a short-term throwaway ultra-performance tire without racking up the credit card debt.