Summer Extreme Performance Tires

After 2325 miles and 3 track days on the BFG Rival+ I am so far very happy with their track performance and find them well suited to driving to/from the track. I was looking for a compromise between the extremes of my previous two sets of track tires, the Bridgestone RE-71RS and Hankook RS4, changing from 215/45R17 on 17x7.5 to 225/45R17 on 17x8.0 in the process. The grip level feels similar to the 215 RE-71RS, but with a far more progressive peak and more forgiving oversteer correction. The Rival+ seems to continue to grip at high slip angles far more than other 200TW tires I have driven, but this capability can encourage overdriving and hurt corner exit speed. The steering effort is heavy immediately from center and builds linearly off-center, providing good confidence for trail braking. This steering effort is slightly too heavy for my preference, feeling less agile and eager on turn-in compared to my previous RE-71RS and RS4 tires.

Consistency throughout a 20 minute session is the biggest advantage over the RE-71RS, with my fastest lap typically possible on the 6th or 7th lap of a session. Previously with the 215 RE-71RS only the tire's peak performance was only available in the first 2-3 laps, although the size increase certainly contributes finding such a significant gain in thermal management. The RS4 had even greater consistency, but significantly less grip and poor feedback during the warmup phase. Considering the slower warmup of the RS4, I think the Rival+ is better for maximizing the number of fast laps possible in a 20 minute session. After 3 track days and ~2000 miles of street driving I have lost 1.0 mm of tread depth with rotations between each track day and alignment settings of -2.5 deg front camber/-2.0 deg rear camber. The RE-71RS had worn twice as much by this point. I cannot compare directly to the RS4's as those had lower camber settings, but do not expect the Rival+ to last as long as RS4.

On-road the Rival+ has a very firm ride with good impact damping and minimal boom noise. Noise levels are high and have increased noticeably with wear, but helpfully has not developed a distinct tread tone or cyclic character so far. On-road handling is a strong point with a very stable tracking feel at highway speeds and relatively low sensitivity to road grooves. In wet conditions the firm steering effort provides feels very stable handling and the Rival+ has good hydroplaning resistance at near full tread depth. I have similar confidence on wet roads as I did with the RE-71RS and much more than with the RS4.

From my early impressions the Rival+ is the best fit I have experience so far for my use case: 1 track tire capable of dry or wet laps and suitable driving to/from track days 300+ miles from home. Faster and more civilized than the RS4, more heat tolerant than the RE-71RS, and far better in wet conditions than the V730 is exactly the compromise I need.

Tire size 195/50/R16 TW 180.
I daily drive a 2004 NB Generation Mazda MX5 between the beginning of March and the end of October. Fitted these tires near the start of March and have daily driven them around 12,000 miles / 19,000km since then (so over around 7 and a bit months). I drive mainly 50mph/80kmh back roads 20 miles to work each way and regularly like to go on road trips to some excellent fast winding roads. I also do the odd track day.

The good:
- Dry grip: These NS2Rs have INSANE grip for a road tire once the outside temperature is above around 10 degrees celsius. The hotter the outside temperature the grippier they get and my god do they have tremendous grip! Once the temperature drops below 10 degrees like any summer tire they do tend to lose grip but never become scary.
- Wet grip: For a semi slick TW 180 tire I was very nervous before I bought them about wet grip but I genuinely had nothing to worry about. Drove on motorways with wipers on their 3rd setting at 60mph/100kmh in a recent storm and they held up very well. General day to day driving in normal rain conditions is absolutely safe (once again below 10 celsius results may vary) and I'm very pleased.
- Wear: My NB MX5 has the 1.8L VVTI engine with 140hp and weighs around 1,100kg. Wear is very good. Starting tread depth of around 6.6mm went down to 4.5mm after 12,000miles. Very happy with it. If you have a more powerful and especially heavier car your wear might be worse so keep that in mind.
- Steering Feel: My MX5 has hydraulic power steering and the steering feel and steering weight has gone up noticeably with these tires most likely due to their super stiff sidewall, they feel amazing.

The Bad:
- Noise. Interior road noise at 50mph/80mph isn't great with a persistent drone starting at those speeds and growing the faster you go. Not the end of the world though as my car is loud and I just turn up the music haha. If you like a quiet tire keep this in mind.

TLDR;
Love the Nankang NS2R. AMAZING dry grip, surprising wet grip, very low wear, and the tires give amazing feeling and weight to the steering. Downside is they're noisy past 50mph/80kmh.
I will DEFINITELY be buying again!

It is NOT a comfortable tire, noisy when miles increase, wet grip is good

brilliant tires when warm in the dry, don't try and be a hero when you haven't got them warmed up.
absolutely terrible in the wet on a lightweight civic with no ABS, very loose , very hard to keep traction on pull-away and have a tendency to lock up. Can't get much better for a dry weather track day tire however.

After the initial wear-in period, the tires have provided excellent dry grip, and acceptable wet braking, handling. You can't expect more from what are technically semi-slicks. Would definitely recommend in generally tropical/sunny areas, they're outstanding value for money, and feels terrific on my B8.5 audi S4 avant. Have just installed a pair on an audi TT 8N (2002), with the 240PS 1.8L T, will update within 3K miles.

My god I had great expectations but it was a lot better than I expected!
My comparison is the PZ(4?) I got with my Hyundai i30N (front left peeled off in chunks after 4 x 30min track on a GP style track - maybe it's me, fair enough), and Continental Sportcontact 7 I used for about 1.5 year, 20k km and 80-90 Nordschleife laps.
The P Zero R is on a whole another level, like a different category. A few months ago I was doing 9:30 Nordschleife laps consistently (9:17 best ever lap) and last week on same type of trackday I just did 9:12, 9:11, 9:07 and 9:00 in basically consecutive laps (and I was held up for several corners by a slow car in this last one! Admittedly I upgraded rear pads and added front brake cooling but I firmly think the majority of my speed was solely from my tires. The brake cooling just made sure I don't cook my brakes with the added level of punishment.
I felt the days before the track day that I just enjoy more spirited right/left turns, as the car 'leans' on the tire it just feels better (can't explain) already but man the track experience, best trackday ever. I just wish it didn't end and my brakes could take more punishment, these tires are something else.

They are firmer compared to my SC7 for sure, like half a suspension setting on my i30n. They look healthy to me now, just a proper heat cycle and some shoulder wear as it's normal with a street car I think, but I don't know how they last in terms of tread OR just stickiness in general. There's no way a tire this good lasts long. Tires aren't exactly cheap nowadays but these ones? Considering the price I paid and other tires cost, this could be say 20-25% more and I would still lean towards buying them (please don't increase price I'm poor and it takes significant lifestyle sacrifice to save up for a couple trackdays a year with all the costs :) ).
I have to say I'm super thankful to Pirelli and Tirereviews for finding these tires.

Pic (if they upload in order) are meant to be 2 pics of front left tire (most used on trackday), then 1-1 of front right, rear left, and rear right.

Previous reviews i mentioned very small slip angle and squeals in the corners at 50km/h but i was wrong
here to correct my review on this tire, it was the alignment that was off, very off toe settings, after adjusting it and Camber at -2 degree ish its doing fantastic, i have done 2 track days 1 autocross with it as well its doing very well, with the proper inputs, after a proper alignment i barely hear any squeals unless i do a bad input like bad braking, bad steering etc

dry braking is a little weird not sure if its my input on a FWD Mazda 3 4th gen it leaves a bit to be desired, cornering on touge routes once of twice every week is fantastic on these tires, love the feedback from the road, its stiff

at 30% treads i would not fly on wet roads thou, swapped it for a new set of Apex V601 at around 1.7-1.8mm depth

with a few months of bad toe alignment, extra scrub and track days and autocross case i gotten 8953.95miles 14,410km out of this set with rotation

As the mileage life of this tire, it become more hard and vibrating on uneven road, the road noise also increase

Tire were used on a 470 HP RWD 1.7 t car. For the money, this is a very good budget tire for spirited driving and even occasional track use. The tire offers decent grip, a stiff sidewall, and responsive handling that gives you confidence when pushing the car on twisty roads or during a track day.

What impressed me the most was its durability. Compared to some other performance-oriented tires, the tread lasted quite a long time, which makes it an attractive option if you're looking for a balance between performance and running costs. Wet weather performance was also perfectly acceptable. I never experienced any unpleasant surprises and always felt comfortable driving in the rain.

However, once the tire reached around 60-50% tread depth, its characteristics changed noticeably. Dry grip dropped significantly, and the tire no longer delivered the same confidence and performance it had when new. This was especially noticeable during more aggressive driving, where the reduced grip became quite apparent. For my application I did not mind as first half of the tire I used for track days and fast road driving and second half was used for doing skids and enjoying RWD car as you should :D

Noise levels were never an issue and remained low throughout its lifespan.

Overall, I would recommend this tire to anyone looking for a budget-friendly performance tire that can handle spirited road driving and the occasional track day. Just be aware that its dry performance deteriorates quite a bit once the tread wears down to around half of its original depth.