Owners most often praise the Nankang NS2R for strong dry grip once warm, with confident cornering and good value for track use. Wet grip divides opinion, with some finding it manageable and others reporting very limited traction. Around two in five mention intrusive road noise, while roughly one in five describe a firm or harsh ride. A smaller group warn that cold tires need care before they build heat. Mid-life and end-of-life accounts often praise wear for this type of use, although some report short life under harder driving. Feedback covers different compounds and road or track use, so expectations and conditions vary considerably.
What owners mention most counted across 61 reviews
Tap one to read only the reviews that mention it.
Owner ratings averaged from 68 ratings
Owner score75%
Dry Grip88%
Handling85%
Road Feedback81%
Wear72%
Wet Grip65%
Comfort54%
Nankang NS2R Reviews - Page 3
Score spread across 59 written reviews
miles
Review stage
Member
Ford
225/40 R18
2,000 miles
A Combination of Roads
Spirited
Bought these tires 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 tires! Replaced them after 3 months with the new Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport... Awesome tires! 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 tire. They do not overheat or wear on the edges like road tires 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 tire, 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
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
Running these on my MR-S. When there is some heat in them they stick insanely good to the road. Handling is very predictable, I'm on my second set now and grip never vanished abruptly, always very talkative at the limit. Feedback from the front is a bit more sparse if the tire isn't warm but that almost certainly has to do with almost no weight in the front too, so not sure how another 180 tw tire would handle this. I can run them for two seasons ~20k km. Especially for lightweight cars with not too much power these are the best for their price. Wet handling is solid and no surprises here either although you'll of course need to handle them like what they are in wet conditions.
Absolutely brilliant in the summer. They stick to the road like shit to a blanket.
Horrendous in the winter, especially when wet. If you do manage to get some heat into them during the winter months, I'd still advise you to take care cornering at even reasonable speeds. I have no idea where the rating for these in the wet comes from. They do displace water well, and I've noticed a massive difference when hitting standing water at speed, they do seem to keep the vehicle more stable, but other than that they're awful.
I've used them solely on the road for the last 6 months, from the start of summer and into the early winter months in the UK, and they've worn reasonably. I've covered maybe 2,500-3,000 miles. There's still plenty of life left in them, and they were pushed hard in the summer when new. They're a good tire if you can pick them up for a reasonable price, maybe look for some part-worn's with decent life left, but I'm not sure if they're worth the £85-90 a tire I paid brand new, especially not when comparing them to the alternatives.
I got these tires on my Suzuki Swift Sport 2014 when I imported it from Japan.
One of the best tires I've used till now.
Holds onto the road like a train on the rails!
Dry drip is just outstanding, wet grip is okay when the tires are 100% heated.. But still, have to be careful..
The noise is not that disturbing, if you are playing music or if you have a sport exhaust youwon't pay much attention to it.
I had adjustable coilovers on my car and it was set to 75% stiff.. So its obvious I won't get the best comfort but as a little sport car it was fine for me.
Will definitely buy again if they sell the same dimensions in my country.
Fitted these for track purposes having been using Conti Force Contact for the last few years (which are sadly no longer made). Dry grip is impressive and communication/feedback is very good. I found them to be pretty progressive when they started to give up - but as you'd expect - not as good as the Conti (which were twice the price I hasten to add).
I haven't yet tried them in the wet so can't comment on that side of things, but they are incredibly noisy (sounds like all four wheel bearings have failed) and the ride is unforgiving - which is absolutely fine in a track tire.
In short, I wouldn't run them as road tire (even if they do turn out to be brilliant in the wet) but as a very cost effective track day they get my vote. I'll try the AR-1 next and just hope it doesn't rain...
Iv had cheap summer tires and have driven a few cars wearing pilot sport s porsches with cup 2 tires etc so i understand what to get out of a FF car and RWD the nankang NS2R do suffer in the rain abit but thats when u push it and only silly sausages push there cars in the rain but on a track they will be hard to get abit of temperature in them. But in the dry i have a 1000kg golf with no interior & no sound deafening so i cant actually hear if they are loud tires im not gonna complain about things being too stiff because im not 60 years old i do long journeys in my golf and iv driven worse cars that make you want to fall asleep but anyway iv gone of track, the NS2R warmed up will definitely give you good feedback to where you need to set your car up in suspension and handling entering and exiting a corner with less stress no its not a pilot cup 2 but for the money i got mine from italy for £ 312 for 4 tryes thats pocket money
Using it on my underpowered daily driven Tigra Twintop 1.8.
Wanted to try something different, with the goal of the vehicle in mind.
Goal of the car is to go everywhere doing 80 km/h (corners, roundabouts etc.) and it functions as intended.
Obviously the car has more modifications to get this done.
It is a very predictable tire, with a nice soft boundry between grip and slip.
Sidewall stiffness isn't all there, but a lower sidewall could've most likely fixed that. Nevertheless decent feedback.
Has surprising comfort on short agitations from the roadsurface, on motorway speeds the tire noise is clearly apparent however.
In the wet, just stick to the speedlimits.
