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
Please read this review! it nearly cost me my car!!!!!
Recently got these on and thought I would try these on the rear instead of my Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas, reviews seemed promising and thought why the hell not!
the car is setup for track and I love AD08R tires and these were ment to be as good for a lower cost! I have had these on for a few hundred miles on the road first to see how they do and to wear them in abit,
dry grip is good but not brilliant, I find it lacks something and jitters around alot and is not quite planted!
wet grip!!! well today showed me how bad they are in the wet!!! i nearly lost the cars back end because the tires felt like it was on ice! NEVER have i had this before EVER!!!!!!!! they are ok in a straight line in the wet but any corners it hates it! i was going just 55 MPG on an off ramp off the Motorway and it was not fun and I had to swerve acros the 2nd land and not hit the barrier! luckly I was able to regain control or it could have been very bad for my car!
for this reason if you want these tires BUY THEM FOR DRY USE ONLY!!!! I would hate to know how they are in the colder months even on track!
back to the Vredesteins I go as they are very good and even handle track events very well
I Just mounted, tested the tires on the road for around 150km, they fit perfectly on the car. They have much more grip, handling and responsiveness than in any other road tire of any premium brand, except that you must warm them before trying to go fast.
These are semislick tires for the road (180, hard wear), for the track there is probably something better (if you pay twice or more). You must be careful on the wet (but i tested when cold and new, 7°C and after torrential rain). Excellent braking in any condition, just slippery on very wet hairpin bend.
The perfect choice for an old mx5 NA with neither power steering or braking assistance. Better 185 60 r14 than 195 50 r15 on country winding road. Miata at its very best!
After few km on the roads, i have no idea of wearing, at present. It seems regular.
Despite they are reinforced tires, they feel relatively comfortable (also on gravel, but my tires have high profile!) and not noisy .
Very high value per money.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
Incredible tires in the dry, somewhat scary in the wet, but you can still push around 80% depending on how wet it actually is. EK hatch with stock standard D16 engine, with coilovers, camber arms and a bit of additional chassis stiffening, and I've got WRXs struggling to keep up with me through the hills. Straight line speed is nothing with the NS2R's on your side, because you'll ditch everyone in the first corner.
Very noisy, being a tire designed for grip and not user comfort, but that's a price I'm willing to pay. Stupidly running these as my daily tires, but they've survived about 10,000km and are still going strong. So impressed by the NS2R that I'll be trying out the AR1 on my 350kw GTR.
Which tires do you drive?
Researching the Nankang NS2R? Rate the tires you actually drive - and help the next buyer choose.
I bought NS-2R 180/Street compound, since I was told they were as good as Toyo R888 and would last the same or more... Utter nonsense... I got 4000Km from them. I am not an aggressive driver and I certainly don't laptime on the road. I have only done 300Km on motorways.
I am very much inclined to say that Portugal has a really hot tarmac... I got none of the great mileage everyone talks about... It's a Caterham, well set up and, with half the weight of most of other reviewers' cars...
Could it have been a bad batch? Maybe... Will I buy or recommend them? Absolutely not.
These tires are very very impressive in the dry and I get no wheel spin whatsoever in my 500bhp 335i. I had previously used Goodyear eagle F1 but in the dry the NS2R are in another league. I managed to knock off 0.6 seconds off my 1/4 mile time which is loads in drag racing. They are also very safe and stable at high speed. Another big plus is the wear. I have the 120 soft compound but they have hardly worn at all with over 6000 miles, loads of burnouts and over 50 quarter mile passes. This price is also a bargain at £105 each when I bought them. The only downside is in the wet grip they are not great but so long as you are not driving wide open throttle everywhere then they are perfectly fine. Also I noticed no difference in road noise compared to my Goodyear eagle F1 so that was a nice surprise as I was expecting them to be much worse. I would definitely recommend these!
I tried them on my clio rs rally car as a replacement for the toyo r888r.
I can't say much about wear or comfort, since none of that is important in racing.
They're good for their price. In dry conditions they grip quite well and give good feedback.
But, they are a lot slower compared to the toyo's. It is difficult to give exact numbers, but i estimate i was about 1 to 1,5 seconds per km slower. They just don't have the grip that the better tires on the market provide.
I can recommend them as good cheap semi-slick, but if you're really looking to set good times or compete, they're not the ones you want.
they stick so well the 180 compound ok in the wet but can let go quick. but the softer 120 compound is unbeleivable in the wet and dry .go kart handling at a reasonable price
I bought this tire to replace our Yokohama A050 mediums. I got the R compound and they are a seriously hard tire. Good price but no where near the grip. They were so hard I ended up using a tire softener on them to try and get more grip.
Super grip, Dry or Wet. I had this tire on my Evo8(700hp) and BMW M4.
Both cars are for daily and track. About 10,000 miles or more.
In short, NS-2R treadwear 120 is almost identical to AD-08. This is not what I feel, data says so. Lateral G; AD-08 1.3G, NS-2R 1.3G. Braking G; AD-08 0.8G, NS-2R 0.8G. Best Lap time also was very identical within 0.1s. Which means its drivebility is about the same too.
This is insane performance when you think of the price tag.
Mileage is also crazy. Almost not understandable. I don't understand why NS-2R goes more than 30~50% more than AD-08. Why doesn't the other tire companies make like Nankang does?
For the money, I'd give the best rating except comfort. But Hey, No sport tires are comfortable.
Set my car up specific for my yearly trip to nurburgring, i decided to go for the 120 compound and i was very surprised with the grip level and feedback, i shall be purchasing more of the ns2r 120 compound for next years trip.
i have fitted square set-up on my e36 m3 3.2 track car, specifically built for nurburgring. i ran (on recommendation to me from race drivers of same car), 4x 235/40/17, square setup - and was advised best to use the 180 street compound, rather than the 120 track. this apprently is the better tire as grip is equal to the 120, but they handle the heat better.
the tires, for the money, were fantastic. this was the first time i have used the car on track, since its been stripped etc, so i dont have much to compare to... but generally.... the grip was very good, maybe not quite as good as a r888, but certainly in line with federal 595-rs if not slightly better, but im comparing that to on another car so its not a fair comparison.
the tires look great, and are quite wide tread pattern. they have a small rim protector too. they gripped well both in dry and wet. the broke away safely and progressivly, and didnt get overheated etc. i did around 40 fast laps of the ring (8.12 BTG is my best time on these tires). i ran them quite hard pressures, again on recommedation. 32 cold, aiming for 40 hot. this seems high, but works.
best of all was the tire wear. i did 1000 miles to the track and back on motorway, and 40x laps at a good pace... and they are hardly worn at all. infact they still look virtually new. i would expect less than 1mm had been worn away, and they come with 7mm from new i think anyway.
overall a very good tire for the money, and certainly worth trying. they are half the cost of r888 and i think they are likely 90-95% as grippy... but thats just my expectation. would be interesting to compare them to other tires in the future, but for the budget minded trackday, they are great
