New All Season Tire Option

[Jaws12]

New CTR owner in New Jersey. Of course taking delivery in the middle of the winter season creates the tire issue as has been discussed in numerous threads.

after reading everyone’s choices about going either wider, higher aspect ratio, or changing out wheels for 18” or 19s, I started doing some research.
Nothing on Tire Rack, but Discount Tires Direct has Nanking NS-25 AS in our stock sizes and they are very inexpensive.

Has anyone used these or are they just something to avoid?

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[Jaws12]

Does anyone have an opinion about these tires?

 

[wildbilly32]

Does anyone have an opinion about these tires?

I have never heard of them...

 

[jayevo23]

Me neither. I'm currently on 245/35/20 Continental DWS all seasons. So far so good and it takes bumps alot better than the OEM size tire

 

[wildbilly32]

Did some research. Hard to find "reliable" reviews on these tires. They are cheaply priced. Did see made in Taiwan. They would make me nervous, but that's just me. I went with the Conti AS(not nearly as cheap) and stepped up to the 35 aspect so I don't have to worry so much about potholes. Your choice...

 

[Galaxythief]

I work for a tire distributor... I point anyone who asks away from Nankangs, Achilles, Panteras, Westlakes or most other entry level tire brand for anything with any level of performance. Milestar being the one exception of what we sell. Nankangs arent "bad" tires, in that they wont blow up. But theyre a harder compound and just running my hand across them in the warehouse you can just sorta tell they wont grip worth a crap. Also we tend to get a fair amount back for adjustment. Meaning the tire was out of round, wouldnt balance at them time they tried to put them on, broken belts, irregular wear etc... Will they do the job for most people that drive vanilla mobiles??? Im sure. But if you called in and asked me my honest opinion, Id point you to at the very least a Hankook, or Falken knowing theyre going on a Type-R. That being said, Ive never run them on my car personally, so take what I said with that in mind.

 

[9000RPM]

Please don't skimp on tires.

 

[tinyman392]

I'm not sure how the Nangkangs are, though they tend to not be recommended. I think I ran a set of A/S Nitto's (owned by Toyo I believe) before I ditched 20" altogether. They were good (not great) in dry weather, most temps including freezing), but not much else (any sort of actual weather I would have rather been in my old Camry with its OEM A/S tires). I wasn't impressed with them. I swapped to 18's with a set of PS AS3+ and they're night and day in just about every setting (TBH they might have been comparable in dry warm-to-hot weather, but that's it).

 

[123sillyboy123]

New CTR owner in New Jersey. Of course taking delivery in the middle of the winter season creates the tire issue as has been discussed in numerous threads.

after reading everyone’s choices about going either wider, higher aspect ratio, or changing out wheels for 18” or 19s, I started doing some research.
Nothing on Tire Rack, but Discount Tires Direct has Nanking NS-25 AS in our stock sizes and they are very inexpensive.

Has anyone used these or are they just something to avoid?

my honest opinion is, dont cheap out on tires. Your car and my car all just have that few inches touching the ground.. why cheap out on tires which keep you connect to the ground.

Just my 2 cents

 

[bikejog]

Does anyone have an opinion about these tires?

I owned a set of Nankang tires for my Prelude back in the mid 2000s. Would I buy another set of Nankang? Let me just say that if they're the only tire option available for my car, I'd ditch the car and buy a different car.

Anyway. Some tire store salesman gave a good sale about the Nankings and since they were 1/2 the price of the OEM Bridgestones, I took the bait. Immediately, I notice the Nankangs weren't perform as well as the old Bridgestones with about 30K miles on the clock. Turn ins were much softer and slower. The difference is like comparing a Corolla against a sports car. But that was not the worst part. The worst part was the non-existence of road grip. Even brand new, the front tires would break loose on any kind of slight incline with only light throttle. And even that was not the worst part. The very worst part was when it starts to drizzle. With just a very spotty drizzle (and I mean VERY spotty drizzle like a few drops of rain), the car slides at every stop sign if I brake normally. So I had to adjust my driving style to brake lightly and prematurely sooner. The scariest tires I ever owned. I replaced the set at around 20K (tires were rated at 50K or 60K I believe) with an excellent set of Michelin Pilot Exalto and never looked back.

Don't know if their new tires have gotten better, but as always, YMMV.

 

[tinyman392]

I owned a set of Nankang tires for my Prelude back in the mid 2000s. Would I buy another set of Nankang? Let me just say that if they're the only tire option available for my car, I'd ditch the car and buy a different car.

Anyway. Some tire store salesman gave a good sale about the Nankings and since they were 1/2 the price of the OEM Bridgestones, I took the bait. Immediately, I notice the Nankangs weren't perform as well as the old Bridgestones with about 30K miles on the clock. Turn ins were much softer and slower. The difference is like comparing a Corolla against a sports car. But that was not the worst part. The worst part was the non-existence of road grip. Even brand new, the front tires would break loose on any kind of slight incline with only light throttle. And even that was not the worst part. The very worst part was when it starts to drizzle. With just a very spotty drizzle (and I mean VERY spotty drizzle like a few drops of rain), the car slides at every stop sign if I brake normally. So I had to adjust my driving style to brake lightly and prematurely sooner. The scariest tires I ever owned. I replaced the set at around 20K (tires were rated at 50K or 60K I believe) with an excellent set of Michelin Pilot Exalto and never looked back.

Don't know if their new tires have gotten better, but as always, YMMV.

Granted you did put 20k on them, so you did run them through. Keep in mind, though, that a new set of tires will actually perform worse than an old set of tires when it comes to dry traction, and in some cases even wet (depending on how old they are). You need to get through the initial break in of a new set of tires to get rid of the outer coating that's placed on the tires when they are shipped to stop them from getting damaged. Some tire manufacturers will actually run their tires the equivalent of a few thousand miles before they do any performance tests on them to ensure they are at their optimal.

But yeah, friends don't let friends buy KuhmoNangkang.

 

[bikejog]

Granted you did put 20k on them, so you did run them through. Keep in mind, though, that a new set of tires will actually perform worse than an old set of tires when it comes to dry traction, and in some cases even wet (depending on how old they are). You need to get through the initial break in of a new set of tires to get rid of the outer coating that's placed on the tires when they are shipped to stop them from getting damaged. Some tire manufacturers will actually run their tires the equivalent of a few thousand miles before they do any performance tests on them to ensure they are at their optimal.

Eh that sounds like what the tire store will say when you come back to complain about your newly brought tires. lol...

But seriously, I don't think any manufacturer would intentionally apply coating that would degrade the new tire's performance by too much (I mean your new Type-R shouldn't feel like a Corolla when off the truck and only feels like a Type-R at 1K miles). Plus, no way the coating would last 1K miles. 1 to 10 miles I believe, but 1K miles? No way. Anyway, the Nankang kept sliding in light drizzle 'till they were replaced. Out of all the tires I have ever owned, the Nankangs were the only set that slide in light drizzle at every stop sign.

 

[tinyman392]

Eh that sounds like what the tire store will say when you come back to complain about your newly brought tires. lol...

But seriously, I don't think any manufacturer would intentionally apply coating that would degrade the new tire's performance by too much (I mean your new Type-R shouldn't feel like a Corolla when off the truck and only feels like a Type-R at 1K miles). Plus, no way the coating would last 1K miles. 1 to 10 miles I believe, but 1K miles? No way. Anyway, the Nankang kept sliding in light drizzle 'till they were replaced. Out of all the tires I have ever owned, the Nankangs were the only set that slide in light drizzle at every stop sign.

Info about new tires came from Engineering Explained when he did some work with Michelin comparing different compounds in dry and wet conditions (source of the information was Michelin).

Edit: a new set of tires will be worse than the same set used. My Nittos did the same thing yours did, I think the tread pattern wasn't good at evacuating water and other weather (never was good at it). They were only good in the dry. Note I'm not saying that the Nangkangs weren't bad, my statement is that you should talk about the tires slightly after they've been used for a few thousand miles to ensure the coating is completely worn rather than talking about how the tires felt new.

Edit 2: I got my CTR towards the end of winter, so it kind of did feel like a Corolla when I got it. That wasn't due to the coating though.

 

[bikejog]

Info about new tires came from Engineering Explained when he did some work with Michelin comparing different compounds in dry and wet conditions (source of the information was Michelin).

Edit: a new set of tires will be worse than the same set used. My Nittos did the same thing yours did, I think the tread pattern wasn't good at evacuating water and other weather (never was good at it). They were only good in the dry. Note I'm not saying that the Nangkangs weren't bad, my statement is that you should talk about the tires slightly after they've been used for a few thousand miles to ensure the coating is completely worn rather than talking about how the tires felt new.

Edit 2: I got my CTR towards the end of winter, so it kind of did feel like a Corolla when I got it. That wasn't due to the coating though.

My Nankangs were AS M+S. I already mentioned in my last reply that they slid in the drizzle all 20K miles. And they felt soft and slow all 20K miles as well. The car felt like a Prelude again as soon as the Nankangs were replaced with Michelins.

I'm ok with saying a new tire will perform worst than when it's broken in, but the difference should only be quantified by decimal points and not the difference between a corolla and a sports car.

 

[RedGiant217]

You need to get through the initial break in of a new set of tires to get rid of the outer coating that's placed on the tires when they are shipped to stop them from getting damaged.

Eh that sounds like what the tire store will say when you come back to complain about your newly brought tires. lol...

But seriously, I don't think any manufacturer would intentionally apply coating that would degrade the new tire's performance by too much

I'll just jump in here.

New tires have a "coating" on them from the mold. The material is applied to the mold to prevent the rubber from bonding to it.
I doubt it takes more than 500 miles to wear it away. Definitely should break in new tires unless they have had material removed (Tirerack offers that service).

Carry on.

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