vs
Tires NANKANG or VITOUR
Nankang NS-2R. Semislick tyre made for endurance.
With one set of this I made more than 1.000km on track.
And they are cheap.
Pros: cheap, made for endurance
Mileage: 1000 km
I had a set of Nankang NS-25 UHP tires on my mazda 3 turbo sedan. They were great tires and handled really well. Got about 30k miles out of them. I was pretty pleased, they even did alright in snow.
Pros: great tires, handled well
Vehicle:
Mazda 3
Mileage: 48280 km
So to create some perspective, my AR1’s on a small light car (Miata), lasted for 5 track days. Assuming an average of 20 mins per session, and around four sessions in morning and four in afternoon, we can assume I’m doing around 160 minutes or driving per day. So in theory I put 13 hours on those tyres!
Pros: lasted for 5 track days
Cons: need to cool down
Vehicle:
Mazda
I’ve used Nankang plenty of times on my older cars, they were fine. Drove fine in wet, drove fine in dry, no louder than any other tires.
Pros: drove fine in wet
Cons: no emergency braking situations
Vehicle:
Volkswagen
I think it really depends on the car. A fresh set of 13” AR-1 will last 2000-3000km on track on my dad’s Caterham.
Pros: last 2000-3000km on track
Mileage: 2500 km
Sunday I'm doing my first event on the Vitour P1, moving from the Rival S 1.5. I'll report back.
Biggest thing on them is the sizes. They make weird sizes that can net you an advantage, especially on specific cars.
I've done about 1200 Street miles and it's a clearly faster tire. Hard as hell when cold. Like, the first mile or two is pretty bouncy. But settles in quickly just on street driving. I imagine the first lap will get enough heat in.
While I'd love to do an apples to apples size wise, the very availability of a 305 in a 15" tire at 200tw is a huge consideration. Like for like they could be slower, but the next widest 15" option is a 245" by the competitors' 200tw offerings. So, I'll post my results after Sunday's event.
The shorter overall OD can also help (or hurt) depending on gearing.
Pros: clearly faster tire
Cons: hard as hell when cold
Mileage: 1200 km
I've had NS-II on my car for the past 4 years. For daily driving these tires will do just fine. Wet grip is alright and they're not terribly loud. They don't compare to Michelin Pilot Sport tires I ran before but they also don't cost anything close to Michelins.
Pros: fine for daily driving, alright wet grip, not terribly loud, inexpensive
Cons: not comparable to premium tires
Have a buddy that owns a tire shop and ran these for a a few years to put his money where his mouth was since he was recommending them to his customers. He said they were no Michelins, but were well worth the price. Seemed to hold up pretty well and his only real complaint was noise. Moreso as they got on in age, but otherwise, he thought they were better than decent. :thumbup:
Pros: well worth price, held up well, better than decent
Cons: noisy, more so with age
Friends have run these, they are outright terrible in all respects.
Cons: outright terrible in all respects
I had a set on a 2008 F-250 work truck. Wore down quickly ~15K miles and unevenly. Felt like hard plastic chunks when cold, noisy, no off road traction. Had one blow out at about 60 mph and later on I had another tire get a tumbleweed puncture in the sidewall. They were trash. Swapped them out for a proper set of tires.
Cons: wore quickly, uneven wear, hard when cold, noisy, no off-road traction, blowouts, punctures
Vehicle:
Ford
Mileage: 15000 km
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