A keenly priced mid-range summer tyre that feels civilised day to day, but struggles to deliver true high-performance security-especially in the wet and under hard braking.
The Nankang Noble Sport NS20 comes across as a comfort-led, low-cost option rather than a genuine high-performance summer tyre. In everyday use it's often described as good value, with a compliant ride and generally acceptable noise levels, and many drivers find dry grip and general road manners “fine” for normal commuting. It also has a consistent talent for resisting straight-line aquaplaning, which helps on standing water and motorways in heavy rain.
Where it falls down is when you ask more of it. Independent testing repeatedly places it near the bottom of the class for core safety metrics, with notably longer wet braking distances and weak wet handling, and similarly underwhelming dry braking/handling compared with rivals. Owners are split: plenty manage adequately in the wet at modest speeds, but a significant minority echo the lack of confidence-some going as far as calling wet traction unsafe-and the tyre's soft, vague steering/sidewall feel can promote understeer when pushed. It suits drivers prioritising purchase price, comfort and calm cruising, but if you want dependable wet braking and sharper, more consistent performance driving dynamics, there are stronger options in the category.
The quick answer
Owners say66%from 39 owner reviews54% would buy againRead the reviews
Strengths & weaknessesComfort, WetValueRelative to its rivals across every test we hold
Built from every independent test result and vetted owner review we hold for this tyre - the evidence is all further down the page. Data updated October 2026.
Where to buyPrices for your size at our partner shops.Affiliate links
How good is the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 in the wet?
Across the 5 wet-braking tests it has featured in, the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 stops 15.2% longer than premium rivals, 12.6% longer than mid-range rivals and 7.5% longer than budget rivals. It has a Tyre Reviews wet score of 29/100, and owners rate it 5.7/10 in the wet from 39 reviews.
How good is the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 in the dry?
Across the 5 dry-braking tests it has featured in, the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 stops 8.4% longer than premium rivals, 5.8% longer than mid-range rivals and 0.3% shorter than budget rivals. It has a Tyre Reviews dry score of 6/100, and owners rate it 7.3/10 in the dry from 39 reviews.
How fuel efficient is the Nankang Noble Sport NS20?
Across the 5 tests measuring rolling resistance, the Nankang Noble Sport NS20's rolling resistance is 9.4% higher than premium rivals, 7.1% higher than mid-range rivals and 7.9% higher than budget rivals.
How many miles does the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 last?
Based on test and owner data, the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 is expected to last around 26,333 miles (42,379 km).
What do owners say about the Nankang Noble Sport NS20?
Across 39 owner ratings the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 averages 66%. Owners rate Wear highest at 7.5 out of 10 and Wet Grip lowest at 5.7. 11 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles. 54% of owners score it 70% or better.
More questions about the Nankang Noble Sport NS20(7)
How comfortable and quiet are the Nankang Noble Sport NS20?
Owners rate the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 7.2 out of 10 for comfort and noise across 35 reviews.
How well do the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 wear, according to owners?
Owners rate the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 7.5 out of 10 for wear across 35 reviews. 11 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles, and the typical review covers 3,000 miles.
Would owners buy the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 again?
54% of owners say they would buy the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 again, based on the 39 owner reviews that answered the question. 33% of them gave it the highest possible answer.
What do owners say about the Nankang Noble Sport NS20's dry grip?
Of the 34 owner reviews analysed for the Nankang Noble Sport NS20, 20 mention dry grip: 15 praise it (strong dry grip) and 5 criticise it (limited dry grip). One owner wrote: "These Nankang's also are good grip". Read those reviews
What do owners say about the Nankang Noble Sport NS20's wet grip?
Of the 34 owner reviews analysed for the Nankang Noble Sport NS20, 17 mention wet grip: 7 praise it (confident wet grip) and 10 criticise it (weak wet grip). One owner wrote: "Directly dangerous on wet surfaces". Read those reviews
What do owners say about the Nankang Noble Sport NS20's road noise?
Of the 34 owner reviews analysed for the Nankang Noble Sport NS20, 13 mention road noise: 7 praise it (quiet) and 6 criticise it (noisy). One owner wrote: "i could not believe how quiet". Read those reviews
What does the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 replace?
The Nankang Noble Sport NS20 is the successor to the Nankang NS2 in Nankang's range.
Drivers' experiences with the Nankang Noble Sport NS20 are mixed overall: many higher-scoring reviews describe it as a strong-value budget tyre with good comfort, low noise, and solid everyday dry grip. A significant minority, however, report poor wet-road traction and confidence-sometimes describing it as unsafe-along with soft sidewalls/vague steering that can lead to understeer. Overall, it's most often viewed as a decent daily-driver tyre for the money rather than a true performance option, especially in the wet or when pushed hard.
What owners mention most counted across 34 reviews
Tap one to read only the reviews that mention it.
Owner ratings averaged from 39 ratings
Owner score66%
Wear75%
Dry Grip73%
Comfort72%
Road Feedback66%
Handling61%
Wet Grip57%
Featured reviews
Most helpful 49%
“Initial impressions were very good, except for the noise. However the tyre wear wear was very pronounced, after 20k km (of to be fair quite aggresive driving) the tread depth was at the minimum markers. Performance...”
“The tires were fitted on my Jaguar XK8 when i bought it. They are absolutely terrible. They give no confidence at all going into turns. Driving in the wet is like driving in snow. The steering feels vague. These tires...”
“Put a pair of 275/35 Y 18 ns20 on the rear of my 5 series BMW they didn't last 7500 miles before they failed the annual MOT test .I got over 20000 miles on my last set of tyres so not happy to say the least . Getting...”
These tires cost half as much as premium brands without lagging significantly in performance on both dry and wet roads. Good braking and grip—while not a sports tire, it is completely predictable at the limit. Trouble-free in daily use, with excellent longevity even on poor road surfaces. In fact, I had to drive about 500 meters with a flat rear tire, but after being repaired, it went right back to normal. I should emphasize that they take a fair amount of mileage to break in and reach peak performance.
Initial Impressions82% 3,500 miles
My previous tyres were Federal Evoluzion ST-1 which were excellent sporty tyres at a discount price. Unfortunately, the same tyres were not in stock and the only tyres at the same price point (almost 50% lower than premium brands) were the Nankangs. From previous reviews, these tyres seemed to have improve their overall performance in recent years, and thus, I decided to take the risk and try them. After 5K km, I realize that these tyres are excellent everyday tyres with good dry and wet breaking, above average wet performance and top comfort. But when it comes to sporty performance, these tyres have not enough stiff sidewall (even the extra load XL version I have) for hard cornering. Especially in my civic's stock setup, oversteer happens easily when cornering at high speeds which requires above average experience in handling. After testing different tyre pressures trying to fix this problem, I think that with 40 psi in front and 36 psi in back tyres, handling is much better and oversteer seems to be more fun than problem. In general, these Nankangs are 80% everyday - 20% sporty tyres, focusing more on everyday comfort and safety and less on sporty performance.
Initial impressions were very good, except for the noise. However the tyre wear wear was very pronounced, after 20k km (of to be fair quite aggresive driving) the tread depth was at the minimum markers. Performance, especially in the wet is very negatively affected as the tyre wears. All in all for the price (around 100€ a pair) no major complaints. However I have recently switched to second hand PS3s and there is no comparison, in my opinion it is worth getting used premium instead.
Bought these as a higher end budget/low mid range tyre. Paid £220 fitted for a pair. I’m coming from a set of Hankooks which lasted me around 5 years and went with the Nankangs this time as I’m sure this is roughly what I paid for the Hankooks back in 2018. Hankooks now up to £150+ so time to try something different.
Only been on the car around a months and my initial thoughts are it’s a decent tyre.
Road noise is slightly greater than the Hankooks, however I would add that the old tyres were on the limit. I assume any new tyre with full tread will make slightly more noise than an almost bald tyre?
I did also notice that the tyre itself, despite being the same 255 width as the Hankooks, is slightly narrower, leaving the rim marginally more exposed and offering less protection. Shouldn’t be a big deal, but time will tell if this leads to more stone chips on the wheels which were recently powder coated.
Grip in the dry absolutely fine. No noticeable difference in wet grip between these and the Hankooks. In the first week of having these fitted we had freezing conditions and I never had any shakey moments. I’ll add that in’s a sensible driver with the odd spirited burst when situation/conditions allow.
I think for a daily driver on normal roads, this tyre will serve you absolutely fine. Drive to the conditions and I don’t see you finding a ditch any time soon, certainly not because of the tyres.
I only do around 4/5 thousand miles a year so I’ll be hoping to see between 4 and 5 years out of these but time will tell.
Bought these as a higher end budget/low mid range tyre. Paid £220 fitted for a pair. I’m coming from a set of Hankooks which lasted me around 5 years and went with the Nankangs this time as I’m sure this is roughly what I paid for the Hankooks back in 2018. Hankooks now up to £150+ so time to try something different.
Only been on the car around a months and my initial thoughts are it’s a decent tyre.
Road noise is slightly greater than the Hankooks, however I would add that the old tyres were on the limit. I assume any new tyre with full tread will make slightly more noise than an almost bald tyre?
I did also notice that the tyre itself, despite being the same 255 width as the Hankooks, is slightly narrower, leaving the rim marginally more exposed and offering less protection. Shouldn’t be a big deal, but time will tell if this leads to more stone chips on the wheels which were recently powder coated.
Grip in the dry absolutely fine. No noticeable difference in wet grip between these and the Hankooks. In the first week of having these fitted we had freezing conditions and I never had any shakey moments. I’ll add that in’s a sensible driver with the odd spirited burst when situation/conditions allow.
I think for a daily driver on normal roads, this tyre will serve you absolutely fine. Drive to the conditions and I don’t see you finding a ditch any time soon, certainly not because of the tyres.
I only do around 4/5 thousand miles a year so I’ll be hoping to see between 4 and 5 years out of these but time will tell.
80%
Member
Renault
235/35 R19
5,000 miles
Mostly Town
Average
I purchased a set of four Nankang NS-20's for my Megane RS Trophy and I can hear all the Megane Sport Owners crying out saying "You should have bought Michelin!!" however I have tried various different tyres on my RS Trophy having owned two cars and the Nankang's are quite a surprise. Firstly the price. Online you can get these for around £100 a tyre. Compare this to Michelin Sport and you are easily looking at £250 a tyre!. I had a set of Nankangs on my previous RS Trophy and managed to easily get around 10K miles out of them, probably more if I drove more like James May. The NS-20's handle well on my RS Trophy for day to day driving. I don't go on track so a set of 4 tyres for £400 is a bargain. Handling and Road feedback is very good. I hadn't noticed that much difference in all honesty between these and the Bridgestone ones that came with the car brand new. These Nankang's also are good grip and I hadn't noticed hardly any understeer as some other drivers had mentioned with their reviews. These tyres also look very smart on the car especially when Autogylm tyre wet shine is applied to them .
Overall I am very pleased and with cost of living taking a bite these alternative tyres are a good option compared to the most expensive tyres out there.
If you read up about these tyres, you’ll find a lot of unsavoury reviews. However they all seem to be from some time ago and I’m wondering if they’ve changed the compound or something in recent years.
I’ve just come from a set of Michelin PS4 tyres on my Fiesta ST, fantastic tyres, but longevity is not their strong suit and they are very very expensive. So I thought about giving these a go as these are less than 50% of the cost of a set of PS5s now.
So far I am very very happy with them. Not so much road noise, great grip in the dry with decent feedback, not quite as good as the Michelins but pretty close.
Wet grip is absolutely fine, you drive to the conditions anyway but i feel confident it’s not going to fling me off the road. Decent with standing water too.
Overall I am very impressed with these especially considering the price, I do wonder about all the negative reviews and their ability to drive their cars according to the conditions! But I would definitely recommend these after about 2000 miles.
Had these fitted to my Mazda2 when I purchased it. Very cheap tyre and performance reflects this. Tyre had maybe a third of its life left so my review will reflect I drove this at its worst.
Dry grip okay. Better than other budget passenger tyres. Could get some speed of of it but with great difficulty.
Steering response is vague and inaccurate. This combined with lack of feedback at the limit made these quite tricky as there was no real warning when these would let go. I would get understeer and snap oversteer with harder cornering. Luckily Mazda's stability control kept me safe.
They were very greasy on damp roads but as they were near end of life this is to be expected.
Comfort was very good for a performance tyre. They were quiet and compliant.
All in all this tyre is probably for someone who would normally buy the cheapest tyre possible and call it a day. They really feel like passenger tyres masquerading as performance tyres. Fine considering price point but don't expect this to be a cheap alternative to PS4 GYA5 etc.
But these tyres as a replacement for Yokohamas which came with my car when I bought it used. Initially on the fronts, then at the rear. Dry grip is pretty average, not at all darty even for a light suzuki swift. Wet grip is even worse and you can find yourself in some pretty gnarly situations if you're not careful. Especially longitudinal grip, these won't grip very well in the wet from a dig. Comfort however is pretty good and they haven't worn down that much for the time I've used them. Got them at a fairly decent price, and tyre prices are pretty bad where I'm from. These tyres definitely haven't worn down as fast as the tyres they replaced but they also don't offer the same performance.
Bought set of 4 of these. Already in first mile on they started to shake...
Then i balanced them couple time and drived 450miles. Then shaking was crazy, i checked tyres and all tyres had collapsed belts inside. Tyres had 2-3 big collapses and almost 10mm of out roundness. Only one tyre had "flat spot" collapse, 3 other was like egg shaped.
Checked wheels and worst wheel had 0.2mm sideway and 0.3mm longitunal out of roundness, so wheels are perfect.
Older Nankang NS2 was ok tyres (bought these 3 sets long time ago), these NS20 are so rubbish that i wont never buy _anything_ Nankang ever again.
Handling was really bad, tyres flex like crazy in corners. Wet grip is really 0/10. Its better drive summer tyres in winter than these in wet summer.
Plus side, these was like new at 450miles. They even shine on threads. :D
Don't ever buy these!
They were a good tyre suited the mixed driving that was done on them very well. Nothing too aggressive in their life as they were only on public roads. Right up until the replacement where sure footed in the dry, in the wet so long as you keep smooth loading they never missed a beat. Under two mm of tread in the wet they could with very little provocation let loose in the wet, too heavy footed through intersections etc.
