The Nankang NS2 is most often praised for dry grip and value, with 90 favourable dry-grip comments against 13 critical ones. Overall, 90 of 197 written reviews are positive, with an average score of 63.7%. Wet grip is the main concern, criticised in 63 comments, roughly a third of reviews, although 46 are favourable. Noise also draws more criticism than praise, with 37 complaints, around one in five reviews, against 18 positive comments. Tread-life feedback leans positive, but later-life accounts include both long service and short wear. Several repeat reviewers became less satisfied over time, while others remained steady or improved their scores, so deterioration is not universal.
What owners mention most counted across 194 reviews
Very good tyre for such a reasonable price. Feel grippy wet or dry, comfy, low road noise and initial impressions suggest decent wear resistance. I have used Avon, Khumo, Michelin and Uniroyal tyres in recent years, and believe the NSII's compare favourably with any of them. Will be my 1st choice next time I need tyres.
So far, these tires grip well in the dry, in the wet, I don't know cause I rarely drive it on the wet. They have a little bit of road noise but its tolerable. So overall, these tires are good and cheap, just don't push it too hard in the wet.
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I had these tires for sometime, I have a set of 35 series, so the wear could have been better if at a 45 or so. I don't have really any complaints about this tire. I live in Seattle, WA and it rains almost ALL the time. The performance in the dry, isn't bad but not great, but you cant beat the price on how it performs in the wet. With the center grooves and the v shape of the tread, allowed me to take a bend on a highway at 125mph in a downpour... Yes I know, stupid, but I couldn't believe the traction... Oh, did I mention I have no power steering? The upgrade in the tires improved handling slightly. Definitely a repurchase.
225 40 19 fitted to my M3 when i bought it, i wasn't very happy but i got on with it. Anyway i have just purchased some Goodyear Eagle Asymetric 2 and the first thing that struck me is how much wider they looked. I measured the Goodyears thread at 225mm i then measured the Nankangs 195mm no wonder they are so poor. The grip in the wet borders on dangerous the only good thing about them is that they wear out quickly so I could get rid of them earlier than expected.
Alot of people are giving the wrong tyre a bad review - the NS1 ( now discontinued) used to have a hard compound, this tyre has a soft compound & works well in the dry aswell as wet, I would say this is probably the best budget I have used & really it should be classed as a mid range tyre.
I'm very satisfied with my NS2. I've used my first set for 4 years now, and will definitely consider buying them again, when it's time. They are silent running, and gives a precise feeling. I feel these tires behave equivalent in all situations to the Michelinhigh end tires I used before buying Nankang.
Comments on negative feedback in this forum and magazine reviews with bad outcome for these tires:
- I checked the reviews by the German magazine Auto Bild for a couple of high end priced and a couple of low end priced tires. Without any exception, all high end tires got very good reviews and all the low end got "don't buy" reviews. To me that signal that this magazine has an unprofessional and unscientific approach to tire reviews. I just can't be that the price of a tire is 100% correlated to its performance. There's so much more than the tire company's ability to develop a good tire that determines the final price. And Auto Bilds bad review for this tire has been contradicted by hundreds of happy owners.
- Maybe those stating in this forum that this tire's ability to brake is almost zero, and because of this experienced a collision, may say so because they need an excuse other than their own driving ability.
In other words:
Don't care about reviews where the author has driven his car into something, and then blames the tires.
I can tell from my own experience with these tires that an experienced driver would never drive into something in front of him because these tires bad brake ability surprised him. That sounds just ridiculous to me.
Of course there is a difference in the final brake distance between different tires, but in a situation ending in a collision, there are a lot of other factors involved that can be hard for the driver himself to analyze correctly afterwards.
These tyres are amazing. Very cheap and grip is mind numbing. Went for a 200 mile country trip yesterday and it was raining hard. I drove through zigzags, inclined hairpin turns, and the like with potholes and uneven road surfaces and different roads (asphalt and concrete, sometimes sand because of road construction). The tyres hugged the road superbly even for a small and light front wheel drive car like mine. Road noise is just average, maybe I just forgot to check my tyre pressure before I left but nevertheless, these tyres are a great buy and props to the well built sidewalls. Will definitely buy again when these guys go bald.
These tyres are a genuine false economy!! They have decent grip in both wet and dry, but tyre noise got so bad I had 2 wheel bearings replaced before realosing it was the TYRES. Replaced with Pirelli P6000s and massive difference and not that much more expensive!
Worst ever tires! i found myself skidded on a dry road condition on a traffic junction! used 5000km and i trade it off. very dangerous tire. if u cherish your life, please look for other option.
I live in new york city,US of A. I have numerous amount of tires through the years and for the price this is pretty good tyre. I currently havre them on about 4 sets of wheels 16 tyres in all no complaints. I even use them on the snow, I drive an S4 so to put summer tyres in the snow I put them on to have fun. Nankangs are a cool tyre IMO.
