Nankang Noble Sport NS20

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.

For normal driving on dry roads, it is ok. Rolling recistans is little high, but not to bad.
In Rain it is bad. Very bad.

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.

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.

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.

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 might be ok for city driving but not confident of breaking distance.
I had them for 3 months and swapped them for Pirelli P Zeros. The difference is staggering.
Don't buy Nankang NS20 for a performance car ever. They are dangerous.

These were already fitted when I purchased the car from a dealership. Initially I thought get them off & fit approved tyres but kept putting it off until here I am almost 3 years later & looking to fit a new set because told the rears have maybe another 2000 miles. That would mean these have lasted about 11000 miles which is not too shabby for this car at all. How have they been? Tremendous. OK I am not a high miler but I do tend to drive with lead boots & the roads around here a twisty. Not in the best shape either. Do like to go for it when it is safe to do so. Have to say these tyres have never let me down. I have never felt the car getting away from me. It has always remain planted. Road noise? Are you kidding? The lovewly sound of that naturally aspirated V8 engine/exhaust drowns all that out thank god!

I got rid of a van which was not really being used to it's potential in my business and went back to using an estate car as I did years previous.
A sub £1000 Vectra SRi fitted the bill , great car in great condition on a 57 plate on a small budget....never really thought about fun whilst driving from job to job, but after a few back road blasts it became very apparent that the vectra estate( quite a lardy car despite the SRi branding) was actually pretty dam grippy and balanced to a degree that left me quite shocked.No doubting that the chassis must take some praise as it's stiff and well damped, but
The tires fitted we're non other than these Nankang NS20,s and the lateral g you can generate is quite astounding for what is a cheap sports tire.
My plaything car is a modfified RX8 running on Kuhmo KU36,s, worked suspension too and if I was driving against myself in both vehicles I would not be feeling like the poor cousin on the Nankangs....they install quite a bit of confidence, seem stiff on the sidewalls and grip tenaciously.They run quiet too
I would buy again for sure..and will soon.
I recommend highley, budget driven or not.

740i G11, staggered 245/40-20 front and 275/35-20 rear. Quiet, stable, and far more comfortable than the OE run-flat Bridgestone Potenza. Near equivalent dry grip as the OE Potenza, but the cornering isn't as precise (these tires do stick), but little more corrections are necessary sometimes. The only complaint is at speed over 100mph, these tires become a little floaty and slightly louder compare to the OE Potenza. Overall, I'm very pleased with how well Nankang NS-20 tires handle the weight and speed of this vehicle. Haven't had a chance to drive on wet surface yet. Fine tires from Nankang, Republic of China.