Best Tyres for the Ford Fiesta ST180

This review is after 3 years of usage. Kind of hard driving on Fiesta ST all time. First two years was kinda good comparing to Barum Bravuris, especially on wet conditions. But now when it is 5mm left and 3 years past, it acts not very good. Become very noisy and harsh, very fast overheating and as soon it happens it lose all grip almost (but still safe if drive normally). Good point it survived 2 track days without damage and overall treadwear is slow, but loosing grip very fast and starts screaming even on low speeds. Also general comfort after 3 years is lost, it feel plastic now and very hard on road. I got Su1 on my audi last time, it was same scenario, while new they are good, after years it lost it characteristic signifiably

When I bought my Fiesta ST180, it had a full set of these Nexens on the car. When I checked it over at the dealer, and being a mechanic, im not scared to look under the car. Upon doing so, I saw the inside front tyre had side wall splits. These where easily 2-4 inches in length. (Bare this in mind)

I bought the car, but told the dealer about the tyre. I asked for a MOT as well, and Ill buy the car no quibbles.

Ive had the car 5 years. And only used these tyres to keep it all matching at the same. The grip levels dry and wet are fair. How ever during the colder months the car likes to wheel spin in certain inclines, pulling away. And feels very pushy.

Ive even took these tyres on a track day. I was surprised with the fair performance again, They like to edge wear a fair bit I find.

Now to my MAJOR gripe with this tyre. In the 5 years ive owned this car. Ive put NINE tyres on it. I think two tyres where replaced due to wear. The rest where due to the sidewalls splitting on the inside. Upon googling, you will find lots of other people suffering from the same. Ive not driven the tyres flat. They just seem to suffer from British roads a little too badly I find. I do try to avoid pot holes and ruts as best as possible. But it seems the build quality of these tyres are just so poor, you could probably sneeze on them and the tyre would split.

Ive seen worse MOT'ing cars. But Ive got a tyre thats 6 months old, with 1-2 inch splits in the side wall on the inside.

Id personally avoid this brand. Im looking into other tyres within my budget, and now just going to replace all 4, and hopefully not need to change tyres again after 6 months.

Centres worn down to 3mm outer edges still on 5-6mm. Car had tracking done when the tyres where fitted, suspension all good and tyre pressures definitely not over inflated. Handling is ok, wet grip good enough for what is classed as a mid range tyre but surprised me a few times when i expected to have grip and didnt! Will not buy again.

I really enjoyed these tyres. They have excellent grip in the dry and good in wet as well. Are a bit noisy but not too bad. Had them on for 20000+ kilometers including around 10 track days. The fronts were just changeg to Asymmetric 6s, the rears still have plenty of meat on them.

This is a winter tyre and it works incredibly well in the wet at cold temperatures. There was not a lot snow here, the tyre worked well well during the few days of snowy conditions no problem there.

The two main issues where the very soft rubber compound that really starts to struggle above 20C, it starts to smear in corners at 25C. Then there are these soft sidewalls. They are good for comfort, but not good for cornering and handling. It did not help that there is no rim protection either. So be gentle when use these rubbers when its warm.

This is an almost end of life review since the tyres are 9 years old now, but they have still lots of profile left after about 20.000km, I just don't drive that much during winter.

The tyres do what they are supposed to do, but my next winter tyres will have stronger sidewalls.

They were already on car when bought the car, with 5.5mm left, 2018 production year. What can I say, almost impossible to drive on wet road, even just starting from stand still, not very aggressive cause hard spin, very scary to fly through corners on wet road. The dry aspects are pretty good, but tires are hard and not very comfortable. Once was on track, not very pro, but after 30 mins, middle ribs almost destroyed, not very responsive after couple of rounds. In general doesn't like them, because mostly it is wet in my country and need to significantly reduce speed.

Needed urgently to buys some winter tires is this rare size, there was only 3-5 options, so choose the cheapest ones, and it was those tires. And I was very surprised, brand new they got much more grip on wet and dry then my summers Barum bravuris 3hm. Then come the winter, still no issues, very good handling and grip. A bit worse when outer temperature go over +7C, with my driving style it start to slide a bit in corners. It is my second winter season on them, definitely going to buy them again, for such money I got more then I expected and in fully satisfy my needs. Negative is maybe treadwear, new one got 7.7mm, now on almost end of second season aprox 5-6mm left.

Got the car with kumho tires on it. Done 40k km with them and they were great. Changed them for Goodyear's... In the dry they had almost the same grip as Goodyear but in the wet they are ok for normal driving but not spirited.

Pros: + Good grip in the dry + Decent ride over bumps + Little road noise Cons: - Poor in rain & damp conditions. Does not need spirited driving to spin the tyres. - Lacks steering precision due to softness of tyre - Can be prone to sudden understeer, & this includes dry conditions - Quick tyre wear - Drives badly once the tyrewear reaches 4mm - Average steering feel Overall: These tyres came with the car I bought 2nd hand. I wish they did not as I knew what to expect. I previously owned a Skoda Octavia VRS Mk2 which I got Goodyear Asymmetric 3s all round, & they were really bad. Understeer, delayed reaction & lack of steering precision. The Asymmetric 5s only improvement is better grip, but the same traits remain as the Asymmetric 3 because of how soft Goodyear tyres typically are. The best Goodyear tyres I have owned were the Asymmetric 2s on an old Skoda Fabia, that had great grip in the dry & even better in the rain. Goodyear should bring the Asymmetric 2s for those reasons. The tyres on my current Fiesta need changing soon as the tread depth is down to the 3mm range & the handling feels sloppy, so I will change to another brand away from Goodyear.

There will be better tyres out there without doubt. But as a track-orientated road tyre at a reasonable price these are great and I would definitely buy them again.

The dry grip and handling is good, although the difference from more traditional road-orientated tread patterned tyres wasn't as much as I expected. For example, comparing them to the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3, if I'm fairly near the limit on the F1A3 with plenty of tyre squeal, on the NS2R I can match lap times with little or no squeal - it's still toward the upper end of their limits but with just a bit more margin.

The wet performance is surprisingly good in my experience (although i have read some negative comments from other people about this). I did a track day at the Nordschleife in the wet. Grip and handling was nice and predictable (although I don't think I took them near near the limits as I do in the dry, due to lack of experience in the wet and fear of putting my car in a wall or barrier!). Aquaplaning didn't seem to be an issue at all, even at 120mph in a straight line in very wet conditions!

Tyre wear is very good indeed, considering the use (mostly track driving and often fairly near the limits of grip). At least, it is when run at appropriate pressures and staying off the more vicious kerbs!

In the dry the NS2R is noisy in the cabin, which doesn't matter if its primarily a track tyre but might be more of a concern to some people for road use. It is also difficult to balance on the wheel, which may be due to poorer quality control than more premium tyre brands, leading to uneven weight distribution? To help with that, make sure the yellow dot on the side wall is aligned with the valve.

I'm planning to try the AR1 next, for dry conditions, with the F1A3 as wet backup. But if you're in the market for a decent track-oriented all-rounder at a reasonable price, I think the NS2R is worth considering.