Review: Nankang NS-20

[mad-ass]

I got these tires in Mid Dec 2012 on my IS300 215/45/17(car is completely stock)

Daily drove the car the whole time, did norcal to socal round trip once, put on about 23k miles on the tires. it wore down about 2/32's off so far(10/32" is new with these tires). Did couple of rain days, no snow experience on them.

They are quiet, nice and soft, provides way more grip than I had expected, good tire life. I did read a lot about these tire review before I bought them and most of them are from UK/tyre-review and people were saying they under-steer.

One complain on the tires were that they under-steer going around a round-about at 30mph, I tried to replicate the scenario knowing how big the round-about's are in UK(been there few times) and my conclusion on that is they were driving like a total jack-ass to be going around those at 30mph(smaller ones), and the tires did not understeer. Although let me remind you that these tires are not designed to handle heavy amounts of cornering abilities, if you want good cornering, get R888's or RS-S's or something, don't shit on these tires because you were driving like complete nut job.

I love the tires, probably wouldn't get anything else for the price range for non-track driving.

Recently they are now carried by Discount Tire Co./Americas Tire Co. at a reasonable price, although smaller tire shops do carry them as well(which where I got mine from for kick ass price of $340 installed). I also got a quote for pair of 235/40/18 and 265/35/18 for $447+tax at Discount Tire Co. and $370+tax at my local tire shop.(the tire size I will be running on my S14)

Handful of my friends got these tires after I told them about it and their price. Their ability to stretch is very comparable to the NS-II's and they are all happy with the tire as well.(W140, couple E39's, Speed 3's)

I hope this will help someone looking for these tires and if you have your own experience please add them in as well.

[h3llk1t3]

I have the feeling that both big Taiwanese tire manufactures are rather under-appreciated. Nankangs even more so than Federals, even though their tires are decent, relative to their prices anyway.

In terms of performance I won't be able to judge as I have not driven them. But in regards to looks, especially when stretched, I still prefer the NS2 tbh. But it's the same as if you pin a 452 vs a 912. Preference is very subjective. I think 452's are miles better

I don't mean to hi-jack your recommendation, but fact is the NS20 (same as the NS2) is taking quite a few mixed performance reviews, and there is certainly many viable options on the tire market. Nonetheless, the NS20 is probably a decent tire for the money you're paying.

In order to sell these to the S/W community you should make some pics of the NS20 your friends are hopefully utilizing for some tougher stretches!

[mad-ass]

well, i'll make a better effort to post actual pictures of the said tires on the cars as edit on first post. but in mean time, We all have used NS-II's before and NS-20(They just came out with it in 2012) is far better tire at same price range for both comfort and road noise. they wear down slower than NS-II's as well.

I'm not paid to do reviews or what ever, just thought I'd let people know better insight of them.

[rice4life]

Great review!

I just cannot seem to trust these smaller off brand tires, as a sidewall delaminated completely from the tire. Though it wasn't a nankang, how should we know that these tires are better than something like a similarly priced and highly rated toyo proxes 4 or 4+?

[Chasen88]

How are Nankang sidewalls, are they easy to stretch ?

[mad-ass]

You actually like Toyo Proxes 4's? those are some loud tires! the 4+'s are good tires, but man are the normal 4's loud.(from my experience in my S13/S14 anyways. Did a lot of track driving, and no trailer meaning I had about 230mile round trip to track and back home+driving around track all day/hot laps.) All my experience of tires comes from brand new to slightly used tires(7/32+ thread used, no deformations of any kind) on my cars, and some of my friend's experience with particular brand and model of tires.

Anytime I seen a tire de-laminate itself is due to tire defects(I've witnessed brand new Federal 595ss' do this on first lap around track, and it was due to defects in the tire in that batch of tire, got the tire warrantied) or burnout/drifting(Michelin Pilot Sport is a particular brand and model of tire that I know they will de-laminate 100% of time when drifted on as early as 5/32's of thread left), OR they are dry-rotted. I don't use tires that are older than 5 years to be on safe side, and of course check them out before/after they are installed.(I usually mount/stretch my own tires)

The NS-20's are just as easy to stretch as NS-II's. The shoulder of the tire design is different from the two models, so the NS-II's will be bit more rounded(something stretched tire folks are looking for) than the NS-20's, but I'd rather have stretched NS-20's than the 595ss' if you are looking for the fender clearances. My friend with E39 have used the NS-II's for long time, and always had to flip tires every 3 month/5000 miles or so, now that interval is every 6 month or so. and also to be noted is the road noise difference when warn down/flipped. difference is significant between the two models and NS-20 are now preferred.

Falken 452's stretch similar to Dunlop DZ101's from my experience, but man the falken 452's are super loud any annoying just after 4,000 miles or so. the shoulder on those wear down too far easily, and they can get feathered/cupped easily as well, where as the DZ101's don't have any of those problems.(DZ101's have it's own problems, they get hot super fast and get slippery)

I should also mention my alignment specs when I used those tires for those who are interested(95 Nissan 240SX).
Front: -3.5 Camber, 7.2 degree caster, 1/8th toe out combined.
Rear: -4 Camber, factory caster, 0 toe.

Sorry for writing a brochure, but not sorry :p
Sharing is caring.

[rice4life]

I love the original proxes 4's. Mine were about 10 years old, no dry rot, and by the end of their lives had probably around 60k miles(were the wheels I bought from my buddy's s13, they were put on in 2002, with 50k miles on the car, and his car had 70k when I bought them. The grip was great for tight tracks and mountain roads. The tire noise is actually enjoyable. It was something different than the extremely loud exhaust drone.

The delaminated tire was a GT Radial Champiro, it was supposed to be the best out there for under $150 a tire. Ramona tire was full of bull shit, and it delaminated after a thousand miles of street driving, I was going through an intersection at around 30mph when it happened. It ended up sliding me into oncoming traffic. Luckily I didn't hit anyone, but it cracked a rim and Ramona tire refused to replace the tire or even acknowledge the fact that the tire had a defect. Luckily Walmart was right on the other side of the intersection, and they put on my spare for free and inspected the old tire, and told me that it was completely delaminated, and I was lucky it wasn't at a higher speed.

I'll give these nankangs a check, as my genesis has some sailun(carmax put these on D tires on it, and I am getting new rims in the future and want a dependable grippy street/track tire. I don't really push it, no burnouts or drifting unless there is rain, I can't afford to crack my only 5x114.3 wheels if the offbrand tires have defects.

[icemanfive0]

I like the Nankang NS-20 as well. I currently have them on a set of Style 5 wheels on my E36 and I am pretty impressed considering the price. I picked some up on eBay for $64 each with free shipping. Hard to beat that.

[Chasen88]

Thanks I think I'm going to check out the ns-20's, don't mean to thread jack but I was offered a good deal on some continentals but after some research I heard they don't stretch well

You actually like Toyo Proxes 4's? those are some loud tires! the 4+'s are good tires, but man are the normal 4's loud.(from my experience in my S13/S14 anyways. Did a lot of track driving, and no trailer meaning I had about 230mile round trip to track and back home+driving around track all day/hot laps.) All my experience of tires comes from brand new to slightly used tires(7/32+ thread used, no deformations of any kind) on my cars, and some of my friend's experience with particular brand and model of tires.

Anytime I seen a tire de-laminate itself is due to tire defects(I've witnessed brand new Federal 595ss' do this on first lap around track, and it was due to defects in the tire in that batch of tire, got the tire warrantied) or burnout/drifting(Michelin Pilot Sport is a particular brand and model of tire that I know they will de-laminate 100% of time when drifted on as early as 5/32's of thread left), OR they are dry-rotted. I don't use tires that are older than 5 years to be on safe side, and of course check them out before/after they are installed.(I usually mount/stretch my own tires)

The NS-20's are just as easy to stretch as NS-II's. The shoulder of the tire design is different from the two models, so the NS-II's will be bit more rounded(something stretched tire folks are looking for) than the NS-20's, but I'd rather have stretched NS-20's than the 595ss' if you are looking for the fender clearances. My friend with E39 have used the NS-II's for long time, and always had to flip tires every 3 month/5000 miles or so, now that interval is every 6 month or so. and also to be noted is the road noise difference when warn down/flipped. difference is significant between the two models and NS-20 are now preferred.

Falken 452's stretch similar to Dunlop DZ101's from my experience, but man the falken 452's are super loud any annoying just after 4,000 miles or so. the shoulder on those wear down too far easily, and they can get feathered/cupped easily as well, where as the DZ101's don't have any of those problems.(DZ101's have it's own problems, they get hot super fast and get slippery)

I should also mention my alignment specs when I used those tires for those who are interested(95 Nissan 240SX).
Front: -3.5 Camber, 7.2 degree caster, 1/8th toe out combined.
Rear: -4 Camber, factory caster, 0 toe.

Sorry for writing a brochure, but not sorry :p
Sharing is caring.

[mad-ass]

235/40/18 on 18x9.5

[Strawhat]

Just bought a set of these myself.
Haven't driven on them much but they seem nice! Ran small compared to my conti's (that ran wide).

[Oh, Word?]

I ran 205-40-17 on 17x9 and I loved them. Cheap, pretty grippy, and rode nice and smooth. I ran mine for about 1300 miles on my s2k with probably -5 camber and clutch kicks happened fairly regularly. When I took the wheels off to sell you could hardly tell they'd even been run, very minor wear on the very inside edge was it, no chopping or weird wear pattern. I'm honestly still shocked I thought for sure I'd smoke them on the ride to h2oi and back which was all I bought them for. I'd buy them again in a heart beat.

[Miroteknik]

Appreciate the review, good to know.

[hokis]

Anyone use these on the track yet? Looking between these and a set of BFG g force for light track work but mainly daily driving. Have a set of dunlop and they absolutely suck in the rain.

[Oxer]

I love ns20s... will post pics soon of some serious stretch with them.