Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
JT and I were talking tires a bit, and I told him about a decent deal I found on a set of Nankang tires, but Ill be honest, until two days ago, I had never heard of these tires. These new/unknown brand tires seem to be getting more common the last couple of years, but are these decent tires? quality tires? or just cheap junk?
Years ago Khumo, for me, was an unknown, but now people swear by them (or was it at them?).
I dont want to buy crap/unsafe tires for any vehicle that my family may ride in, or that I will be in for that matter. So what do you guys know about them?
thanks!
clay
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
I think thats what I have on the van, I'll check tomorrow.
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
What are they going to be used on and what for?
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
dont know yet. They are 205/40/17s that I might put on a nice set of SRT4 rims, IF I dont sell them. Then I may put them on my GLHS or my GLHT. I guess it depends on how I like the looks of the wheels (there ya go R/T!) when I try them on this weekend. ;)
oh, and these would probably just be tires for driving. No racing except for maybe the occasional back road blast.
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
Honestly the only thing that kinda scares me about them is the H84 rating... I'm not sure if I would trust a newbie tire company to have a good factor of safety. Not to mention I buy a lot of rubber product at my day job and the price of matural rubber has skyrocketed in the past few years, so who knows what blend they are made out of?
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
cheap e-bay tires, not on my ride.
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
Those have been around for a while. If you are really going to be hauling the family around on a tire almost exclusively, I would stick with a major brand (I really prefer Michelin). Otherwise, I would run them especially if they will be on the GLHT, or GLHS. As JT stated, I too don't really care for the speed rating. I would want at least a V. The load range will be fine for an L body though, even with no buffer on the safety factor.
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
Michelin/BFG FTW!!!11!! :thumb:
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BadAssPerformance
Michelin/BFG FTW!!!11!! :thumb:
You know it. For some quick trivia, did you know that the guy who invented the BFG scorcher T/A was apparently a genius of high magnitude that was HEAVILY courted by NASA? He supposedly was given a ton of money and a boarded up factory to work out the process of making them etc. It obviously paid off, as they did sell quite a few of them, but more importantly got a ton of press out of the deal.
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
That is pretty good trivia :thumb:
For some more trivia, do you know why Michelin tires are better?
(sorry for the hijack Clay!)
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
thanks for the info guys.
Tires wouldnt be an exclusive for the family at all. That goes to (like JT said) Michelin or BFG!!
If I got them, it would only be for the GLHT or the GLHS, which see very limited use anyway, but virtually none for the fam damily. ;)
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
Nankang?
Seriously?
Wow. That's like when you go to buy a Red Bull and there's that one beside it called 'Cool Red' or 'Red Head' or something.
Nankang?
Ha!
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Subliminal
Nankang?
Seriously?
Wow. That's like when you go to buy a Red Bull and there's that one beside it called 'Cool Red' or 'Red Head' or something.
Nankang?
Ha!
Why do you say that? Just because there a newish brand, doesn't make them junk. Years ago, you could have said that about Khumo and literally 1000's of other products, :confused:
Another fact-alot of "Unknown brand tires" are really big guys rebadging the tires to get more market share, :o :thumb:
As Nankang, yep, have those on the van, towed with them, loaded up the van, drag raced etc and never lost there balance or anything bad. The price is very reasonable and my tire buddy sells them by the truck load. I WOULD NOT hesitate to use any of there tires on any of my vehicles or customer vehicles.
One thing I remember, I had some Goodyear tires on the same rims and those tires were softer and not as wide as the Nakang's, the N's have a nice aggressive stance.
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...erapics355.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...erapics357.jpg
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...erapics358.jpg
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
I prefer Chingsung tires, myself...although on my other car I have Hochimentingsums...they have a higher speed rating, though.
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BadAssPerformance
That is pretty good trivia :thumb:
For some more trivia, do you know why Michelin tires are better?
(sorry for the hijack Clay!)
Because a TMer works for them? Full tread depth sipes, more circumferential groves, segmented molds, better technology all the way around?
As a high up guy at Bridgestone/Firestone once told me, "Michelin invented the steel belted radial tire in 1946, and everyone has been chasing them ever since." :amen:
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
when i bought my 02 IS300 last spring, it came with brand new nankangs on them. i drove the car fairly hard for 10k miles, as it was a new car to me, and i enjoyed the hell out of it! the tires where fairly quiet on the highway, took several 400mile road trips on them, drove the hell out of them around town, and even hit up 3 track events. once warmed up, they were fairly decent on the track to my surprise. however, those 10k miles where all i got out of them. if i was looking for a cheap replacement tire, i would buy again. however, i get great pricing on fuzion ZRi's which i buy only because i get good pricing on them. they are pretty good too for a "cruising" tire.
i had ZERO issues with the nankangs tho, other than low mileage, but then again, they were driven aggresively most of the summer.
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
The treads look a bit like a Falken Zeix knock-off.
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
cordes
Because a TMer works for them? Full tread depth sipes, more circumferential groves, segmented molds, better technology all the way around?
As a high up guy at Bridgestone/Firestone once told me, "Michelin invented the steel belted radial tire in 1946, and everyone has been chasing them ever since." :amen:
Kind of along what you said... Michelin is the only manufacturer to seam the belts end-to-end instead of overlapping so they naturally have better balance :thumb:
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BadAssPerformance
Kind of along what you said... Michelin is the only manufacturer to seam the belts end-to-end instead of overlapping so they naturally have better balance :thumb:
I guess it depends on how hungover the machine is. I've had balance issues with all brands of tires, and you can see how much weight is on my one tire, maybe 1 oz, :thumb:
Re: Nankang tires? Good? bad? Info wanted!!
OK Michelin fanboys, some facts for Clay, our original poster:
Nankang is a Taiwanese tire production company that's been around since 1959. They do have factories in China, of course. So they are not some toy company making tires out of all the returned, lead-poisoned toys. They've been making tires for a while at least. That doesn't mean they're good, but you know...