Nankang?

[hyunelan2]

My neighbor (store manager - Discount Tire in Naperville, IL) walked over the other day and asked it I was still looking for new tires. He said they got a truckload of Nankang tires in that the manufacturer had overstocked. He said he could get me a set of 4 in 215/45/17 for about $60 per tire.

Anyone know about Nanking? Previously I was planning on replacing my Hankook Ventus 205/40/17 with some Falken 512s in 205/45/17 size at about $90-$95 each (last I checked). Opinions?

[alienman]

i haven;t heard much about them but they sell them in that size at carmodifier.com for about $111. CDN heres the link to the tires....

http://www.carmodifier.com/default.asp?Action=displayTireSize&vendorID=111&tireID=70&tireCharID=5137

I thought 215/45's would rub a little though?

[paki]

i think hankooks & nankangs are on the same level. I've never really been a fan of Nankangs.. which lets you know what I feel about Hankooks too :). I think the cheapeast decent quality tire manufacturer is Kumho, and then it goes from there on up.

Falken's would be 1000x better than the Nankangs

I thought 215/45's would rub a little though?

only if you are dropped more than an inch.

[LateAPXR]

well...they sound foreign so I suppose it's possible that they are made by poorly trained monkeys from the Congo.

Other than that there's a high probability that I don't know anything about them.

[Tx_boy]

well...they sound foreign so I suppose it's possible that they are made by poorly trained monkeys from the Congo.

^^^^^^^^^^^^ Man that is tooooooooooooooo funny!!!!!!!!!!

[BobMs_wht2k2]

Here's my .02 . . . . .

You get what you pay for. This old saying has been proven time and time again. As for tires, they ARE the MOST important connection from your car to the road. My wife drives my car about half the time. I am never willing to risk the chance of her getting into an accident because I cheaped out on the tires. OK, maybe once in a while when she's been nagging, but I never mean it.

So, in conclusion I would purchase a set of the Kumho ASX or something else of known quality and durability.

[hyunelan2]

Yea, I'm not trying to cheap out on the tires at all, but not knowing a thing about Nankang, and knowing that it could be a plausible possiblity that my neighbor would 'hook me up' with a good deal lead me to post this. From the 5 replies here, it's better to spend the money I was planning on for the Falkens, than pickup the Nankangs on a deal.

[BobMs_wht2k2]

I knew you had intelligence! lol

[2GTS]

I had nankangs on the car for a while, they came with the 17"s I got and they sucked hardcore. I don't have anything more to say than that.

[hyunelan2]

Well, that pretty-much puts the final nail in the coffin of the Nankang possibility. Thanks guys.

[g35doc]

I've never heard of anyone with an expensive car using nankang, but many use falken. I wonder why.

[BlackElantraGT]

Nankang and Wan Li are about the 2 cheapest tires you can get that come in low profile sizes. They don't get any cheaper.

To even compare it to Kumho or Hankook is absurd and shows you know NOTHING about tires. Kumho, Hankook, and Falken may be affordable tires, but they all have a proven track record for performance vs. cost.

Nankangs shouldn't cost any more than $60-$70 tire, so you're not getting much of a deal. I bought my Falken Ziex 512 from discounttiredirect.com for $330 shipped. That comes out to $82/tire shipped, but that's because I bought their road hazard warranty. It costs just a little bit more now but I would rather pay that little extra price premium for Falken, Made in Japan, rated #1 by Consumer Reports rather than some crap brand like Nankang or Wan Li.

BTW, I did about a 6 hour road trip yesterday on some really crappy California freeways with 3 large adults and some gear, never once did the 215/45/17's rub... and I'm driving a hatch, with a shot OE suspension @ 69,000 miles. The only issue I have with the Falken Ziex 512's is that I wish it inspired more confidence in sporty driving like the Yokohama AVS ES100. But you can only ask so much from All-Season Performance tire. At $72 per tire, it's hard to complain.

[hyunelan2]

To even compare it to Kumho or Hankook is absurd and shows you know NOTHING about tires. Kumho, Hankook, and Falken may be affordable tires, but they all have a proven track record for performance vs. cost.


Yep. All I know is what I read here - which is why I asked. When I had my Camaro, the only thing that would go on it was BfGoodrich, so I never even looked at other tire brands until now.

[golfino]

My wheels came with them, and I know Discount Tire in Palatine has a special going on them, They are the LOUDEST tires I have ever had on ANY car, they sound liek an airplane propeller at highway speed, They are the WORST tires in the world. PERIOD

BTW I was runnign the NS1

[02gt_in_bk]

I have nankang on my car now an they are LOUD as hell. I will never buy that brand again

[RedScorp]

I have Essenza's and I love them. I tend to drive very aggressively on turns especially Angeles Crest and on the way to Idyllwild and haven't been able to break traction yet, unless I'm doing something absurdly too fast. But, stick with names you trust as a general rule. Personally, I'll never buy Falkens again because they are just simply too soft for everyday use.

[kizzo]

My step-dad has worked for Discount Tire for 20+ years, and I used to work for them as well. Nankang is a cheap, entry level tire. For not much more you can get a set of Kumho tires, which are very popular and much better reliability wise.