V50 Wheels/Tyres : Nankang

[tayandre]

Oh I give up....

Nankang, Wanli, Sunnyride, Goodride, Linglong, in fact all the fine tyres produced by those excellent budget brands are the best tyres that money can buy. Fact.

Despite all those objective test results carried out in controlled conditions by the independant experts at ADAC, Autoexpess, What Car, Which, Autobild, Evo Magazine, Auto Bild, etc.

Wrong, every one of them. Ignore them people! They are funded by the capitalist western pig infadels that are commonly known as Continental, Good Year, Michelin etc to peddle this propaganda to the masses in the name of extortion.

The Government should do something about this. I will be writing a stern letter to the Daily Mail. I urge you all to do the same for the sake of our children.

In fact I plan on asking Steve Jobs for tips on raising a petition to a German court against the capitalist western pig infadels for patent infringement and ban all non-budget tyres. Since it was the Chinese that invented the wheel, surely the capitalist western pig infadels should be paying royalty fees for copying the fine budget brand circular black form factor from the true leaders of global tyre technology that are our budget brand tyres?

Over and out.

[BeardedMidget]

Someone fetch his dummy! I cant see where it went!

[tayandre]

Ah you see my pram is equipped with premium tyres. It stopped 20 metres earlier than you did so you missed the dummy flying out.

Now please, have the last word. I insist.

[Bendolfc]

Unfortunately he didn't stop and went straight into the back of you

[BeardedMidget]

I did'nt feel the need to stop at all. My dummy was made in China. I bought it for a bargain price and I find it very satisfying.

[Daim]

Originally Posted by BeardedMidget

Well done! You have used google to find an opinion that supports your argument!

At the end of the day all products that are legally for sale in the UK have to be tested and meet a minimum safety and quality standard. A high price or a sticker saying "Made somewhere other than China" is'nt a guarantee of quality.

Actually, you are a little wrong. There are some so called "ISO Standards" which only describe the way something is supposed to be made. In addition to that, some EU-laws say what materials can be used...

The tires are made with the same materials, as the "Top of the range" tires. Means, caoutchouc (natural rubber), steel, plastic and raylon. The colour comes from soot (otherwise tires would be beige).

These materials are part of the standards. That is all the EU says is a must. The most important part is the rubber mix! These are which determine a good and a bad tire. If the rubber is cheap (good rubber is expensive! Bad rubber is cheap - that is not a "saying", that is fact!) and a rather bad mix has been chosen, then the wheel will not have the grip desired and the grip is that, what keeps you on the road.

Tires need to be soft but hard. Grippy but energy saving. They must have a long enough life span and should be quiet to improve ride quality.

Millions of £/€/$ are invested in development of materials and profiles and need to be set over a certain amount of tires, to get the development costs back. At the same time, the costs can't be too high/per tire, as noone would by them...

So the Chinese simply copy (this isn't a "saying" again) and save on teh development costs. They buy a "tire pressing machine", cut a profile with no idea what they are cutting and use a mix of rubber, they can buy cheaply. This "construction" is then sold.

To show how many regulations the "EU" or better "Local Countries" have:
Chinese brand winter tires (I know the brand, I know the tread pattern) had NO "teeth" (required to get traction on snow/ice) and basically had a sommer tire profile. They were banned to sell here (Germany!) - because of many many many accidents involving cars using these tires...

The problem when using a bad rubber mix with bad tire tread is that you get bad results. If the rubber is too hard, it won't grip -> longer braking distance but long life. If the rubber is too soft -> it will have a good grip, but wear to quick.

I have a car in front of my door with two Nankang tires -> 2002 Volvo S80 2.0T. Under hard acceleration, the front tires (Nankangs) just spin. They simply can't cope - even though they have the specs for the S80. The Bridgestones on the rear axle have better traction and cornering abilities...

[BeardedMidget]

Cheers, daim.
A lot of good info there and an intereseting read.
Just to clarify my point though:-I am NOT saying all chinese tyres are good! I am saying the Nankang NS2's I have fitted to my car have proven themselves to be good. But they are not a budget cheapy tyre but a specifically designed sports tyre with a directional tread for traction. What works for me though may not work for everyone else in every application though.

Originally Posted by Daim

I have a car in front of my door with two Nankang tires -> 2002 Volvo S80 2.0T. Under hard acceleration, the front tires (Nankangs) just spin. They simply can't cope - even though they have the specs for the S80. The Bridgestones on the rear axle have better traction and cornering abilities...

I am a bit perplexed by this last statement however. Your rear tyres have better traction than the front? On a front wheel drive car I would imagine they do. And a front wheel drive Volvo will be more prone to understeer than oversteer so it would be quite difficult to fairly compare the cornering abilities of the front and rear tyres without swapping them over. Saying that nobody is knocking Bridgestone's, I have them fitted to my wifes Golf and they do the job fine. The Pirelli P6000's on my V70 though are rubbish!

[Daim]

We had the Bridgestones on the front last year and the Nankangs at the rear. Without traction, they are fine tires. I have nothing against them in that area... Nankangs are at least made by a Taiwanese company, which wasn't opened two days ago

Just compared with the not much more expensive Bridgestones, they just can't even get in the near of the performance. I can't remember the model at the moment, but the Nankangs basically are good for "trailing" (non traction) than "leading" (traction). The BS's don't let any wheel spin happen. The car isn't heavily overpowered, being a 2.0l soft turbo (180 hp) AND automatic. Lots and lots of weight on the front. After this season, the Nankangs will head to the dump. Instead Kumhos are being bought ("budget" tires with a lot of grip and - even though people call them crap - with top results in basically all tests so far) and fitted.

Cornering on the Nankangs is a little "weird". On a slightly wet road (basically damp) they tend to understeer quicker than the BS's...