Nankang AR-1 R Spec tyre review

[Sprinkles]

What was your best lap time on the day?

[nelsonian101]

What was your best lap time on the day?

A disappointing 1.08.6, with the target being a low 8 or high 7.
Was getting quicker as the day progressed (takes me a long time to warm up).

Learn something new every track day. It's all experimentation.

[Sprinkles]

A disappointing 1.08.6, with the target being a low 8 or high 7.
Was getting quicker as the day progressed (takes me a long time to warm up).

Learn something new every track day. It's all experimentation.

Mm, so a bit off your PR then. Lack of eBay rear downforce would not have helped. What sort of hot pressures were you getting to?

[nelsonian101]

Mm, so a bit off your PR then. Lack of eBay rear downforce would not have helped. What sort of hot pressures were you getting to?

32 hot.
Was not expecting to go anywhere near my pb which was set on 275 R7's.
The rear height was up too with shit rake angle. Put in a spacer in the rear to clear my driveway. Rear felt floaty.
Prep and set up was not ideal. Just wanted to compare the tyres and I have provided honest feedback.

This was the quickest I have gone on Rspecs , but did a 1.08.8 on 275 Hankook RS3 (200 treadwear) earlier in the year (with ebay full aero) so was expecting to do a low 8 or high 7 at least.

Conditions were perfect, no more excuses.

[hrd]

fuck me - A050s on the front, no rear wing, higher rear ride height, blames the Nankangs for no rear grip...

mixed tyres are very rarely a recipe for success.
no rear wing will be a monumental change to the car's balance
and higher rear ride height, and therfore RC, is also going to reduce rear grip

worst comparison/evaluation ever.

[nelsonian101]

fuck me - A050s on the front, no rear wing, higher rear ride height, blames the Nankangs for no rear grip...

mixed tyres are very rarely a recipe for success.
no rear wing will be a monumental change to the car's balance
and higher rear ride height, and therfore RC, is also going to reduce rear grip

worst comparison/evaluation ever.

Clutching at straws trying to defend these Nankangs. I wanted them to work as well as A050's but they didn't.
Fact is I've done lots of laps there with and with out wing/spacer, A050's front/back and they don't make the dramatic difference that these Nankangs did.

The wing makes fuck all difference in the slower corners and the rear was trying to overtake the front all day.

As I mentioned, I'd compare them to R888 or NT01, not A050.

On second thought, you do make some good points and the test was a bit fucked.

I do want them to work and will be using them at Wakefield again in November with wing/lower rear height and will report back.

[hrd]

Hardly clutching at straws.
Don't bother reporting on running mixed tyres front to rear. Each tyre will have different characteristics in terms of initial turn response, slip angles at maximum lateral grip and traction characteristics. Get a full set or don't bother.

They're not going to match the A050s, but they're alot closer to Yokohama/Hankook performance than they are to NT01s in my experience, with no setup changes or mixed bag tyres to skew results.

[nelsonian101]

Hardly clutching at straws.
Don't bother reporting on running mixed tyres front to rear. Each tyre will have different characteristics in terms of initial turn response, slip angles at maximum lateral grip and traction characteristics. Get a full set or don't bother.

They're not going to match the A050s, but they're alot closer to Yokohama/Hankook performance than they are to NT01s in my experience, with no setup changes or mixed bag tyres to skew results.

Yet, your lap times at Lakeside below agree with my performance review of the AR1.



Your times:
Lakeside
245/40 R18 Nitto NT01 1:01.37
235/40 R18 Hankook Z221 Soft 0:59.89

So on a much wider, 265/35 Nankang AR1 you managed to go slower than a 235/40 Z221 (Similar to A050)

265/35 R18 Nankang AR-1 1:00.27

Your comparison also mean nothing running difference widths so take a seat clown.

Simple fact is it's not as good as an A050 for laps/Supersprints. Deal with it.

I was interested in your Hillclimb performance/opinion as these Ar1 get up to temp very quickly and I'll be using them in a Hillclimb in both October and November where cold start grip is crucial.

[hrd]

Not sure why the personal insults. Or where you're getting the idea they should be as good as A050s!

Also pretty sure my Lakeside lap time strongly disagree with your review of the AR1.
1.1 faster than NT01, 0.38 slower than a soft compound Hankook. And you'll find quality always matter more than quantity when it comes to tyres. That's why I bought the 235 Hankooks when they were on special. You'll get far more difference from the quality tyres than you will from 20 or 30mm nominal width, as opposed to actual width... This is not any sort of revelation.

The 245 NT01 measure up as ~260 wide anyway. but even giving them 20mm more tread would mean jack shit by comparison to the 1.1sec they are behind. Also they don't make a 265 so you simply cannot compare them width for width. This is as close as they get without being too wide for my wheels or car. And when i bought the Nankangs that was their only 18 size. It was the only comparison possible.

AR1s have some particular preferences in their pressures too, but I'm sure you're all over that... I found 7 tenths variance in just 4psi last weekend at the hillclimb FWIW.

[nelsonian101]

All good. Just have a case of cranky old man flu.

[neil_se]

I'm interested in trying a set of these for street sprints and super sprints (when my car is finally running). I have a set of 295/30/18 Z221 softs on 18x10.5s, but also have another set of 18x9.5s so perhaps the 265/35/18 would suit and the narrower width may come up to temp a little quicker on a ~1100kg car?

[turbosurfer]

fuck me - A050s on the front, no rear wing, higher rear ride height, blames the Nankangs for no rear grip...

mixed tyres are very rarely a recipe for success.
no rear wing will be a monumental change to the car's balance
and higher rear ride height, and therfore RC, is also going to reduce rear grip

worst comparison/evaluation ever.

As much as I hate to agree with HRD he is spot on here.
101 for all the hype and self promotion you go on about I thought you would have
half a clue but clearly your a dope.
About mixed tyres after all the disasters I had with AO50s Levin Motor sport gave me
a good used set of Hankook Z221s and Bridgestone RE11s and after many pressure changers
and swapping front to back to get my car more balanced and predictable matched the AO50s
lap times. (very busy supersprint) The new set of AO50s I got later also were no faster. That may
give you some idea why im not a fan. AO50s simply dont work on my car. Now to keep the hate up
my very old and very used RE55s were 0.5 second faster. Natsoft dosent lie.

[hrd]

I'm interested in trying a set of these for street sprints and super sprints (when my car is finally running). I have a set of 295/30/18 Z221 softs on 18x10.5s, but also have another set of 18x9.5s so perhaps the 265/35/18 would suit and the narrower width may come up to temp a little quicker on a ~1100kg car?

For me the Nankangs worked much better than Z221 softs (C70) at Mt Cotton Hillclimb, which is a similar situation to your street sprints - standing start, 1km track, cold tyres. Despite being 'soft' compound, the Hankooks needed a couple of corners to start working, and even then weren't quite on the pace of the Nankangs. That was 265 Nankang vs 235 Hankook - so again it's the characteristics of the tyre that are most important, not the width. But if you staying with Z221s, then yes the narrower tyre should heat up faster. Best sector times on each:
Z221 22.60 14.21 11.91
AR-1 21.72 14.05 11.75

Personally, I'd still go as wide as you can with the Nankangs - they work well from stone cold. I haven't used a tyre that works better in the first corner at Mt Cotton. All other semis I've used other than the 40 treadwear RA1s (so A050M, Z221, NT01, FZ201, R888, RE55, A032R and probably a couple I'm forgetting) understeer alot in T1 at Mt Cotton, but the Nankangs just grip and turn, both on the Soarer and the FWD Levin.

[Stevil]

nelsonian101 I think putting a shit heavy no wing Falcon around Wakefield in mid 8s with Nakangs in the rear is no mean feat.

and Turdsurfer atleast he was having a crack, no doubt you were off wedding cake getting a tow in hey ?? keep on waxing ya alter ego bud ....

[nelsonian101]

As much as I hate to agree with HRD he is spot on here.
101 for all the hype and self promotion you go on about I thought you would have
half a clue but clearly your a dope.
About mixed tyres after all the disasters I had with AO50s Levin Motor sport gave me
a good used set of Hankook Z221s and Bridgestone RE11s and after many pressure changers
and swapping front to back to get my car more balanced and predictable matched the AO50s
lap times. (very busy supersprint) The new set of AO50s I got later also were no faster. That may
give you some idea why im not a fan. AO50s simply dont work on my car. Now to keep the hate up
my very old and very used RE55s were 0.5 second faster. Natsoft dosent lie.

I have no words....
The fact that both you and hrd agree speaks volumes.