Nexen Tires ?

[jbrannon7]

I love that they have purple stickers and the ad has purple smoke.

[twistedwankel]

I'm thinking that the NEXEN 200 Purple will be the first ever "spec" tire for FAST!!

Depending on reports/results after Saturday it's my next order!! $620 for a Vette!! Damn.

[Solar]

Dan and I will be finding out more about these Nexens starting Saturday.

Welcome to the "cheap is good" tire club.

[twistedwankel]

That size will actually fit on the front of a vette Shows what can be accomplished in M classes.

[Solar]

First impressions with the new Nexens in the front and old Federal RSRs in the rear: Five runs "overdriving" the car, and I didn't have any issues with grip or heat cycle. Heading home after the event, driving highway speed on the Vetrans, no issues with balance, one of the smoother rides I've had in the Nissan.

[ImpostorDan]

I agree, first event with them cheap bastards on... I was worried they wouldn't do much talking as around town they didn't speak up much after mounting them up. I did find that they let go at the limit progressively and nothing got greasy in the heat.

Time will tell how they wear; however, I feel like they're a good value out of the gate compared to the RS3's I just peeled off.

[CaptainSquirts]

Tirerack did a test on them if you haven't seen it. Also video review on the 4th tab.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/tes ... p?ttid=219

[twistedwankel]

Tirerack did a test on them if you haven't seen it. Also video review on the 4th tab.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/tes ... p?ttid=219

They must have just posted that as I didn't see it last week. They had done the same video before so I think they tacked the Nexen on the end. This test info is misleading. They rate the RE71 much faster up to .5-.75 seconds/lap in dry wet but the Nexen is given the highest G rating of all four tires. Would have been more interesting if they'd put the RS3 in place of the 615. After listening to 5 of our racing people it occurs to me that the two whom were running new RS3's were not over the moon with their finishes. No tire should have needed to heat up on Saturday. Previously they rated the BFG the top tire and it is absent from this test. Hmmmmm. Previously they rated the RS3 very high against the RE71....hmmmmm. New batches?

Also no one was complaining about the Nexen road noise on their way to the event. Unless something drastic comes up I'm leaning toward the Nexens for my Vette for $620 +SH vs RS3's for $720+SH.

[Loren]

Doug, tires are great, don't get me wrong. But, you can't use the results of one local level autocross to judge which tire is ultimately better than another. You can get the general "this tire doesn't suck" vibe, but that's about it.

Remember, the FASTiva was on almost corded Star Specs. I finished within half a tenth of the fastest Nexen time, and Steve was almost a half second ahead of Brian on Nexens in M4. They're not a bad tire. They are "in the hunt" with all of the good tires. And maybe on a skidpad they can generate a higher G number. But, there's a lot more to a tire than that. That's where the RE71 shines... not just raw grip, but the whole package. Responsiveness, "feel", forgiveness, all of those things add up to make a truly fast autocross tire. And then... you have to put a driver into the equation.

All of the top tier tires are within about a half-second of each other. Almost NONE of our drivers are consistent enough to be within a half a second of their potential at any given event. So, it doesn't much matter which of the "good tires" you choose unless you're down to chasing tenths against your competition, and going with THE BEST tire is going to get you there.

The big unknown on the Nexen right now is how long it's going to hold up over time. Will they wear quickly? Will they heat cycle prematurely? We don't know yet. But, if they're significantly cheaper in your size, they're worth the gamble. In our case, the Nexen and the RS3 are exactly the same price... we're going with the known option. And then people are going to say "oh, man, these Nexens suck against the RS3". Which is totally not true! No more true than saying they suck against worn out Star Specs.

The only way to compare tires is the way the Tire Rack does it. Same tire, same size, same car, same setup, same alignment, same tire pressure, same day, same weather, same course, same driver. That's the most accurate comparison you're going to get. And even there... they're all within a half-second or so. (the tires we consider buying, that is) Half second is "statistical noise" at our level of competition. We're not that consistent, anyway.

[twistedwankel]

Remember, the FASTiva was on almost corded Star Specs. I finished within half a tenth of the fastest Nexen time, and Steve was almost a half second ahead of Brian on Nexens in M4.

Don't forget you put in that new aluminum alloy switcheroo instead of that heavy nylon.
You're right, of course, it's all subjective. Always I seem to put saving money ahead of top performance. In the quantum space and time a $100 gets me along way towards shipped and mounted. Maybe Hankook will have a clearance sale and negate the savings and I would probably stick with the RS3's for their proven long FL life to the wear bars? THAT was my original decision. I have to keep remembering that my cars are significantly heavier than Miatae and most other top cars for that matter - 3150lb and limited camber on the one with the most torque.

As always appreciate your input.

[ImpostorDan]

Much of the rs3's had been marked down as of my last perusal.

[Solar]

Almost NONE of our drivers are consistent enough to be within a half a second of their potential at any given event. So, it doesn't much matter which of the "good tires" you choose unless you're down to chasing tenths against your competition, and going with THE BEST tire is going to get you there.

The big unknown on the Nexen right now is how long it's going to hold up over time. Will they wear quickly? Will they heat cycle prematurely? We don't know yet.

Exactly on both points, I was saying the same thing to a few drivers Saturday that I seriously doubt anyone could tell if they were a half second faster or slower with them. My first impression is that they performed well, now let's see how they heat cycle and wear.

I was only running with 2 new Nexens in the front with 1 1/2 year old worn Federal RSRs in the rear, and I was completely over driving my car all day, I was entering the slalom way to fast, the turn around way to fast, and the finish too lol. Those poor tires were chirping and wanting to under steer bad, but didn't, so comparing my time to Steves on bald tires probably isn't a good baseline to go on.

[Gerry]

How are these as far as road noise and wet traction? Is it the same as the older RS3's (bad and bad)? They're cheap enough and last long enough to be considered for an enthusiast's daily driver...

[twistedwankel]

How are these as far as road noise and wet traction? Is it the same as the older RS3's (bad and bad)? They're cheap enough and last long enough to be considered for an enthusiast's daily driver...

You've been to Carl's. You have committed to something all ready. Hmmmmmm. Praying for redemption?

[Gerry]

How are these as far as road noise and wet traction? Is it the same as the older RS3's (bad and bad)? They're cheap enough and last long enough to be considered for an enthusiast's daily driver...

You've been to Carl's. You have committed to something all ready. Hmmmmmm. Praying for redemption?

I'm praying for relatively cheap daily driver fun when my OEM tires are done.

[ImpostorDan]

How are these as far as road noise and wet traction? Is it the same as the older RS3's (bad and bad)? They're cheap enough and last long enough to be considered for an enthusiast's daily driver...

Wet is fine as long as there's tread (tread grooves are shallow aside from the main channels.; I have some growl now after a couple autox's - they were a touch quieter before; I can hear them with the top up, but not down. They seem to have the same grip as RS3v2's but do not need warming time.

[CaptainSquirts]

To anyone that is currently running this tire. How is the wear compared to other 200 tread tires? My Pilot super sports are getting pretty worn and I might try something more sticky. The car is a daily driver so i'm not expecting them to last as long as the pss but not really wanting something that would last at least a season of autocross(1 open event per month. So 4 runs x 12 events which should be around lets say an even 50 plus 12k daily driver miles on top). The price of the Nexens are very competitive compared to the other big hitters so they definitely have my attention.

I know the tires are pretty new so might be hard to gauge the longevity of them. But to whoever runs them now, how many miles and runs do yours have on them and how are they wearing?

[ImpostorDan]

A little early on to make the call; I have 1600 DD miles and 13-14 runs.
- They do not really have any extra rubber on the shoulders and will need to be flipped like RS3's (I had kumho V720's which had giant shoulders).
- The tread depth on mine (225's) is only like 7.7mm - some of the other sizes (245's) read taller; as such, for the camber limited, the death of these will be the shoulders wearing out to slicks and not the center line.
- At this point, I could rotate front to back, run another 3 or 4 events, then flip to keep the shoulders from overly wearing; the rear shoulder wear is minimal.
- I'm guessing that I would see something like 60+ runs and whatever DD I accomplish in between. Keep in mind, I'm not really the benchmark for "good" with tire longevity; for reference, I killed my kumho's in 51 runs & 4k to paper thin tread; RS3's in 100 runs & 4k, just under the wear bars.

(I had to edit my runs - forgot that Ron took a couple-three runs at the classic)

[twistedwankel]

Thanks Dan. You must drive like I do. Your wear for the RS3's ver2 is what I got on two sets in a row. 110 runs +4k hwy. and heat cycled out at 3/32" before wear bars. Basically one season. I've got 120 runs + 2k hwy. on my Toyo T1's and they are pretty lame now on the wearbars. They cost the same as the Nexens but have great road manners but not nearly as fast on the corners?

A friend told me he replaced his RE71's at 80 (with a few left) runs and 6k hwy on a Boxster which is heavy like my vette with bastard rims so cannot rotate. Financially the $300 savings on a set of Nexens tends to wash away if one can get 30 more runs out of the RE71's which are faster but louder? The RS3's are only $100 cheaper but apparently outlast the RE71's by 20-30 runs. I was following Drew on his last run at TBD on his RS3's...yikes.

I have found daily driving's only impact on tires is in the heat cycling. They get hard over time and never wear out like stones. Some tires have different compounds as the tread wears down similar to the ice tires like Blizzak. That one banished/cheater tire for one ST Honda Civic class everyone shaved down is an example.

[CaptainSquirts]

Thanks for the reply Dan. I'll probably be keeping an eye on yours tires for the next couple of months on how they wear and your experience from them so far.