Nexen Tyres - A Review

[purplebargeken]

Your second name is Bub isn't it. 

 

Joking aside, I was stunned when you let me know what happened. At least you are ok mate, that is the main thing.

 

At least you get to use the Montego now, just make sure it has decent tyres!

[PiperCub]

Not a defense of Nexen's as such but I had a nearly new set on my old 406TD estate some years ago and aside from them wearing out quicker than I'd of expected, I didn't have any real complaints of their performance wet or dry. I guess some tyres just don't suit the characteristics of certain cars. 

 

Having said that, my current daily, another 406TD (saloon) is great on Uniroyal Rainmaster3's or whatever they are called as recommended on this very site. I find them excellent wet or dry and 8K+ miles of use has hardly worn them. 

[Bren]

When I bought my vectra it had primewell / triangle which were worn and were shit in the wet. New falken ziex sorted things. Certain rubber suits certain cars.

[rml2345]

Ouch! Glad you're battered but here, could have been quite nasty. Must get the Xantia some decent rubber as it's quite squirmy currently.

[Bren]

By the way John - thank christ you walked away....

[stripped fred]

How fast were you going exactly JohnK? That's some shunt! Glad you're OK. Modern cars may be shit but they do look after their occupants well.

[Formula Autos]

I don't suppose you checked the date code on the tyres did you? Not a criticism, a genuine question. This is a mistake I made, where I bought Gooodyears on special offer* for the front of a Ford Cougar. OK for the first couple of years (I don't do many miles in the thing), but bloody lethal thereafter. When I finally got rid they'd been on the car just over 5 years, but deciphering the date code showed them to be nearly 12 years old.

 

New to the car doesn't necessarily mean the tyres are new. They could have been sitting in a warehouse for years.

 

New Nexens could have been fine.

 

Glad you're OK though. All's well that ends well.

[michael1703]

I fit Nexens to a lot of my customers cars, you get infinity,landsail,jinyu,nankang and then you go up to nexen,Firestone,Bridgestone and Vredestein which are in the next price bracket before Pirelli,Michelin,Dunlop

 

I try and fit vredestein if I can but nexens have never caused any trouble

 

They may have been old stock or stored incorrectly

[Shep Shepherd]

I had Nexens fitted to one of my Volvos. They were acceptable.

[UltraWomble]

On the plus side you are alive +all limbs attached and working.

 

Car can be replaced.

 

I have two Nexens on some second hand rims I have behind the shed waiting to go on the Almera. Might give them a swerve.

 

I can however recommend Falken all weather tyres as fitted to the wifes bus - had some Biblical weather to cope with on the M6 today and never wavered once.

[Shep Shepherd]

In my experience, Falkens are GR11 tyres

[sierraman]

Could well have been a fault with the tyre, did it blow out?

[Kiltox]

I get that some budget tyres are dog shit and this thread is proof of that however I had a new set of Hifly (lol) tyres on an old shed that I did 30k a year in commuting in rain or shine and they were perfectly fine - better than some aged premium tyres on other cars

Granted it couldnt pull the skin off a rice pudding 

[ShiteRider]

This is my current daily, even with fairly new barums on the front it can be skittish in the wet. Worst is doing speed in a straight line, it's one of the most prone to aquaplaning cars i've driven.

[Kiltox]

Are you sure the suspension is fine (bushes etc)? I had a 1.9 CDTI 150 estate with rocket ship miles and really fucking ropey tyres (both worn and dodgy budget) and never had any trouble like that with it 

[Jim Bell]

Glad youre alright dude. Looks like it could have been a lot more worse.

[fordperv]

Glad your ok, when my local tyre place couldn't get falken ziex in the right size for my saph I had a pair of maxxis from them for the rear, they were a fun pair of tyres in the wet, it felt like ice skating in slippers, the back end was sliding every which way it made me look like an omgdrifter, whilst I like sliding cars it's safe to say when the correct size falken were back in stock I got a pair

[JohnK]

Tyres or driver? I've used Nexens and they're fine.

I crashed my Xantia 1.9D on a greasy road, I braked heavily and it kept going, even though it was wearing fresh and highly rated Goodyear all season tyres but I don't blame Goodyear for the accident.

 

Fair point. I don't drive like Miss Daisy, but in ten years on the road I've had very few mishaps/minor incidents. In 2 months of owning this car I've driven it on non-motorway roads in the wet 3 times and this was the result of the third time. The first time was on my way home and a similar loss of traction occurred but was recovered and the same the second time. Either I've developed an unhealthy habit of driving faster than before (but in the Vectra only - no issues in other cars) or its the tyres. I firmly do believe it was down to them and I had planned to bin them but with all the nice weather we have had lately it kind of slipped by.

 

Granted I did need to adjust my driving style as a result of that, and the moments leading up to the accident are vague (and I can remember the square root of fuck all afterwards!).

 

Blimey, glad you're OK John, when did this happen?  

 

Saturday evening mate.

 

How fast were you going exactly JohnK? That's some shunt! Glad you're OK. Modern cars may be shit but they do look after their occupants well.

 

I would say 55-60mph - bearing in mind this was on a dual carriageway and accelerating uphill, so I would probably have been in 4th. It's a mild bend just as the road goes from single to dual carriageway, so I would have been accelerating to increase my speed slightly as a result, but the roads were damp and I generally take consideration of that.

 

I don't suppose you checked the date code on the tyres did you? Not a criticism, a genuine question. This is a mistake I made, where I bought Gooodyears on special offer* for the front of a Ford Cougar. OK for the first couple of years (I don't do many miles in the thing), but bloody lethal thereafter. When I finally got rid they'd been on the car just over 5 years, but deciphering the date code showed them to be nearly 12 years old.

 

New to the car doesn't necessarily mean the tyres are new. They could have been sitting in a warehouse for years.

 

New Nexens could have been fine.

 

Glad you're OK though. All's well that ends well.

 

Good suggestion on the date stamp - no I didn't check, so could be a possibility.

 

In my experience, Falkens are GR11 tyres

 

I used to put Falkens on the Vectra C I owned before when they were 'new' and they were an absolutely ace tyre. I could properly press on particularly on rural roads with confidence, which is why I had the shits put up me when I picked this one up and nearly flew it straight through a hedge.

 

 

Are you sure the suspension is fine (bushes etc)? I had a 1.9 CDTI 150 estate with rocket ship miles and really fucking ropey tyres (both worn and dodgy budget) and never had any trouble like that with it 

 

I can't say I've noticed any suspension problems at all mate, but it could be a possibility I guess. I would probably have looked into that more had I replaced the tyres and still had the same problems.

[JohnDeere]

Nasty. I've been in two rolls, not something to repeat.

[Kiltox]

My question was aimed at ShiteRider (who said he had half decent tyres on an older car) rather than you John - do wonder what part suspension/geometry plays in these experiences though

[dome]

The tyres the Jag came with seemed fine til I drove it in the wet for the first time and then the car was undriveable and bloody scary. 10 year old Autogrips full of cracks. I'm now running a set of the old farts favourite Pirelli P6000s. I've never found them great (and still have to try them in the wet) but they're ideal for the car and should helps when it comes time to flog it on.

 

But in general, no to cheap tyres. Whether you drive hard or not, leave some safety margin. The first thing I did when the better half got her Twat Transport was throw away the mismatched tyres including 2 Nexens and a fucking Landsail-fitted on the front of a FWD car with 200bhp by the tightarse dealership to get through an MOT-and fit a set of Rainsports. Transformed the car and gave me some reassurance for her driving it. 

[New POD]

My son - owner of his granddad's W reg Mk4 astra with now 30K on the clock, told me he was thinking about getting new tyres.

 

Nah said I, just move the fronts to the back and vice versa, and you'll get another 15K out of them - fronts had about 4 mm of tread, backs looked new.

 

Next time I saw him, he'd bought new tyres all round, because "16 year old tyres are crap dad" and "it's transformed the handling and braking in the wet"   Then he started explaining the chemistry of tyres and the impact of age, temperature cycling, ultra violet radiation and I starting nodding like I understood what he was talking about. Bloody Chemistry graduates, think they know about chemicals and materials and stuff.

 

I know that he didn't buy nexens's finest.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Got Nexens on the Ovlov and they've been no trouble, can't vouch for their performance in the wet. I can vouch for the performance of a 70s Volvo in the wet, on a well known roundabout being similar to a hessian bag, excrement and a second floor window.

[dugong]

FFS, glad to see you're OK John.

 

FWIW the Nexens on my MGF were fucking abysmal; they went in the skip shortly after I tried to press on along a country road.

Then again, my MGF had a right hodge podge of ditchfinder shite fitted to it - the rears were a different profile, for a start.

[Laseraligningfoofooflanges]

Fuckinell that escalated quickly, Glad your alright..

 

I can personally vouch for landsails and fullruns etc. being LETHAL in the wet.

 

Another shout for falkens as a happy medium between shite and megabucks!

[Richard]

New tyres tend to be a bit slippery for the first few miles, were these ones new enough for that?

 

One of the worst things about cheap tyres is that they aren't all that cheap. Nexens on Mytyres start at £43 for 205/55 x 16, another £1 will get you a Uniroyal and another £10 will get Goodyear or Continental. You quite often find that budget tyres have less tread on them to start with too, so you can end up paying 80% of the price but getting 70% of the usable tread.

[srad34]

To be fair,

I had more than one occxasion with Vectra SRI'is on wet roads back in 2003-7 where I almost went skyward and thats on branded tyres. I always felt it was one of those cars that just snapped and its all gone tits up, no warning, game over.

 

I thought it was just me........

[Honey Badger]

Glad to see you walk away from that on John, hope your feeling ok today.

 

Hankooks are excellent midrange tyres, I've fitted them to everything over the past 15 years from the S2000 to commercials on my Brava pickup with no issues with grip in the dry or wet.

[dollywobbler]

That is seriously scary. I've had cars understeer a bit, especially my Legacy on cheap, shitty ditchfinders, but never just refuse to go around a bend entirely. 

 

Interesting to see that some have had no issues with Nexens, which does suggest different cars have different requirements. I put Hankooks on a BX, and was amazed at the transformation in handling. Did the same with a Saab 900, and it never felt entirely comfortable on them. 

[spike60]

New tyres tend to be a bit slippery for the first few miles, were these ones new enough for that?

 

One of the worst things about cheap tyres is that they aren't all that cheap. Nexens on Mytyres start at £43 for 205/55 x 16, another £1 will get you a Uniroyal and another £10 will get Goodyear or Continental. You quite often find that budget tyres have less tread on them to start with too, so you can end up paying 80% of the price but getting 70% of the usable tread.

Plus budgets can wear really fast, they seem to either grip or wear well but struggle to do both which the premium brands are usually better at. I usually buy mid range Avon Kumho etc but I've inherited enough budgets on old cars. Current Merc S class has Runaway M+S on back, Federal on front and I keep pricing better ones. Wet mini roundabouts are a struggle!