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Finally am done with the OE Goodyears and ready to set some faster laps on these new Nankangs! Got them installed just the other day and they fit really well. They are 265/35/20 front and 325/30/21 rear. No rubbing at all, car is lowered 5mm all around and has an alignment. Only difference I’ve noticed so far is a slightly harsher ride, probably because of the stiffer sidewalks. Haven’t had a chance to get them out on track for their initial heat cycle or run them on the street yet, so those impressions are to come. These tires look so meaty!
Wow that’s awesome, would you mind sharing how much you paid for them?
Yeah. To be clear I had to get the fronts from Phil’s tire service and the rears from Tire Rack. Both offer free shipping on these tires. For the rears I paid about 1200 dollars before tax. For the front I paid 1030 dollars USD before tax. About onpar for what you’d pay to replace the OEM set of Goodyears or Michelins, and they’re supposed to be quite a bit faster than both.
So there’s no difference between the tires with the v2 designation and the tires without the v2 designation?
Yes, there is a difference. It’s just that the first version was called the CR-1 and Phil’s and other sellers sell the CR-1 as a “CR-S V1.” For example, you can look at the Phils Tire Service website for what they list as “CR-S V1” and the tire in the picture says “CR-1” on the sidewall. Although, I did just do a google search and it seems like Nankang decided to change the name mid production. I believe the first version of “CR-S” was CR-1, and then it was updated to CR-S. Now, they updated it a third time but even Nankang doesn’t make the distinction. I believe the V2 marking is just for clarity on behalf of the Nankang dealers so people understand they’re buying the new CR-S with the updated compound. I honestly don’t know why they do this, but to be clear the updated version is the Nankang CR-S V2, but Tire Rack doesn’t make that distinction when listing the tire on their site, even though they sell the V2 variant. I know it’s the V2 variant because the production date on my rears (Bought from Tire Rack) has a earlier production date (8/23) than my fronts (2/23) from Phil’s, and the Phil’s make the V2 distinction on their site. For clarity again, make sure you’re buying the Nankang CR-S V2, as most Nankang dealers (EXCEPT TIRERACK) sell the 3rd gen CR-S with the V2 distinction on their site listing. Super confusing and I wish Nankang would offer greater clarity on this. I think I’ll send them an email and post it here.
I went for the CR-S over the AR-1 because the CR-S is supposed to be faster than the AR-1 (as per Nankang's website). From my understanding, the CR-S is more of a time attack tire - it has a softer compound and the same stiff sidewall as AR-1. According to Nankang, they say the CR-S is better in almost every regard to the AR-1; it's softer, more consistent, better wet performance, more consistent, less road noise, etc. I guess they just left a lot on the table with AR-1 and so it was easy to improve on it for the next tire. The biggest thing for me though was the greater tire life. CR-S comes delivered at 7/32 instead of 6/32 like the AR-1 so not only is there more room to shave the CR-S down and make it faster but it also should last longer without shaving. Although, I don't know why it's labeled a 200tw when the CR-S and AR-1 probably do last similarly as long, plus the CR-S is softer than AR-1. I guess they must have made a bunch of technological improvements to make what they call a 200tw faster than their 100tw offering. Hopefully they'll start offering a AR-1 V2 soon that has the updated compound of the CR-S so that the AR-1 becomes a faster tire than CR-S, as per their TW ratings.
12-22-2023, 01:02 PM
Nankang CRS-V2 on 992 GT3
