Writing about the
Nexen N1000 given
89% (225-45-17-)
Driving on
mostly country roads for 3500
spirited miles
Found these Nexen N1000s at £40 a corner on eBay and needed some replacements for the fast-wearing Rainsport 3s that had decided to reward me with just 1.5mm of tread on the front tires after just under 10k miles on the tires, which in a car only pushing 143hp at the crank when it was new isn't exactly fantastic. Before the Rainsports I also had experience with Joyroad CX6s and Yokohama A10As.
Dry Grip:
These tires grip well in the dry, they're stable and have predictable grip patterns. They're a little better in the dry than the Rainsports, and I haven't had any issues with them in this category thus far. The sidewalls are nice and stiff, so there's very little roll within the tire itself. 9/10.
Wet Grip:
In the wet these tires aren't as good as the Rainsports, but then again it'd be unfair comparing a high performance summer tire to a rain-focused one. They're not scary in the wet, and for the best part they deal very well with standing water and such. But if pushing the car, you'll feel them go much earlier - it's not a sudden lack of grip though, you can definitely feel it coming. 7/10
Road Feedback:
The tire transmits the road pretty well in my opinion. You can feel much better the nature of the road travelled. This was one of the really bad points on the original Yokohama A10A tires that came on the car - every road felt the same and it was difficult to pre-gauge grip levels. 9/10
Progressiveness:
The tire is really good at letting you know when grip levels are about to subside, it's one of the best points of the tire. There's not a sudden loss of grip - it's very gradual, and you have plenty of time to react to the loss of grip. 10/10
Wear:
Not as much to say regarding the wear of the tire. 3500 miles in the fronts are down from the surprisingly deep original 8mm to just shy of 7mm, so they're definitely wearing far better than the Rainsports. 9/10
Comfort:
Not very easy to judge as the car has had extensive exhaust and suspension modifications, but the tires don't seem uncomfortable. Noise is fine, but can't be heard over the car anyway. 8/10
Overall I'd definitely buy the tires again. The price is fantastic, and overall the tires are very good. I might try a few others just to see what's out there, but these Nexens are definitely very good.