Given
60%
while driving a
Alfa Romeo Giuiletta
(225/45 R17)
on
mostly country roads
for 5,000
average miles
I wanted to test all season tires personally because many people I asked about them have conflicting opinions, and they all have different priorities, so I realised that I have to try them myself and see for myself what they are like.
I had two solutions in front of me, one is to buy the most expensive tires on the market and see how it will suit me, and the other is to buy the cheapest and potentially the worst, so that I can see how bad it can get.
So I ended up with these tires and realised that what I was most afraid of was not a problem at all, and that is traction on dry, wet, snow and when it is warm. These tires grip reasonably well, and in that sense there are no problems with them.
What I found out later, and what no one talked about, is the subjective feel when driving with this tire, and this is frightening because the tire is very soft and the tread pattern is such that they squirm a lot. I thought this would improve after a while, which did happen to a lesser extent as they got a little better after a thousand miles, but they are still very squirmy and the car has lost its handling character, poise and precision.
As it is Alfa Giulietta that has firmer suspension setup this is very pronounced, therefore I would not recommend these tires for a car of this type and character, but for more civil cars with softer suspension like a Golf, Megan, 308, and smaller city cars, this tire is very adequate and provides excellent value for money. For moderate winters when there is not much snow these are very good tires, but they are not sporty at all and do not provide a sporty feeling nor steering precision although they have adequate lateral and longitudinal grip.
