Given
77%
while driving a
Volvo V70 2.4
(205/55 R16 H) on
a combination of roads
for 5,000
spirited miles
Absolutely superb tires in the wet. I've now done approx. 5000 miles on these, and with the exception of the first 250 miles or so (I've seen a few complaints about initial grip - they do take a while to bed-in), the wet grip has been pretty much constant since I got them. The 'tread gets wider as the tire wears' design really does seem to work.
The drawback is the dry performance. Grip levels are OK (though not up to my previous Vredestein Sportracs), but there's not a huge amount of feedback from them, and if you push hard it feels like the tread is squirming around a bit on the road surface. They never feel unsafe though, and I've not had a single 'moment' with them, even with some fairly enthusiastic driving.
Overall a great tire for all-round use, though with the bias firmly towards wet performance, which is exactly what you want in a big lardy old barge of a car with a torquey engine, like I've got. I'd hesitate to recommend them if you've got a more sporty car that you like slinging round bends in the dry, as there are definitely better tires for that, but if you want something for general touring / commuting use all year round, they should definitely be high on your list. They are also (at least in my size) considerably cheaper than Conti Premium Contacts (which I've yet to try, but tend to rate even higher than the Optigrips).