I win.
The nuts showed up today, and I stood out there in the rain mounting them. I took my time, as I wanted the initial torquing on those wheels to be as close to perfect as possible. This resulted in me being entirely soaked.
It was a perfect worst case scenario to see how they did in the rain. Lots of standing water was around, and the roads were pretty greasy. Also, the tires are brand new, which makes them a bit slippery.
I didn't have any trouble at all, even when I pushed them as far as one might under such conditions. It was a nice first test. Once I break them in I can pit them against the Goodyears. Right now it's not a direct comparison.
The carcass can be evaluated a bit, however. I've got 36psi cold in them right now (4 less than the Goodyears), and the tire itself is much more controlled.
Initial noise observations were very... Interesting...
They aren't as loud, but it's the nature of the noise they make that puzzled me. It's different than anything I've heard before.
There's no whine or drone, but there is indeed a notable noise; and anyone who's ever crawled inside a large, low pressure air duct would recognize it immediately.
It sounds almost precisely like the airflow inside one of those. It's that sound, but louder.
I rather liked listening to it, actually. It's quite pleasant.
Of course, that will change once they break in. They could crank out a horrible whine when that happens, for all I know. For now, however, it's pretty nice.
I'll do the same thing I did with the Goodyears this week. I'll run off a few hundred miles somewhere to break them in quickly.
Cheers,
Kennith