April

Yeah, they aren't really broken in so things may change as time and miles pile up, but here are the initial impressions:

The tire shop had to struggle a bit to put them on, as the bead and sidewall are quite stiff. Speed Merchant in San Jose does a nice job without scratching wheels and they use the Hunter GSP9700 balancer, so things stay balanced no matter the speed.

Feedback is much improved. It relates the texture of the pavement to your hands much more readily. It felt like a suspension bushing upgrade that takes away some of the vagueness.

The ride firmed up a fair bit. Maybe within 90% of Sport package firm. Now instead of waiting for the sidewall to flop over in a corner, and then the suspension to to take a set, you can feel the suspension doing the work.

Turn-in is much more immediate and inputs can be made more precisely.

There is no tramlining (following grooves in the road) at all. From day one, the Pirellis would wander and ****** at all pavement seams and grooves. Tonight I deliberately ran over some stuff that used to have the car dancing back and forth like a boxer dodging a punch, and for once the steering wheel wasn't fighting to get out of my hands.

Noise levels are comparable to the Pirellis, but different. Deeper on some surfaces, but whisper quiet on others. The Pirellis made a higher pitched hum - but more consistantly over all surfaces and speeds.

If you're looking for a touring tire, don't get the T1R. This is an obvious improvement of the T1S towards the sportier end of the scale. I'll report more as they break in and I get some seat time in the twisties.

EricPA

I have about 500 miles on mine so it's still a bit early but I can feel an improvement over the T1-S. That's a good thing considering I'm a fan of the T1-S. (I've run four sets over the last six years.) Turn-in is very nice and overall grip is improved. Plus, the tires still have a nice lip protector for those pricey wheels. :-)