I'm not optimistic about the life of these tires - the warranty is for 40k and most people say they're toast by 50k, my parents exclusively get Michelins and they get about 70k-90k miles out of their tires (although they drive relatively light cars and they drive slowly). I'm not sure the total cost of ownership is as dramatic as the initial price difference but as I've stated prior, I felt confident enough to roll the dice.
Do you think it's fair to say that performance tires just get noiser and noiser? I have a friend with an Evo X and he runs really nice tires but for the last 2k miles, they're like banshees. I don't know how he tolerates it but he also rides a CBR600RR without a helmet or ear plugs (though I repeat myself...) so he's made of stubborn stuff.
I haven't tested these tires in the cold and I don't intend to - I have a winter wheel / tire set with WS80 Blizzacks. The chinese tires seem to struggle with rain but not to the point of reduced safety (at least compared to my old tires).
Lastly, the side wall seems to flex in a very predictable way, I was very surprised by that. The tires are 225/60r16s so the side wall is relatively tall, and the suspension in my car is somewhat imbalanced, the weight transfer can sometimes be abrupt and my old goodyears would flex dramatically and suddenly, these new tires flex very progressively and it's easy to feel what's going on even though my steering isn't particularly communicative (it's a 2001 Toyota hydraulic system). I think it's because my car has double wishbone suspension at all 4 corners and the suspension controls the camber of the wheel very well throughout the suspension stroke.