May not be so subjective. My last rear tire a Dunlop E4, had a big lengthwise split in middle of the tire (a split not a cut) and probing it revealed it was separating from the cord as well. It also started slipping in the cornors. The tire still had better than 50% tread and was new in 21. As well it spent the past year sitting on my lift in the garage. This is the third set of Dunlop's I had to replace before its time. The first set (E3's) I replaced because the bike suddenly started to slide sideways on highway ramps despite still having 30% tread, the rubber just got hard. The second set E4's at about 50% developed the same slipping plus a bad case of hair line side wall cracks too numerous and deep to feel comfortable about. And now this second E4 with the 2 1/2 " split to the cord down the inside of one of the grooves. Plus it too was starting to get slippery. I am done with high end Dunlop's. If any thing I would go back to the 404. However I decided to give the SHINKO 777 a try since they seem to have a good following on this site. I only replaced the rear and so far I am very pleased with it.