1. it reduces the speedo error
2. it lasts AT LEAST the same percentage longer as is its circumference is larger
3. the additional width keeps the footpegs just a little higher reducing dragging when I do canyon carve (which I like, I just have a hard time finding to do,this part of 58&229 is all twisty)
4. it does NOT require a special brake brace like a car tire
The ONLY question I have is does it last as much longer as its price is higher. I do not know as I can only compare my PR4 190 to my PR2 180.
Yeah, well... you had just said that you spent most of the tire's miles on the slab, which was why I asked how putting a 190 width tire on there improved the highway experience. (I already knew it helped the non-highway experience).
So I guess the one thing above that might be construed to be of benefit on the superslab would be the increased life due to increased circumference. I had not thought of that, so lets do some math and see what the potential is:
The 180/55 tire has a sidewall height of 99mm (180 * 55%). Double that and add it to 17" (432mm) and the wheel diameter will be 630mm. Multiply by pi for circumference of 1978mm.
A 190/55 sidewall is 104.5. Multiply by 2 and add 432, diameter is 641. Multiply by pi, circumference is 2012.74.
So the 190 tire has a 34.74 mm larger circumference, which is an increase of 1.75% over the 180/55.
So with all other things being equal you might expect to get
1.75% more miles from a 190 tire on the slab due to the increased circumference.
Just using the popular Michelin PR4 as a pricing example, at Jake Wilson, who is known to have some of the better prices around, the 180/55 PR4 costs $169.98 and the same tire in 190/55 costs $190.98, or $21 dollars more, which is
12.35% higher than the stock sized tire.