The mushy handling of the Tiger Paws may be because they're new, but after almost 20K gas mileage hasn't returned to what it was and handling isn't as responsive as the FR710's. I found nothing lacking about the FR710's ride characteristics, and only had them squaling around corners when they were right at the wear indicators. That being said, maybe after break-in the Tiger Paw is stickier but less stiff - aka, it'll hold onto a curve harder, just with more sway/oversteer(?) whereas the 710's will bite in with more certainty but their ability to hold the road isn't as good as the Tiger Paw. I can say with certainty that the FR710, new or not, has only "fair" traits in heavy rain.