Goodyear Viva Touring/Regatta2 - bad, good, or ugly ? wiggly at 70mph dry

[outbackdc]

these came on the car when I got it, they have unknown mileage on the (the car had 55K and they're the Viva Touring flavor, so I'm assuming they're a WalMart replacement for the OE tires (prev owner bought the car new). They are marked "M+S".

So, I've driven on these one winter, and frankly I had no complaints, including in that bitchen snowstorm in the Mid-Atlantic last Feb - we trucked home from Delaware the morning after & were among the only cars on the road. No problems. We live in the Hudson Valley and drive into the Catskills to ski, and commute 60 mi roundtrip. We do a 600 mile highway trip about once a month, year-round.

I do notice that the steering gets a little "light" starting around 65mph. Not bad, but the steering feel gets noticeably lighter than its solid feel at lower speeds. I generally don't run much more than 70mph except for passing and when traffic requires it (getting through pods) because I like my cars.

So now, given their unknown mileage, and the driving we do, and the car, should I replace these ? This is a "winter" car currently and is stored for about 7 months over the summer, so what I would probably do is replace the GYs with a "performance winter tire". But the GYs have plenty of tread, and I have no acute reason to replace them, especially given the high cost of the perf winter tires.

So, what would you recommend ?

I've done my research, and the Viva Tourings are a rebrand for WalMart of GY Regatta2's, and their reviews are not bad, if unremarkable. The problems with sidewalls seem to be with Viva2's, which are a different tire. Please give me your informed recountings of problems with the Viva Tourings, commentary that I've been lucky so far with the winter performance of that specific tire, and/or that I should implement my plan to replace them with perf winter tires because it's just a matter of time until I hit some winter condition that they can't handle. Personally I'm not big on WalMart, not from snobbery but because of their economic practices, but it's the tire rather than the store that counts. I'm glad to blow the cash on better (?) tires, if there are _good_ objective reasons to do it.

With that, thanks for your comments!