[ainarssems]

As a man who likes to swap around tyres to even wear I do not like directional tyres as you cannot swap left to right without taking tyre off the rim and incurring costs for it. I find that left side tyres wears faster for me, I blame the roundabouts for it because I did not experience this back in Latvia where we had lot less roundabouts but it has happened to every car in UK.

Like you say there are benefits for directional tyres in mud and snow and to some extent in standing water but tyres with large longitudinal grooves are fairly good at displacing water as well.

Assymetrical are supposed to be better for cornering and more even wear at least in theory but you cannot turn it other way round if you have inside or outside edge wearing more. Considering costs for swapping tyre other way round in UK(£10) I would probably not do it anyway and my wear pretty evenly on the inside and outside but less in the middle. If you mount tyres yourself or live in the country where labour costs are cheaper than ability to swap inside and outside could be a factor.

So to summarise for me assymetrical are slightly preferred and for summer tyres better to be non-directional but for winter either directional or non-directional will do. I am always buying second hand tyres so value for money, tread depth and manufacturing date are more important for me.