Originally Posted by Andy_K

The biggest difference in going from a 28 to 32 is that very few really fast tires are available in sizes wider than 28. There are a few that are good but not great (in terms of ride feel and rolling resistance) available in wide sizes. The trade-offs, of course, are comfort and puncture protection. IMO, the best of the wider tires are worth the slight dip in performance and road feel.

I've used 700x28 GP 4 Seasons for a while and I love the ride feel and grip. I don't know about the objective difference in puncture protection between the 4 Seasons and the Gatorskins, but it seems to me that the marketing materials indicate (though not explicitly) that Vectran is better than the PolyX breaker in the Gatorskins. The GP 4 Seasons have a higher thread count (hence the better feel and shorter life) which makes the outer layer somewhat more susceptible to punctures, but the Vectran layer will stop most intruders (objects with a very fine point being their weakness). I've had better luck with the GP 4 Seasons than I did with the Gatorskins, but it's been within the range that could be due to random variation. Both have served me well.

Last year I got 700x35 Schwalbe Marathon Supremes for my rain commuter. These have great wet grip and are supposed to be fairly durable and puncture resistant. They felt a good bit slower to me than the GP 4 Seasons, so one day I went out to see how fast I could ride to work on these tires, figuring I could compare it to my fastest times with the 4 Seasons and see just how much slower they were. I ended up setting a new personal best time for my commute with the Marathon Supremes. I still think they feel slower, but it seems to objectively not be true (though recall my comments in the other thread about fatigue and motivation).

I've got just about 1400 miles on the Marathon Supremes right now. I've had one puncture, which was from a wood screw that would have penetrated a car tire. I haven't noticed any significant visible tread wear. The wider tires are really nice in fallwinterspring (just one season here, 9 months of rain) when the bike lanes are covered with random debris. I plan to use the GP 4 Seasons (which are currently hanging in my garage) in the summer, but when the current set wears out I'll probably replace them with GP4000S's (which I have on my road bike and love). If the Marathon Supremes give me another 1600 miles similar to the 1400 I've had so far I'll probably stick with them as my rainy season tire.