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I saw an ad fore a tire company today stating that they have the right tires for your driving style. When I buy tires I look for silent tires with long lifespan, good grip and most importantly a decent price. I've never even considered my driving style.

Is this just marketing-speak or should one take driving style into consideration when choosing tires?

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Expletives are not tolerated here. – Sklivvz♦ May 3 '11 at 13:58
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@Sklivvz I'm sorry. I didn't consider BS to be an expletive. I still don't, but if that's your policy I'll certainly respect it. Are there any synonyms you could recommend? – Erik B May 3 '11 at 14:12
I've fixed it already. – Sklivvz♦ May 3 '11 at 14:17
@Sklivvz For this question, yes, but speak is not generally a synonym to BS. – Erik B May 3 '11 at 14:47
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waffle is nice for this. – Sklivvz♦ May 3 '11 at 15:15
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One should definitely take driving style into account. Even according to manufacturers, the varieties include tyres which corner better, have lower rolling resistance etc., but every design decision is a trade-off, otherwise all tyres would be perfect.

For example a petrolhead who really likes cornering at high-g numbers would want a lower profile, and a stiffer and stronger sidewall to help prevent the tyre deforming and coming off the rim. This sort of tyre definitely leads to a less comfortable ride as there is less flexibility, so wouldn't be suitable for someone who had comfort as their priority.

Higher grip also usually requires a softer compound but this leads to a shorter lifespan, so your decisions on grip requirement will directly affect tyre longevity, so if you plan to drive gently and don't want to brake hard, perhaps you can choose a longer life tyre. Similarly, tyres with deep tread (for wet conditions) don't last as long as lighter tread patterns, so your choice here will also be a trade-off between wet weather grip and lifespan.

See as an example Bridgestone's car-4x4-van page where they state "Whatever your driving style, Bridgestone has a tyre to suit your driving needs" and they go down to the level of providing options for sport, touring, ecology all weather and general use with a few differences between them - no measurable science there, but you can see where they have gone with separating some major and minor differences to help sell to different demographics.

(caveat: I am very biased as my only requirement in a tyre is that it has high grip under extreme conditions, including heavy rain - I get very poor tyre life, at around 10000 miles, and the road noise is not ideal, but I like to corner very hard and the stopping distance is amazing. ymmv)

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It seems like the driving style is only relevant if it's extreme. Most drivers generally avoid high-g numbers. As far as grip versus longevity goes that seems to have more to do with economy than driving style. Of course, extreme driving styles may require high grip, but generally I think you want high grip for safety reasons. Is it fair to say that driving style really only matters to a small group of drivers? – Erik B May 3 '11 at 20:22
@Erik - I think you are probably right when it comes to the grip etc. but lifespan, comfort and noise probably are of interest to many drivers. – Rory Alsop May 3 '11 at 20:47
Oh yes, driving style makes a huge difference over a very wide spectrum of people. You will probably never use mud tires. Or racing tires. Or maybe even wet-weather tires or snow tires. But for any of these applications, the tires you buy are pretty much useless. Rest assured though, most tire manufacturers will certainly make them where any market exists at all. – Ernie Nov 28 '11 at 16:56
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