Metzeler Tourance vs Mitas E-07 vs Mitas E-08 vs Mitas E-09

From the beginning I would say that is an unfair comparison between Metzeler Tourance and Mitas E-07, because are a different class, the more appropiate is the Mitas E-08.
The compairison comes from my real life, not sponsored, with real streets.

BMW fans and "quality made in Germany" will cross their hearts on Tourance. Well, after all, Tourance comes almost on all BMWs, even on my Tenere was fitted from factory, so it should be the real deal. Actually is a real deal breaker for anything else than street. But all ADV riders sport one of those tires on their bike.

Tourance is 90% road - 10% off-road. Well, I could pass a short passage of mud with them, but not very easy, and anyway I see most of the time just highway and good quality streets. Like all the BMWs I see, there is no need for more than a 90-10 tire. Maybe yes maybe no.
I changed the Tourance after 5000 Km, the last drop was when I had to start from a red light and the street had like 5% incline, and had just rained. The result was me driving for the next 200m dirt-track style, playing with the clutch and acceleration, while I was trying to get the rear wheel straight and to stop dancing. I almost hugged the terra firma at that point. That being said also on dry, the rear locked easily - yes I am old school I bought the last Tenere without ABS before they stooped producing it, at least for Europe. Yes I also use rear brake and front brake in old school manner, no electronic to do that for me, and I do this already for a long time with dual sports. Tourance was the first tire to get easily locked on rear, also on some curvy roads the rear liked to slide. Ok, I can fault the Tenere also for this, After 20.000 Km I still have a funky feeling on curvy roads, because of the higher weight center. It shined on the highway, there was the perfect place for this tire. Going straight, no curves or just light ones but no emergency brakes, I also locked my rear on the highway, not too funny. Quality made in Germany?!? Maybe for heavier bikes like the big fat BMW adventure, with their 300 Kg and shorter front suspension travel. Maybe there it gets a good firm grip. For lighter ones like Kawasaki KLR or Yamaha XT660Z Tenere, not so good.
I got some Tourances on my KLR and I managed, fair for the tire type, some gravel roads, easy hill trails and small muddy sections. So they are not so bad, they tend to be a bit slippery on wet though.

Mitas E-08, Mitas is a Czech company so for many is just some East European exotic brand, even when you go at a tire shop or some motorcycle dealers, they try to convince you to get some Metzeler or at least Goodyear.
Mitas E-08 is the direct competition for Tourance, with a spin ... they are 80% street - 20% off-road. The difference is more visible between them for the front tire. It cleans itself a tad better than Tourance, and the rear looks similar but the spaces between the rubber patches are a bit bigger, which means better cleaning. One thing common to all Mitas is that they are a bit on the hard side. I always could run with lower pressure without seeing it on the wheel itself. While at the Tourance you see that your pressure dropped, at Mitas you have to check. They perform slightly similar on road and off road. I would buy the E-08 for street only use, especially on rain it handles better because of the bigger spacings. With Tourance on heavy rain and highway conditions I always had the "dancing" feeling, with E-08 was a bit better on the dancing side.

Mitas E-07, one of my favorites after the more enduro oriented E-09, is a true tire pattern for dual sport motorcycles (today called adventure bikes), offering almost a 50 - 50 setup. Maybe the similar Metzeler tire would be Enduro 3 Sahara. But The E-08 has a "chevron" pattern, and what it makes unique at E-08 is that the more worn-out it is, the more street oriented it becomes, since the middle of the tire tends to become a continuous surface patch, while the sides keep their spacing.  While it is not perfect for the highway - a bit loud and bumpy while new, gets better with the time - it is very good if you need to drive after the point where the asphalts ends. Some are saying, on the internet, that it is not very good at grip on lower temperatures. It has an M+S sign so I suppose is not designed for summer only, but it comes from the fact that all Mitas tires, at least in dual sport range, are a bit harder as compound. This makes them more resilient to wear at the cost of grip. is like a trade, better grip low mileage, higher mileage lower grip. Been with the tire on highways most of the time, the luxury problems of the first world, but I also used it on forest trails during rain, gravel roads, lots of gravel on the road, muddy sections .... while when is a thick layer of small gravel, they tend to "dance" and bounce quite a lot, and the grip is not as good as with a cross tire, they performed well an wet and dry gravel. I would not use it for this type of trails if I had to drive daily but when you have also regular roads to drive is the perfect mix. I could drive over fallen trees too, so is not so bad as a 50-50 tire.
Durability - depends on the driving, now I have it since 12.000 Km, and more than 10.000 only highway, so it became a bit square, but there is enough rubber left for at least the next 5.000 Km, I had other tires which performed better but without highway drive.

Mitas E-09, the almighty trail eater 20% road - 80% off-road, I had it on my Kawasaki KLE, amazing tire for trails. There is no Metzeler similar with this one The front is more close to an enduro tire than dual purpose, the back is also enduro tire with larger rubber patches. It looks really "adventure ready" and makes the bike look aggressive but comes at a price - on road durability is poor, still better than the enduro ones but less than E-08 or E-07, it is noisy and bumpy, also the grip on asphalt is not its strength but once you get out of the road it is another beast. Is perfect for the type of trails a big dual purpose can do anyways, for more complex needs the bike will be too heavy and too big. So this tire is absolutely more than what this type of bikes can do or are intended to do.

In the end I would say from my experience that the Tourance remains the king of dry asphalt, on wet I would ponder an E-08, but the difference is not so big between them, is more a matter of taste after you tried both.
For highway and occasional light trails, two three mud holes and some gravel I would go for E-07, it held its promises very well with an overloaded Tenere on a stormy day while riding mountain trails and driving over fallen trees.
For better trail experience and no highway E-09, I used it for city too, but its place is where the fun begins.