It's strange how some people get hung up on tyres (it's the last thing adhering you to the road and stopping you from going into the hedge etc) and some people are the opposite, are reluctant to pay out for them even though it's a given that you are going to have to replace tyres regularly!
I'm somewhere in the middle to be honest, when I had my ZS180 it came with Pilot Sport 2's but at the time they were around £150 each so I opted for Hancook - they lasted for 10000 miles less and had a little less grip in the wet but I quickly found that out so you adjust your driving style to suit. The upshot was that it cost me £200 for the set instead of £600!
At the moment I've got a make I've not even heard of on the back of the Clio and the same hancook as mentioned above on the front, and they're fine. I've had really cheap makes on other cars, Federal SS - seemed fine to me.
Bloke at work runs KU31's on his Elise and has done a couple of trackdays and a trip to the nurburgring on them, says they're still fine and good even compared with the OE tyres. They seem to get good reviews yet are really cheap.
What I'm trying to say is, it's so subjective - some people swear by their KU31's or even Nankang NS2 (I knew someone with an E36 M3 with those on!) where as other people wouldn't settle for less than a Bridgestone, Goodyear, Pirelli, continental and the like, but are they really seeing the benefits if there are any? I'll be going for something like KU31s when I change mine, I've tried expensive tyres and cheap tyres and it's difficult to tell the difference in my experience, or if you can, it's not £300 worth of difference every year.
I nearly always get my tyres from camskill, I have known them from when they first set up dealing in Daihatsu Charade GTti parts. 99% of the time I have found them to be the cheapest option.
What I love about these little 195/50/15's is that it's a really common size and small so they are cheap as chips! My Dad's BMW has 255/30/19 run flats on the back, can only get bridgestone or goodyear, £260 each - and it's only a 320i !!!!
