Buying tires is a microcosm of the car buying experience.
It's very hard to gain a true perspective on the long term characteristics of the product, and the opportunity for evaluation is limited to a narrow window that probably isn't representative of the ownership experience.
Added to the fact that most of the general public tends to focus on one or two specific attributes, and is generally ill-equipped to perform a balanced assessment of the product as a whole.
Dealers can be of little or no help; they're mainly out to make a sale. I recently had a dealer victimize a relative who needed to replace a damaged tire, by selling her the wrong model that didn't match the others, and a warranty (on all four!) on top of it, completely contradicting general wisdom and my specific admonition. But the counterman was really nice.
Objective testing by independent third parties like publications is difficult to pull off, to the point where one rag abandoned all attempts a long time ago, and such testing that still does occur is few and far between.
So, we're left with a lot of word of mouth, and a spin of the roulette wheel. Good thing this isn't a frequent requirement.
As for me, I'll have to crunch the numbers. I suspect the difference between the Koreans and the other candidates won't amount to a significant enough sum. Although Michelin makes a quality tire (even if some are only mediocre performers), they're too rich for my blood.
