The great quality debate and paying extra.

[stevierst]

We use run flats on the BMW's at work (530d/330d) and they're pretty good imho. We kick the living daylights out of them on a daily basis, and they're as grippy as the rest, but I don't pay for the tyres, so can't say about how long they last.

And cheapo tyres performance, well it's not always 'you get what you pay for'.
Hankook, and a few other brands were laughed at for being cheap and nasty a few years ago, not so much now, they run their own race series! (i see another maxxis influence here).

I've always been a believer that consumer pressure and clever advertising keep us buying costly brands, as its almost propaganda-esque to keep them selling to the 'believers'.

I used cheapo tyres on my high performance cars over the last couple of decades (xr4i/xr4x4, 620ti, BMW325i) purely because I did 30+k/pa and to be honest they have got a lot better recently! I even saw track tests done by independent journalists, and there wasn't a great difference in track times between them. Some of them still said it was mind over matter with the cheaper brands.

You get what you pay for??? Not necessarily!!!
More like you think you get what you pay too much for!