Jack Boyett said:
Do you have any data to back the economics up? As a buyer of cheap tires, I'm genuinely curious.
I am sure there are some formal studies, but I'm not going to look for them. I do know I've read data that the Highway Traffic Government entity attributes a large number of accidents to tires. I assume that means due to worn tires - handle bad, especially in rain - or tires that flat out fail, which isn't necessarily a cheap tire. It's on the owner to replace worn tires, but which tires typically wear faster, cheap or expensive? Which tires are more prone to failure, cheap knock off brands or major name brands?
If it wears faster, or fails catastrophically, then at a minimum you have to buy new tires more frequently or at worst you have the cost of an accident and increased insurance rates to pay for.
Since an accident is a major cost, anything to reduce the chance of an accident seems financially prudent.
If you are a slow driver, or live somewhere it barely ever rains or snows, and you often check your cheap tire treads to see if replacement is needed - then perhaps financially it saves you, what, $600 over 40K miles?