The Michelins are $200 tires. My total bill for four was $818.
If you look at tires as merely a consumable, a commodity bought and consumed, used up and discarded, and not an asset to be managed to get the most of your investment, the only think that matters most is how many miles you get on them, then there are certainly cheaper tires to be had.
I view tires (and batteries) as an asset, same as the van. So, you manage your tires the same as any asset by looking at ways to maximize your investment. To maximize the investment in tires you have to look at characteristics of tires dealing with more than just treadwear, things like safety related items such as rated stopping distance, handling in various conditions, tread design for dispersing water, sidewall strength.
You have to look at these factors not only for tires when they are new, but the same characteristics when the treadwear is 50% or more, over the life of the tire. For example, at 6/32 tread depth, what's the stopping distance rating for a Michelin versus some other brand? Sidewall strength plays a major role, rolling resistance somewhat less, in the stopping distance at low tread depths. But it's important.
But the biggie is rolling resistance, where the decreased rolling resistance of Michelin tires compared to other, cheaper tires, yields considerable savings in fuel economy over the life of the tire, and ends up paying way more than the increased cost. But you also have to take proper care of them, keep them properly inflated (nitrogen is the key there), as you would any asset.
