I agree about the Dunlop SP's - I had some SP Sport 200s fitted (original factorty-fit) to my old micra (R13 175/60H), which were fine in the dry, but absolutely awful in anything more than a couple of spits of rain - a couple of times I skidded over a traffic light stop sign, which signalled to me it was time for a change (still over 4mm tread left, and similar had happened when over 5mm). They had lasted 55k (I try to be a smooth driver), which is alot, so it just shows that hard-wearing tyres can be potentially dangerous, even if you save money by replacing them less often.

The Bridgestone Potenza RE720s I replaced them with were fantastic in dry and wet conditions, reasonable for wear (if treated properly), if a little noisy (my current Mazda 3's Bridgestone Turanza ER30s are ok [not as good as the Potenzas). When I was looking for replacements for my old car, Falken and Khumo were considered in reviews as reasonable alternatives to the main brands, and to steer clear of any chinese makes. A good source of reviews (some tyres appear to work better/worse from model to model [even on similar/related cars]) is:-

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk

You can search by makes of tyre (if you generally prefer X over Y) or by vehicle, which may be more useful, as you can compare several makes of tyre/differnt tyres from one brand (my car is a good example of that) to know what is good and what isn't.

It's probably worth reiterating that if you are in the market for budget tyres for use on an old banger (within 2-3 years of being scrapped), I would suggest trying to find tyres that are softer compound (better grip, but last less) than heard-wearing tyres that may give lower levels of grip, especially in the wet. As long as they lasted/worked fine utill the car was scrapped, then that would probably be acceptable safety-wise and cost-effective.

Lastly, I would recommend going to a recommended (by friends/relatives/colleagues) independent tyre fitter, unless a local national chain has a good reputation. They tend to be cheaper anyway, and are more likely to give good advice/service as they will rely on their reputation for more to get/keep their trade.

I found that Protyre (www.protyre.co.uk) in Enfield was very good on price and service (they fitted my Bridgestone Potenza RE720s back in 2003), and in particular for non-standard tyres. The Micheldever tyre outlet (part of the Protyre group, website www.micheldever.co.uk) in Hampshire always was winning awards for "best tyre seller" over many years.