Something to keep in mind while shopping: tires have trade offs, such as dry grip versus tire wear, and sidewall stiffness (handling dynamics) versus a softer ride. Also, tire noise generally gets worse the better the tire handles. No tire is great at everything, regardless of price, and so different tires have different uses. More expensive tires usually use better technology, designs, manufacturing equipment, and materials, and so the tradeoffs aren't as comprimising. Anyhow, like rubyred3 said, its critical you find the tire that best suits you - that's how you'll get most value. I would say there are 4 filtering steps:
1) sort by your tire size (get the size that came on the car unless you have a good reason not to)
2) find your main category (all-season, summer, snow, etc.)
3) then there are few sub-categories to choose from like grand-touring, hi-performance, max-performance.
If you get this far, you've already done better than the average tire buyer. From there,
4) look at your budget, sales, and pricing, read reviews/surveys/tests of the handful of tires your considering, and fine tune your choice based on dry/wet/snow grip, treadwear, handling, ride, noise, etc., by weighing what's most important to you.
Like many others, I consider tirerack.com to be a great resource. They have a ton of info, professional tests, and over 100,000 consumer reviews, so you don't have to rely solely on anecdotal reviews you pick up from whomever (brother-in-law, idiot boss, etc.). And they have a "Tire Decision Guide" which might be useful to you. They sell a lot of great brands, but don't have Toyo or Falken which are auto-enthusiast favorites. Look (don't buy!) at 1010tires.com for more info on these brands.
