I had Falken Ziex512's before (17s) and when new they were not bad in the dry but horrible in the wet - i felt there was little connection between the tyre and the road (aquaplaning a fair bit).

I looked into budgeted replacement and Nankangs NS-2 came in at $120 a tyre... and i must say for a cheap tyre im impressed. They grip well in the dry and i feel alot more confident in the wet as well. I did take them to a very wet track day a month ago and that wasn't bad either.