I may be the odd guy out here, but I've favored specific (not all) bridgestone tires above michelins. Bridgestones may indeed heavier tires in general (I've never really checked) but they've also been more supple and therefore quieter over roads in my experience than michelins. I have never had any factory defects with bridgestone, though I did with firestone. Firestone took care of all of the defects without question or hassle.
Recently I started moving towards cooper and have nothing but good things to say about cooper. However, buying a used car with bridgestone "Serenity" rubber on them were so impressive, that the next sedan we had when tires were needed got the same tires, and both sets have been some of the best tires I've owned. The serenity model has siping which seems to fade beginning at 50% wear, so probably no siping left by 30% remaining, but they are such long-lived tires that if I replace them at 50,000 with still 20,000 remaining, that will be ok. I usually replace our tires before we actually hit the wear bars due to wet braking anyway.
The key with bridgestones, which I am more familiar with, certainly, is to know which models are entry-level or oem-spec tires and avoid those. Their upper level tires, for me, have never been disappointments.