There's a whole range of tyres and pads, it really comes down to how you use the car? If it is for general driving around with the occasional B road blast you could go for something like Bridgestone RE002 - I have used them and they are awesome, especially for the money. But there will be other options, there's no such thing as the ultimate tyre or ultimate break pad as they are all designed for slightly different applications. BTW, if you work on your car yourself changing the final drive is not as crazy a task as it may sound, neither is it that expensive, especially if you buy used. If your car is a weekend toy or track car and you have another car as your daily I'd say after tyres and pads the next thing I'd spend money on is a diff. But as you have el cheapo tyres that's certainly where I'd start improving - no doubt others here will agree.