How to recognize a bad tire? The most expensive "consumable" while operating a bicycle would probably be tires.  Enthusiasts endlessly debate the relative merits of different sizes, profiles, tread patterns,inflation pressures and just about anything else that might help define the best tire.

I use my bike for primary transportation and moderate cardio averaging 15K - 20K daily.  The terrain is fairly level but the traffic is dense and the road surface varies from virgin concrete to "what road?".  For the time being I'm still running 27 X 1 3/8 (37-630).  Unless I want to pay obscene import prices my choices are limited.

Is there anything to look for on a cheap, odd brand, tire that would provide clues about how long it will last?  What do you look for when trying to assess how well a new tire rides?  Like I said, to me a tire is a consumable.  I'd rather have something usable that I bought cheap enough I can throw it out without an internal struggle when it gets worn or damaged, than running something I paid so much for I'm trying to squeeze every last K of service life out of it. What is the average life of a tire in my sort of riding?

Additional info.

On the bike;
Badly weather checked, practically treadless, Bridgestone. If it fails catastrophically in local traffic I'll probably die.

The choices (low to high);
Leo Tires "Diablo", Philippine made, under $10 including new tube.
Other tires in same price range from other nearby countries that have rubber plantations.  Paying for a rim swap to let me use mid-price tires with known name brands. Paying astronomical single unit import fees to get those same brands in my current tire size.

The budget doesn't allow a rim swap for at least a couple of weeks.  So I'm mounting the Diablo before I leave the driveway again.  There are no visually obvious defects or damage.  Are there less obvious but still noticeable things I should look for?  Small details that might keep this piece of crap from killing me if I catch them during a pre-ride inspection?
There are many factors that go into determining the performance of a tyre.  The material and thread count (TPI) of the carcass, the rubber compound, thickness and tread pattern.  Tubed vs tubeless, and many different varieties of puncture protection layers.

Unfortunately as a consumer (especially with lesser known brands) its virtually impossible to be sure of the exactly how the tyre will perform without trying it.  This is why bike forums are always full to the brim of threads about x/y/z tyres.

The average life of a tyre varies significantly, based both on the tyre construction, the weight and riding style of the rider, and the terrain being ridden.
A light rider riding tyre 'X' on flat smooth roads may get 4500km out of a tyre, but give the same tyre to a heavy rider in hilly terrain and a coarse surface and it may only last 1500km.

If you are looking at a tyre purely as a consumable item, and only care about how many km you can get out of them, then you probably want to look for tyres that are advertised as 'touring' tyres.  They typically have thicker rubber and a harder compound for durability, along with thick puncture protection layers which whilst designed to provide reliability in remote areas, also work superbly in urban environments