I think the question "what tire takes high psi the best" will only draw anecdotal responses, since such a thing to my knowledge hasn't been subject to any controlled testing.
As noted, they all- in new or very good condition- can take pressures exponentially higher than sidewall. But we don't care about that here; we are concerned with 45-55 psi pressures. I think any tire except one with a compromising issue like severely weather-checked sidewalls will give good service in that pressure range.
So by "take" do you mean ride quality or wear or something else? Ride quality certainly can suffer at 44-55 psi but there are many variables besides the tire; how soft are the springs and shocks, how heavy is the vehicle, how cushy are the seats, how rough are the local roads, what is the driver's preference, etc.
Some of my vehicles wore their tires unevenly at elevated sidewall pressures and some didn't. Could be the tire but it's also the suspension geometry, loading, how hard you corner, etc.
I know you aren't lowering but cutting the springs makes them stiffer. On a related note you haven't said what your aspect ratio preference is; while the low, low aspect ratio tires are said to theoretically have lower rolling resistance they also ride rough. Conversely the old school high aspect ratio tires by rights should give the smoothest ride what with all that sidewall available to cushion the blows even if they are run at higher than sidewall pressures. But we know there is quite a variation in tire responses between different brands and models even of the same size. Safe to say that higher load rated tires, and tires with more plies, will ride rougher.
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Aside from that, is anyone aware of a ride suspension modification that is cheaper to implement then air bag suspension?
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Yes. This one is FREE!!! Start at a high, teeth-rattling pressure and lower it until you can stand it. I started at 50 psi in my F150 and it rode like it had iron locomotive wheels. Now running 42 psi which is acceptable. Also stopped by a tire store and used their wear gauge to confirm even wear. There was some evidence of higher wear in the center so I dropped psi by four to see if that helps.
I suggest you run whatever tire floats your boat and experiment with pressure to your satisfaction.
One thing I do is drive down a dusty gravel road then get out on the pavement for a few miles, then stop and see where the dust has worn away. I saw where overinflated tires still have dust on the outer treads, and lowered the psi and repeated the run until I was satisfied that the "right amount" of tread at the sides was in contact. That is how I came to use differential tire pressures, as most of my vehicles are nose-heavy I run the fronts 2-4 psi higher than the rears. Come to think of it, I'd been using the differential pressure strategy forever but in reverse as the old school VWs and Corvairs run lower pressures in the front than in the rear.
P.S. I have long had a theory that if I had the tire mounted on the widest possible rim- at the edge of the recommended range or even beyond- that it could take higher pressure before prematurely wearing the crown. Tires have been mounted this way but I don't know what their results were.
P.P.S. So basically you want to know the lowest r.r. tire. It's a hard question to answer, what with the lack of data and all. There are two more things I consider for this: OEM tires are probably better than aftermarket tires. I read about that somewhere. So what could be better than an OEM Prius tire? Also, worn tires have lower r.r. than newer tires- less rubber flexing > less hysteresis. What could be better than worn OEM Prius tires??? In fact I scored a set of worn OEM Prius tires but since my most-used vehicles are all set with decent shoes I haven't had them mounted yet.
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