I've been researching replacement tires for my wagon here on the board and with various tire manufacturers and vendors, so I thought I would share some of my thoughts and findings.

Apparently, the OEM stock tire size is 195R14, as I am sure many of you are aware. I have been told by an old tire pro that if the profile number is missing, a profile of 80 is implied. When his computer database failed to pull up that particular size, the pro reached under his counter and pulled out an old school manual with charts.

After talking for a while, he said that the original tires were multi-ply tires with a very high load rating, 102 to be exact, capable of handling 1800 pounds per tire. Considering that the car grosses around 2 tons, this began to make sense to me. This tire was also used on the old Toyota dually trucks and campers, because of their strength.

Many people now replace these tires with passenger tires for various reasons: cost, appearance, ride, handling, availability, etc. 195/75R14 and 205/70R14 are both popular sizes. However, most of these tires do not have the load rating that the originals had, but do have a higher speed rating, which can be translated as better traction (at least in dry weather).

A couple of brands that do manufacture the original size tires: Continental makes the Vanco-8, and 8-ply radial, available from the Tire Rack for $56/ tire, plus delivery. Hankook, a Korean tire manufacturer, makes the RAO8, an 8-ply radial, which I was quoted for $71/tire. Both of these tires have a 102 load rating and a speed rating of Q (112 mph). Cooper apparently makes one as well, but it is up around $100 and I don't know the model; same story on Nokian, which I have read about on the brickboard, particularily for snow applications.

I intend to use my wagon as a beast of burden, with some consideration for comfort. I suppose I will get the Contis or the Hankooks and some Boge shocks to try to smooth the ride a little.
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Ten Sleep 1980 245DL 1995 850 Turbo 1997 Dodge Dakota 5.2L