Part 2 of my tires saga (see part 1 here ... ).

Armed with all your good advice (thank you, thank you), I went back to Big O with my dukes up. Told the manager the story and the problem, and unbelievably, he said "We want you to be happy. Which tires do you want to replace them with?" After recovering from this unexpected good service, I mentioned the Yokohama Avid Touring that some of you recommended. He then suggested that perhaps I should go back to the 185R14 size that I had originally, because these have stiffer side walls, and that perhaps the bad handling I am experiencing is because the sidewalls are softer. This is the first thing my volvo mechanic said, as well, when I mentioned the problem to him. The Big O man offered the following in a 185R14:
Bridgestone 603V, these have a 'D' load rating
Yokohama Y356 with a C rating.
He said that these are designed for VW Vanagons, but that he has put them on Volvo 245s before as well. I told him I wanted to think about because I don't want to make the same mistake twice.

I did some research on tirerack.com, and I can't find out much about these models of Bridgestone or Yokohama tires--even on the manufacturer web sites. He showed me the bridgestones, and they weigh a ton. They are marked as Light Truck tires. Sure look sturdy. But I'm a bit worried that no one seems to use them.

I'm inclined to go with the Yokos, or perhaps with my original choice, the Michelin Harmony, although these are more expensive. These options would get me out of the hard to find 185R14 size and into the p-metric 195 75R14 size. Both are rated 92S. The Big O guy said that these would be similar to the Big O Aspen tires that he originally sold me (which thanks to Kane's link I discovered are manufactured by Cooper), but my gut says he is wrong, and the Aspen's are simply inferior tires.

I'll make my decision over the weekend, but since these tire choices seem to be such a religious issue, I thought I'd try one last post for advice.
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Steve Rappaport '87 245, '88 244