No need for RV tires. If you want best ride and MPG, stick with smooth
car tires.

Are you going to use it off-road ?

If not buy road tyres.

Graham

There are two issues here, both related to whether you use it as a
truck or as a car with a really big trunk.

The LT (light truck) series tires usually have a higher load range than
do the Passenger  series.   One would expect the tradeoffs to be higher
cost and lower carlike qualities such as handling and noise.  If you
drive around with a bed full of construction materials or a heavy
camper and two weeks' worth of hunting and fishing stuff or whatever,
it might be worth your while to consider gross weight.

Either series can be had with a variety of tread styles from
highway-only to significantly off-roadey.  When going on bad roads or
none at all, you usually want a blockier, more open tread that looks
like it'd dig into mud for traction and fling it out afterwards.  Such
tires also tend to have tougher, straighter sidewalls so you don't kill
'em on sharp rocks and so forth.

Winter performance, if that matters to you, can be harder to tell just
by looking, though if going through deep snow matters to you, a blocky
tread sure helps (this from driving both an S-Blazer with mildly
SUV'ish passenger tires and a new Dakota that still had its OEM
all-terrains in snow last winter -- it made the difference between a
churny, squirmy excursion and just another day at the office).    Check
out the ratings in addition to eyeballing them.  Of course, if you deal
with serious winter a lot of the time, a set of steel rims and some
snow tires might be in order.

The bottom line on the bottom of your truck:  yes, there is a
difference, but which way you want to go  (to engineer is to compromise
or specialize) depends on what you mean to do.

Probably most people with pickups and SUVs are fine with a tire in the
passenger series and the highway style -- but there are also numerous
exceptions, and if you're one of the exceptions you wouldn't want to
get stuck (in more than one sense of the word) with a badly wrong tire.

Cheers,
--Joe

Independent of tread design:
"P" indicates passenger.
"LT" indicates light truck.

Usually, P tires are 4-ply or 6-ply rated (B or C load range), ride
smooth and balance well.  LT tires have stiffer sidewalls, usually
8-ply or 10-ply rated (D or E load range), ride harsher and will
carry more weight.  Heavy loads and towing can take advantage of
the stiffer sidewalls and more cord layers might be a little more
puncture resistant.  I put P245-75R16's on mine.

What ever you decide, make sure the tires load rating is enough for the
weight of your truck and a full load.  
-------------------
Alex

I run passenger tires on my 1989 full-size Dodge Ram D100 pickup, as
specified on the tire placard. You would have to be doing a great deal of
*heavy* hauling with your Dakota before LT tires would begin to become
necessary.

Poor choice IMO. That is a main reason why many Mopar owners change for
new tires early in the vehicle's life, is because Goodyears generally tend
to have a high suck factor.

Surely not!!!! (Yes)

The only advantage to Goodyear tires is you will have to buy
another set in about 15-20k. Absolute sh.t.
My last 3 new dodges all had Goodyear tires and all had to be
replaced at around 15k.
If you want a good tire go with a BFG. Just my
personal thought on this.  MJP.

I would go with the size and type of tire indicated in the owners
manual.  The Dakota 2000 is marketed as a family truck, which means it
is designed for moving people and some of their stuff around, sort of
like a station wagon or small SUV.  Unless you want the rugged big
truck look and are willing to put up with the harsher ride and noise of
heavy duty big tread truck tires, just go with the passenger tires
designed for the Dakota.  Your passengers will love you for the
decision.