Commercial tires on a light truck

ASEguy

Well-known Member
Location
Festus MO
Asking what tires you like is probably like asking what oil do you like, but I will be in the market soon for tires for my '02 Dodge 2500 with the 5.9 Cummins. I've been researching some brands and was wondering if anyone who has purchased commercial tires would comment if it was a good choice or would they have rather purchased light truck tires. Thank you for your time.
 

Between tractors trucks and trailers I have bought a lot of tires and I have never heard of the classification "commercial" tires. Though there are a lot of different parameters that are adjusted to make tires better for some uses than others, When it comes down to carrying a load and lasting a few miles, it comes down to sidewall strength more than anything else. This strength is determined mainly by the number of sidewall plies, and the tires are classified by the load range. C, D, E, F, etc. You should find what you need somewhere in the middle of the span of LT load ranges.
 
There is a commercial grade tire that is used by fleets and has is said to have heavier side walls and a heavier bead. I have never used them I use just use Light truck tires.
 
Commercial tires do have a heavier sidewall and usually a deeper tread. Most of the time they are made for city delivery trucks. I sold a few pair while I was in the tire business. I would not recommend them for daily use. The ones I sold rode rough.
 
These are the one I?ve been running and they wear extremely well and pretty decent traction but they don?t howl got 30,000 miles on them and they still have probably 10 to go the lt tires I ran before didn?t make 25000
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I have a 1982 GMC 3/4 ton that came with wide LT all season tires (16" rims, 2WD). Our highway pavement here is usually grooved from traffic, and you continually had to fight those tires to stay in the groove. The truck wanted to climb and wander. When they wore out, I replaced them with a Michelin straight rib tire that you would normally use on the front of a cube van. I don't know the sidewall ply or load rating, but the difference was night and day. I guess you could call that a commercial tire. It made the truck a pleasure to drive, and they are no rougher than the LT tires that were on it. unc
 
One funny thing about tires is about the time you get a brand and model you like the tire companies go and change them ! I used to like a tire called "traction King" from B.F. Goodrich generic line. Last pair was exact same name but totally different tread and were not near as good. So it is a crap shoot at best.
 
I would have to go over to the machine shed to look but I'm pretty sure the steer tires on the 98 Dodge dually say commercial on them. They might not be real commercial grade though, any manufacturer can put the name commercial on a tire.
 

I have been running 19.5 tires on my 01.5 HO SRW Cummins for 12 years. I love them!!! The ride is rougher than light truck tires. The first set of tires was Hankook DH01 in the 245/70R 19.5 and they lasted just over 10 years and 86,000 miles. Hankook changed/stopped the DH01 and went to a DH07 as a simular tire. I could not get good information on the speed rating for those and I went with a Toyo M920 in a 245/70R 19.5 and they are the best tire I have had hands down, I tow a 21,000 GVWR triple axle enclosed gooseneck for racing the tires stay cooler than the 16" HD tires I was running before. The only issue I have with the M920 is they pick up 1/2 to 3/4 inch rocks and can fling them out on the highway so have a good set of mud flaps is nice to save your paint on your trailer.[/img]
 
(quoted from post at 14:41:39 01/18/18)
I have been running 19.5 tires on my 01.5 HO SRW Cummins for 12 years. I love them!!! The ride is rougher than light truck tires. The first set of tires was Hankook DH01 in the 245/70R 19.5 and they lasted just over 10 years and 86,000 miles. Hankook changed/stopped the DH01 and went to a DH07 as a simular tire. I could not get good information on the speed rating for those and I went with a Toyo M920 in a 245/70R 19.5 and they are the best tire I have had hands down, I tow a 21,000 GVWR triple axle enclosed gooseneck for racing the tires stay cooler than the 16" HD tires I was running before. The only issue I have with the M920 is they pick up 1/2 to 3/4 inch rocks and can fling them out on the highway so have a good set of mud flaps is nice to save your paint on your trailer.[/img]

Thanks for the good information
 
True commercial or not isn't a big deal to me. I'm researching the best tire value overall. I was looking at these which seem to me to be commercial. https://simpletire.com/michelin-215-85r16-42464-tires.
 
I needed a set of 6 tires for my "94 Chevy dually with the Cummins motor. Originally it took LT 225/70/16's I think. I decided on P235/85/16s for better fuel mileage and a higher lift. This size was already on the truck when I bought it. My son bought a set of "Thunderers" for his 2016 Chevy and liked them so I decided to try them. They are advertised as "commercial" tires, made for "heavy loads" and with "thicker sidewalls". The whole set of 6 was only $651 on Amazon, with free shipping and no taxes. I was amazed at the price, and very impressed with the quality so far. They are the heaviest, stiffest tires I ever bought. I keep 70# in each tire. Rated for 60K with heavy loads so I anticipate doing better than that since I don't haul much anymore. Yes they ride a little rougher but who cares? I am generally the only person in my truck. I wanted the toughest tire for the money that I could find. I think I found them.
 

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