Steers Tires- Speed rated M or N

Generally Big Rig Tires are good for 85. You do not want to try and put say 120 mph fancy stuff onto maybe a casterated 61 mph truck. You follow me? If you are heavy haul, what you want instead of speed is actually load capacity, or load rating in pounds. Get the most beef you can find. I run Hankooks in 265 on my trucks that can carry 3000 pounds each which comes in handy now and then when there is cut trees to deliver to people prior to winter. (Little trucks... not big 18 wheelers etc)

Ive driven well in excess of a dollar, it's not cheap anyway. If the tires did fail at those speeds well... you only have one lifetime.

 

Just saying, back in the 80;s. Did not know there was a speed rating on tires. Even when the speed limit was 55 across the nation. A lot of use ran way faster then today.
Not we have ratings, I agree with those ratings, as if its 100 degrees out. You running out west, hot roads Tires hot from weight and high temps. Tires do let go, and when its the steer tire.Not fun for sure nor safe.
Not sure your going to find many tires rated above a L. Unless you were to run normal size tires. But see you have the house out back. so your stuck with the wide base tires.

 

Howdy LS. Fellow large car.

There’s a ‘Large Car Living’ group on FB , on which I saw a lengthy discussion about steer tires for your situation.

 

I don't run fast, so I don't look for speed rated tires, so I can't help you there.
However, the physics of what you are trying to accomplish don't work.
The wider a tire gets, the lower the speed rating should be.
I run 385's on my steers for weight, and I can't tell you how many mechanics try to tell me why my steer tires wear funny...uh no, sorry mr mechanic, but you're incorrect.
The reason wide base tires wear the shoulders is simply put, centrifugal force. Plain and simple, nothing more.
As the tire rotates, the center of the tire "grows" due to the mass of it and the speed involved. The faster you go, the more it grows, YouTube dragsters and watch their rear tires, exact same thing.
Now as the tire rotates around and is about to make contact with the ground, here is where we differentiate from the dragsters, we have enough weight which causes the contact surface of the tire to flatten out on the bottom during contact. So because the center is turning faster than the outer shoulders, the outer shoulders get "drug" into the pavements and forced to increase its speed to catch up to the faster center. It is this forced speed increase that accelerates the wear on the edges of the tires. The opposite affect happens on the upside of the tires as it releases from the pavement, the outer edges now begin to slow down as the center gets released, again dragging the edges. This causes a heat buildup on the shoulders/outer sidewall of the tires.
I have a thermal imaging camera, and I can see the heat difference when I shoot an image of a tire as soon as I stop. It can be significant.
The wider the tire, combined with the faster the speed, the more significant this shoulder drag will be, which of course will affect tire construction stability.
If you need to run faster, look for a narrower tire, not wider. If you require the tire width due to weight issues, then accept the fact that that means you should give up the speed. Or accept the risk you pose to yourself and others if you choose not to.

 

That’s a very good explanation. And it makes sense also

 

Perfect description of how and why wide based tires wear the way they do. Thank you @Heavy Hammer.
Two other points to consider,
Several states won’t allow mixed tires on steer axle. Found this out the hard way during inspection in Washington years ago.
Road call for two new steer tires, not cool.
Second point learned the hard way,
NEVER EVER skimp on steer tires. NEVER.
Blowout at 70mph....also not cool.
If it were me, two new ones, no question about it.
I don’t believe any class 8 truck tires are rated over 75mph. I could be wrong on this, maybe someone can post info on this.

 

I'd like a little clarification on this, do you mean;
A) mixed sizes?
B) mixed brands/manufacturer?

Blowout at anything over about 30mph with wide based steers is nothing anyone wants to experience. They are very large diameter and there is an aweful lot of material used in building them, they make a heck of a mess when they come apart! Very few wide base steer blowouts stay on the road, not pretty.

 

Been awhile but I believe it was same size just different brands ie: Bridgestone/Yokohama’s if I remember right.