Drive Tires vs Steer Tires

[MrHwy17]

I just bought a used Monaco and the previous owner had recently installed drive tires all around. At about 30,000 lbs how important is it to have steer tires on the front?

[andyshane]

Oh, you stood by the net and tossed the ball up... pardon me for racing in and making the spike.

Quite important, if the road is anything other than straight

Okay, I hear what you're saying, faced the same thing with both our rigs. After seeing the news of a fatal Louisiana bowl game Fleetwood crash at the hands of a retired bus driver who sadly perished along with one of his many passengers, I said "Very."

On my Beaver, the front axle bears 14,500 lbs of weight, I regard those two tires the same way NASA did the nozzles of the Space Shuttle. If you lavish care on one aspect of your rig, this is it, IMHO.

[desertdeals69]

I would rely on what the mfg of the tire says.

[tireman9]

The term "drive" tires means different things to different people. It would help if you could provide actual tire design, tire size, Load Range and the actual load on each tire position of the new to you RV, so we could answer all your questions without having to make a lot of guesses.

First "Drive" vs 'Steer" In general steer tires have continuous rib design like the XZE

Real drive tires have a traction pattern more like the XDY

Now I doubt that you have anything like the XDY on your fronts as this would give some vibration through the steering wheel.

Another difference is that steer tires usually have shallower tread depth than drive patterns which means they deliver better fuel economy and since most RV applications "age out" before they wear out I would think fuel economy is more important than high tire mileage.

Regarding the load. Both Drive & Steer tires of the same Load Range and size will be rated for the same load capacity when inflated to the same level so I am not sure what your comment means about 30,000 Lbs as I'm sure this is not the load on the front two tires.

A quick review of the 22.5 rim sizes (I am guessing here at what you need) on the Michelin RV tire web page will show that all the "Class-A" tires are rib pattern and suitable for steer axle application.

Please give us a little more information and please clarify your question so we can properly answer it.

[MrHwy17]

Let me do some checking. Thank you for the quality information.

[Jurisinceptor]

When I purchased my Bounder Bus, it had drive tires all the way around, including the tag axle. I replaced all of the tires using the appropriate steer tires on the front and had each wheel wieghed with the correct pressure put in each. It's a 36 foot long 1998 on a Ford Chassis and with the Henderson's Line Up and steer safe, I can drive it with my index finger. Obviously I don't do that - I pretty much keep both hands on the wheel at all times but my point is that this is not a custom chassis, it's just a 15 year old gasoline powered Ford but with proper tires and correct service to the vehicle, it performs the way it should.