Commercial tires?

[hunter01]

I was looking at tires for my 2002 Chevy Blazer 4X4 at my local price club and noticed that they had two different types of tires available from the same manufacturer in the same size. (235/75/R15)
They had different tread patterns and one was listed as a commercial tire and said "COMMERCIAL" on the side wall. The commercial tire was a blackwall tire and was about $15 cheaper than the regular tire.
Other than the no raised white letters and the different tread pattern what makes a commercial tire different from a regular tire? Would these tires be suitable for my SUV? Thanks.

[CapriRacer]

It's hard to answer your question without knowing the particulars about the 2 tires you saw.

But generally "Commercial" tires are MORE expensive and feature steel / steel casings (as opposed to polyester / steel) and less aggressive, less weather tolerant, longer wearing tread design and tread rubber compounds and do not ride very well. This results in a tire that is less expensive in the long run, and can be retreaded for additional cost savings - something someone operating a vehicle for a business would be interested in.

However, I suspect that because it was less expensive that you may have been looking at a trailer tire that has as part of its name "Commercial". This would be totally unsuitable for an SUV. Did the tire have the letters "ST" in front of the size? This stands for "Special Trailer" and these would be are specifically designed for that application.