The steady‐shear rheological properties of four submicron sterically stabilized silica dispersions differing in particle size were measured. The high‐ and low shear limiting viscosities were found to be a function of the volume fraction only and the volume fraction at which the viscosity diverges was found to beφm=0.63±0.02in the low shear limit andφm=0.71±0.02in the high shear limit, independent of particle size. The shear‐thinning behavior scales in the Peclet number. At higher volume fractions, the shear‐thinning transition shifts to a lower Peclet number. The time scale on which the shear‐thinning transition takes place is comparable to the time scale of short‐time self‐diffusion, that isDsshort/a2and relates to the structural changes in the dispersion which were observed in an earlier rheo‐optical study.