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Sidewall

185/55R16

185 mm across the tread, a sidewall 55% of that — 102 mm — on a 16-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 24.0 inches tall.

102 mm sidewall610 mm · 24.0"
Sidewall
4.01"
102 mm
Overall
24.0"
609.9 mm
Circumference
75.4"
1.916 m
Revs per mile
840
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

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It mounts on a rim between 5" and 6.5" wide, and the tread follows the rim: roughly 5 mm of section width for every half-inch, so about 178 mm across at the narrow end and 193 mm at the wide one. Written the way lift kits and wheel wells are, it is a 24.0×7.3R16 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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10 drivers have filed a complaint. 0 of them ended in a crash, and nobody was hurt. Nobody died.

10 of them name what let go, and it is most often blister. Dunlop is named more than any other brand.

What let goComplaints
blister5
blowout5

Where the wheel is named, 6 of 7 were on the front — the end that steers.

What fits instead

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Same 16-inch rim, height within 3%. Past that the speedometer starts lying and things begin to rub.


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
205/50R1624.1" +0.2 %+0.8 mm60.1 mphside by side
165/60R1623.8" -0.9 %-2.8 mm59.5 mphside by side
175/60R1624.3" +1.1 %+3.3 mm60.6 mphside by side
195/50R1623.7" -1.4 %-4.3 mm59.2 mphside by side
175/55R1623.6" -1.8 %-5.5 mm58.9 mphside by side
165/65R1624.4" +1.8 %+5.5 mm61.1 mphside by side
195/55R1624.4" +1.8 %+5.5 mm61.1 mphside by side

Same height, different rim

Bigger rim, same overall height. Sharper steering, harsher ride, and far less rubber between your wheel and the next pothole.


175/65R15114 mm sidewall — 12% more
165/70R15116 mm sidewall — 14% more
195/45R1788 mm sidewall — 14% less
175/50R1788 mm sidewall — 14% less
205/55R15113 mm sidewall — 11% more
155/75R15116 mm sidewall — 14% more

Tires graded in this size

Longest-lasting tread first. The grade is set by the maker and checked by regulators.


TireTreadwearWet grip
JK TYRE UX ROYALE MAXX580A
Telstar Mach 4 R302500A
HanKOOK iON ST AS (OE)360A
Firestone FR740300A
Hankook veNtus Prime3300A

If you fit something taller

A taller tire covers more ground per turn, so the needle reads low and the odometer counts short. Over ten thousand miles on the dial, the last column is what you really drove.


Fitted insteadReads 30Reads 50Reads 70Real miles per 10,000 shown
205/50R1630.1 mph50.1 mph70.2 mph10,025
165/60R1629.7 mph49.5 mph69.4 mph9,910
175/60R1630.3 mph50.5 mph70.7 mph10,107
195/50R1629.6 mph49.3 mph69.0 mph9,861
175/55R1629.5 mph49.1 mph68.7 mph9,820