Skip to content
Sidewall

185/65R15

185 mm across the tread, a sidewall 65% of that — 120 mm — on a 15-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 24.5 inches tall.

120 mm sidewall622 mm · 24.5"
Sidewall
4.73"
120 mm
Overall
24.5"
621.5 mm
Circumference
76.9"
1.952 m
Revs per mile
824
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

i

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 24.5×7.3R15 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

i

80 drivers have filed a complaint. 3 of them ended in a crash, and nobody was hurt. Nobody died.

66 of them name what let go, and it is most often blowout. Goodyear is named more than any other brand.

What let goComplaints
blowout29
tread separation21
road hazard7
crack4
blister3
out of round2
not stated14

Where the wheel is named, 33 of 64 were on the front — the end that steers.

What fits instead

i

Same 15-inch rim, height within 3%. Past that the speedometer starts lying and things begin to rub.


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
175/70R1524.6" +0.7 %+2.3 mm60.4 mphside by side
205/60R1524.7" +0.9 %+2.8 mm60.5 mphside by side
195/60R1524.2" -1.0 %-3.3 mm59.4 mphside by side
165/75R1524.7" +1.1 %+3.5 mm60.7 mphside by side
165/70R1524.1" -1.5 %-4.8 mm59.1 mphside by side
175/65R1524.0" -2.1 %-6.5 mm58.7 mphside by side
195/65R1525.0" +2.1 %+6.5 mm61.3 mphside by side
205/55R1523.9" -2.4 %-7.5 mm58.6 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.


215/50R16108 mm sidewall — 11% less
205/65R14133 mm sidewall — 11% more
165/65R16107 mm sidewall — 11% less
195/55R16107 mm sidewall — 11% less
155/70R16109 mm sidewall — 10% less
165/80R14132 mm sidewall — 10% more

Tires graded in this size

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


TireTreadwearWet grip
Bridgestone ECOPIA EP150880A
Hankook KInERGy GT (OE)740A
Big O LEGACY TOUR PLUS700A
Delta ESTEEM XLE700A
Yokohama AVID TRZ700A
Monarch OVATION660A
Big O LEGACY TOUR PLUS (H RATED)620A
Cooper CS5 ULTRA TOURING600A
CERTIFIED AllTrek560A
Firestone FR710560A
CONTINENTAL ContiProContact540AA
CONTINENTAL ProContact TX540A

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
175/70R1530.2 mph50.4 mph70.5 mph10,072
205/60R1530.3 mph50.4 mph70.6 mph10,088
195/60R1529.7 mph49.5 mph69.3 mph9,895
165/75R1530.3 mph50.6 mph70.8 mph10,113
165/70R1529.5 mph49.2 mph68.9 mph9,847