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Sidewall

205/45R16

205 mm across the tread, a sidewall 45% of that — 92 mm — on a 16-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 23.3 inches tall.

92.3 mm sidewall591 mm · 23.3"
Sidewall
3.63"
92 mm
Overall
23.3"
590.9 mm
Circumference
73.1"
1.856 m
Revs per mile
867
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

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It mounts on a rim between 5.5" and 7.5" wide, and the tread follows the rim: roughly 5 mm of section width for every half-inch, so about 195 mm across at the narrow end and 215 mm at the wide one. Written the way lift kits and wheel wells are, it is a 23.3×8.1R16 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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

6 of them name what let go, and it is most often tread separation. Kumho is named more than any other brand.

What let goComplaints
tread separation4
crack2

Where the wheel is named, 6 of 6 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
185/50R1623.3" +0.1 %+0.3 mm60.1 mphside by side
225/40R1623.1" -0.8 %-2.3 mm59.5 mphside by side
195/45R1622.9" -1.5 %-4.5 mm59.1 mphside by side
215/45R1623.6" +1.5 %+4.5 mm60.9 mphside by side
195/50R1623.7" +1.8 %+5.3 mm61.1 mphside by side
215/40R1622.8" -2.1 %-6.3 mm58.7 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.


175/60R15105 mm sidewall — 14% more
225/35R1779 mm sidewall — 15% less
235/45R15106 mm sidewall — 15% more
195/40R1778 mm sidewall — 15% less
195/55R15107 mm sidewall — 16% more
205/50R15103 mm sidewall — 11% more

Tires graded in this size

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


TireTreadwearWet grip
CONTINENTAL ProContact TX540A
Summit Mach 3 R701500A
Sunny Mach 3 R702500A
Yokohama AVID H4s/V4s500AA
Hankook Optimo H426440A
Nexen RADIAL N5000420A
Neutral/Universal N7000360AA
Nexen RADIAL N3000340AA
Nexen RADIAL N6000300AA
Yokohama Parada Spec-2300AA
Yokohama S.DRIVE300AA

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
185/50R1630.0 mph50.0 mph70.1 mph10,008
225/40R1629.8 mph49.6 mph69.5 mph9,924
195/45R1629.5 mph49.2 mph68.9 mph9,848
215/45R1630.5 mph50.8 mph71.1 mph10,152
195/50R1630.5 mph50.9 mph71.2 mph10,178