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Sidewall

205/45R17

205 mm across the tread, a sidewall 45% of that — 92 mm — on a 17-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 24.3 inches tall.

92.3 mm sidewall616 mm · 24.3"
Sidewall
3.63"
92 mm
Overall
24.3"
616.3 mm
Circumference
76.2"
1.936 m
Revs per mile
831
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 24.3×8.1R17 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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5 drivers have filed a complaint. 1 of them ended in a crash, and nobody was hurt. Nobody died.

4 of them name what let go, and it is most often road hazard. Pirelli is named more than any other brand.

What let goComplaints
road hazard2
tread separation2
not stated1

Where the wheel is named, 2 of 3 were on the rear, and 1 on the front.

What fits instead

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Same 17-inch rim, height within 3%. Past that the speedometer starts lying and things begin to rub.


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
185/50R1724.3" +0.1 %+0.3 mm60.0 mphside by side
225/40R1724.1" -0.7 %-2.3 mm59.6 mphside by side
195/45R1723.9" -1.5 %-4.5 mm59.1 mphside by side
215/45R1724.6" +1.5 %+4.5 mm60.9 mphside by side
195/50R1724.7" +1.7 %+5.3 mm61.0 mphside by side
215/40R1723.8" -2.0 %-6.3 mm58.8 mphside by side
185/45R1723.6" -2.9 %-9.0 mm58.2 mphside by side
225/45R1725.0" +2.9 %+9.0 mm61.8 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.


175/60R16105 mm sidewall — 14% more
225/35R1879 mm sidewall — 15% less
235/45R16106 mm sidewall — 15% more
195/40R1878 mm sidewall — 15% less
195/55R16107 mm sidewall — 16% more
205/50R16103 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
JK TYRE UX ROYALE MAXX580A
CONTINENTAL ContiProContact540AA
CONTINENTAL ProContact TX540A
Nitto CINTURATO P7500A
Summit Mach 3 R701500A
Sunny Mach 3 R702500A
Hankook OPTIMO H426 (OE)440A
Hankook veNtus S1 evo2 (OE)440A
Falken ZE502420A
Hankook veNtus S1 evo3 (OE)420A
Goodride SV308360A
Yokohama Parada Spec-2300AA

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
185/50R1730.0 mph50.0 mph70.1 mph10,008
225/40R1729.8 mph49.6 mph69.5 mph9,927
195/45R1729.6 mph49.3 mph69.0 mph9,854
215/45R1730.4 mph50.7 mph71.0 mph10,146
195/50R1730.5 mph50.9 mph71.2 mph10,170