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Sidewall

205/50R17

205 mm across the tread, a sidewall 50% of that — 103 mm — on a 17-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 25.1 inches tall.

103 mm sidewall637 mm · 25.1"
Sidewall
4.04"
103 mm
Overall
25.1"
636.8 mm
Circumference
78.8"
2.001 m
Revs per mile
804
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 25.1×8.1R17 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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71 drivers have filed a complaint. 1 of them ended in a crash, hurting 2 people. Nobody died.

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

What let goComplaints
tread separation17
crack15
out of round9
blister7
blowout6
road hazard2
puncture1
not stated14

Where the wheel is named, 41 of 56 were on the front — the end that steers.

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
185/55R1725.0" -0.2 %-0.8 mm59.9 mphside by side
225/45R1725.0" -0.4 %-1.3 mm59.8 mphside by side
195/55R1725.4" +1.5 %+4.8 mm60.9 mphside by side
195/50R1724.7" -1.6 %-5.0 mm59.1 mphside by side
215/50R1725.5" +1.6 %+5.0 mm60.9 mphside by side
215/45R1724.6" -1.8 %-5.8 mm58.9 mphside by side
185/60R1725.7" +2.7 %+8.5 mm61.6 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.


225/40R1890 mm sidewall — 12% less
175/65R16114 mm sidewall — 11% more
195/60R16117 mm sidewall — 14% more
195/45R1888 mm sidewall — 14% less
235/50R16118 mm sidewall — 15% more
205/55R16113 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
JK TYRE UX ROYALE MAXX580A
CONTINENTAL ContiProContact540AA
Granada GRANADA Touring HP520A
DUNLOP ENASAVE EC350+500B
Sunny Mach 3 R702500A
Telstar Mach 4 R302500A
Toyo Crusade HP500A
Vanderbilt Strada II500A
Goodride SA07460A
Falken ZE502420A
BLACKHAWK STREET-H HU02400AA
Vogue ADVAN S.4.400AA

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
185/55R1729.9 mph49.9 mph69.8 mph9,976
225/45R1729.9 mph49.8 mph69.7 mph9,961
195/55R1730.4 mph50.7 mph71.0 mph10,149
195/50R1729.5 mph49.2 mph68.9 mph9,843
215/50R1730.5 mph50.8 mph71.1 mph10,157