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Sidewall

205/55R17

205 mm across the tread, a sidewall 55% of that — 113 mm — on a 17-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 25.9 inches tall.

113 mm sidewall657 mm · 25.9"
Sidewall
4.44"
113 mm
Overall
25.9"
657.3 mm
Circumference
81.3"
2.065 m
Revs per mile
779
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 25.9×8.1R17 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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

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

What let goComplaints
tread separation2
blowout1

Where the wheel is named, 3 of 3 were on the rear, and 0 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
225/50R1725.9" -0.1 %-0.3 mm60.0 mphside by side
185/60R1725.7" -0.5 %-1.8 mm59.7 mphside by side
195/60R1726.2" +1.3 %+4.3 mm60.8 mphside by side
215/50R1725.5" -1.6 %-5.3 mm59.0 mphside by side
195/55R1725.4" -1.7 %-5.5 mm59.0 mphside by side
215/55R1726.3" +1.7 %+5.5 mm61.0 mphside by side
185/65R1726.5" +2.3 %+7.5 mm61.4 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.


225/45R18101 mm sidewall — 10% less
195/65R16127 mm sidewall — 12% more
225/55R16124 mm sidewall — 10% more
185/55R18102 mm sidewall — 10% less
205/60R16123 mm sidewall — 9% more
205/50R18103 mm sidewall — 9% less

Tires graded in this size

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


TireTreadwearWet grip
Hankook KInERGy GT (OE)740A
JK TYRE UX ROYALE MAXX580A
CONTINENTAL ContiProContact540AA
CONTINENTAL ProContact TX540A
DUNLOP ENASAVE EC350+500B
Hankook veNtus Prime3 (OE)500AA
Hankook veNtus S1 evo2 (OE)440A
Bridgestone TURANZA T005420A
Hankook veNtus S1 evo3 (OE)420A
HanKOOK Ventus evo (OE)380A
Laufenn S FIT2 (OE)360A
Falken SINCERA SN250A A/S (H rating)320A

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
225/50R1730.0 mph50.0 mph69.9 mph9,992
185/60R1729.8 mph49.7 mph69.6 mph9,947
195/60R1730.4 mph50.6 mph70.9 mph10,129
215/50R1729.5 mph49.2 mph68.9 mph9,840
195/55R1729.5 mph49.2 mph68.8 mph9,833