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Sidewall

215/40R15

215 mm across the tread, a sidewall 40% of that — 86 mm — on a 15-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 21.8 inches tall.

86.0 mm sidewall553 mm · 21.8"
Sidewall
3.39"
86 mm
Overall
21.8"
553.0 mm
Circumference
68.4"
1.737 m
Revs per mile
926
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

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It mounts on a rim between 6" and 8" wide, and the tread follows the rim: roughly 5 mm of section width for every half-inch, so about 205 mm across at the narrow end and 225 mm at the wide one. Written the way lift kits and wheel wells are, it is a 21.8×8.5R15 — tall by wide, in inches.

What fits instead

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


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
195/45R1521.9" +0.6 %+1.8 mm60.4 mphside by side
235/35R1521.5" -1.4 %-3.8 mm59.2 mphside by side
205/40R1521.5" -1.4 %-4.0 mm59.1 mphside by side
225/40R1522.1" +1.4 %+4.0 mm60.9 mphside by side
205/45R1522.3" +2.3 %+6.3 mm61.4 mphside by side
225/35R1521.2" -2.6 %-7.3 mm58.4 mphside by side
195/40R1521.1" -2.9 %-8.0 mm58.3 mphside by side
235/40R1522.4" +2.9 %+8.0 mm61.7 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.


185/40R1674 mm sidewall — 14% less
195/50R1498 mm sidewall — 13% more
215/35R1675 mm sidewall — 13% less
215/45R1497 mm sidewall — 13% more
225/45R14101 mm sidewall — 18% more
185/55R14102 mm sidewall — 18% more

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
195/45R1530.2 mph50.3 mph70.4 mph10,063
235/35R1529.6 mph49.3 mph69.1 mph9,864
205/40R1529.6 mph49.3 mph69.0 mph9,855
225/40R1530.4 mph50.7 mph71.0 mph10,145
205/45R1530.7 mph51.1 mph71.6 mph10,226