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Sidewall

215/45R16

215 mm across the tread, a sidewall 45% of that — 97 mm — on a 16-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 23.6 inches tall.

96.8 mm sidewall600 mm · 23.6"
Sidewall
3.81"
97 mm
Overall
23.6"
599.9 mm
Circumference
74.2"
1.885 m
Revs per mile
854
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 23.6×8.5R16 — 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 blowout. Bridgestone is named more than any other brand.

What let goComplaints
blowout3

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


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
195/50R1623.7" +0.3 %+0.8 mm60.2 mphside by side
235/40R1623.4" -0.9 %-2.8 mm59.4 mphside by side
205/45R1623.3" -1.5 %-4.5 mm59.1 mphside by side
225/45R1624.0" +1.5 %+4.5 mm60.9 mphside by side
205/50R1624.1" +1.9 %+5.8 mm61.2 mphside by side
225/40R1623.1" -2.3 %-6.8 mm58.6 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.


185/45R1783 mm sidewall — 14% less
245/45R15110 mm sidewall — 14% more
185/60R15111 mm sidewall — 15% more
245/35R1786 mm sidewall — 11% less
235/35R1782 mm sidewall — 15% less
215/50R15108 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
Bridgestone POTENZA RE010120A

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
195/50R1630.1 mph50.1 mph70.2 mph10,025
235/40R1629.7 mph49.5 mph69.4 mph9,908
205/45R1629.5 mph49.2 mph68.9 mph9,850
225/45R1630.5 mph50.8 mph71.1 mph10,150
205/50R1630.6 mph51.0 mph71.3 mph10,192