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Sidewall

215/55R15

215 mm across the tread, a sidewall 55% of that — 118 mm — on a 15-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 24.3 inches tall.

118 mm sidewall618 mm · 24.3"
Sidewall
4.66"
118 mm
Overall
24.3"
617.5 mm
Circumference
76.4"
1.940 m
Revs per mile
830
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 24.3×8.5R15 — 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
235/50R1524.3" -0.2 %-0.8 mm59.9 mphside by side
195/60R1524.2" -0.4 %-1.3 mm59.8 mphside by side
205/60R1524.7" +1.5 %+4.8 mm60.9 mphside by side
205/55R1523.9" -1.8 %-5.5 mm58.9 mphside by side
225/55R1524.7" +1.8 %+5.5 mm61.1 mphside by side
225/50R1523.9" -1.9 %-5.8 mm58.9 mphside by side
195/65R1525.0" +2.8 %+8.5 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.


235/45R16106 mm sidewall — 11% less
185/70R14130 mm sidewall — 10% more
195/55R16107 mm sidewall — 9% less
235/55R14129 mm sidewall — 9% more
215/50R16108 mm sidewall — 9% less
215/60R14129 mm sidewall — 9% 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
235/50R1529.9 mph49.9 mph69.8 mph9,976
195/60R1529.9 mph49.8 mph69.7 mph9,960
205/60R1530.5 mph50.8 mph71.1 mph10,154
205/55R1529.5 mph49.1 mph68.8 mph9,822
225/55R1530.5 mph50.9 mph71.2 mph10,178