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Sidewall

215/55R17

215 mm across the tread, a sidewall 55% of that — 118 mm — on a 17-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 26.3 inches tall.

118 mm sidewall668 mm · 26.3"
Sidewall
4.66"
118 mm
Overall
26.3"
668.3 mm
Circumference
82.7"
2.100 m
Revs per mile
767
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 26.3×8.5R17 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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65 drivers have filed a complaint. 5 of them ended in a crash, hurting 2 people. Nobody died.

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

What let goComplaints
blowout25
out of round10
crack9
tread separation7
road hazard3
blister2
not stated9

Where the wheel is named, 29 of 49 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
235/50R1726.3" -0.2 %-0.8 mm59.9 mphside by side
195/60R1726.2" -0.4 %-1.3 mm59.8 mphside by side
205/60R1726.7" +1.4 %+4.8 mm60.9 mphside by side
205/55R1725.9" -1.6 %-5.5 mm59.0 mphside by side
225/55R1726.7" +1.6 %+5.5 mm61.0 mphside by side
225/50R1725.9" -1.7 %-5.8 mm59.0 mphside by side
195/65R1727.0" +2.5 %+8.5 mm61.5 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.


235/45R18106 mm sidewall — 11% less
185/70R16130 mm sidewall — 10% more
235/55R16129 mm sidewall — 9% more
195/55R18107 mm sidewall — 9% less
215/60R16129 mm sidewall — 9% more
215/50R18108 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
Hankook KInERGy XP720A
Bridgestone TURANZA EL400 OE640A
Tigar EXTENSA AS II620A
Falken ZIEX CT60 A/S (PC086AB) (EXTRA LOAD LOAD and nominal cross section <275 mm)600A
Hankook NEW ENGLANDER 4s600A
Hankook veNtus S2 AS600AA
CONTINENTAL ContiProContact540AA
CONTINENTAL ProContact TX540A
Americus Sport HP500A
Hankook veNtus Prime3 (OE)500AA
Sumitomo Mach 1 R201500A

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
235/50R1729.9 mph49.9 mph69.8 mph9,978
195/60R1729.9 mph49.8 mph69.7 mph9,963
205/60R1730.4 mph50.7 mph71.0 mph10,142
205/55R1729.5 mph49.2 mph68.8 mph9,835
225/55R1730.5 mph50.8 mph71.2 mph10,165