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Sidewall

215/55R18

215 mm across the tread, a sidewall 55% of that — 118 mm — on a 18-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 27.3 inches tall.

118 mm sidewall694 mm · 27.3"
Sidewall
4.66"
118 mm
Overall
27.3"
693.7 mm
Circumference
85.8"
2.179 m
Revs per mile
738
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 27.3×8.5R18 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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

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

What let goComplaints
tread separation3
blowout2
out of round1
not stated4

Where the wheel is named, 4 of 6 were on the front — the end that steers.

What fits instead

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Same 18-inch rim, height within 3%. Past that the speedometer starts lying and things begin to rub.


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
235/50R1827.3" -0.2 %-0.8 mm59.9 mphside by side
195/60R1827.2" -0.4 %-1.3 mm59.8 mphside by side
205/60R1827.7" +1.4 %+4.8 mm60.8 mphside by side
205/55R1826.9" -1.6 %-5.5 mm59.0 mphside by side
225/55R1827.7" +1.6 %+5.5 mm61.0 mphside by side
225/50R1826.9" -1.7 %-5.8 mm59.0 mphside by side
195/65R1828.0" +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.


235/45R19106 mm sidewall — 11% less
185/70R17130 mm sidewall — 10% more
195/55R19107 mm sidewall — 9% less
235/55R17129 mm sidewall — 9% more
215/50R19108 mm sidewall — 9% less
215/60R17129 mm sidewall — 9% more

Tires graded in this size

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


TireTreadwearWet grip
Yokohama AVID TRZ700A
JK Tyre ELANZO TOURING600AA
Dunlop e. SPORT MAXX580A
Falken AZENIS PT722 (standard load)560A
CONTINENTAL ContiProContact540AA
CONTINENTAL ProContact TX540A
HanKOOK Dynapro HPX (OE)540A
Goodyear ASSURANCE FINESSE520A
Hankook veNtus Prime3 (OE)500AA
HanKOOK iON evo (OE)460A
HanKOOK iON GT SUV (OE)380A
DUNLOP SP SPORT MAXX 050300B

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
235/50R1829.9 mph49.9 mph69.8 mph9,978
195/60R1829.9 mph49.8 mph69.7 mph9,964
205/60R1830.4 mph50.7 mph71.0 mph10,137
205/55R1829.5 mph49.2 mph68.9 mph9,841
225/55R1830.5 mph50.8 mph71.1 mph10,159