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Sidewall

225/55R16

225 mm across the tread, a sidewall 55% of that — 124 mm — on a 16-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 25.7 inches tall.

124 mm sidewall654 mm · 25.7"
Sidewall
4.87"
124 mm
Overall
25.7"
653.9 mm
Circumference
80.9"
2.054 m
Revs per mile
783
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

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It mounts on a rim between 6" and 8.5" wide, and the tread follows the rim: roughly 5 mm of section width for every half-inch, so about 213 mm across at the narrow end and 238 mm at the wide one. Written the way lift kits and wheel wells are, it is a 25.7×8.9R16 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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29 drivers have filed a complaint. 2 of them ended in a crash, and nobody was hurt. Nobody died.

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

What let goComplaints
blowout9
tread separation8
crack3
blister3
road hazard2
out of round1
not stated3

Where the wheel is named, 18 of 26 were on the rear, and 8 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
205/60R1625.7" -0.2 %-0.8 mm59.9 mphside by side
245/50R1625.6" -0.4 %-1.3 mm59.8 mphside by side
215/60R1626.2" +1.6 %+5.3 mm61.0 mphside by side
215/55R1625.3" -1.7 %-5.5 mm59.0 mphside by side
235/55R1626.2" +1.7 %+5.5 mm61.0 mphside by side
235/50R1625.3" -1.9 %-6.3 mm58.9 mphside by side
205/65R1626.5" +2.9 %+9.5 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.


195/70R15137 mm sidewall — 10% more
245/45R17110 mm sidewall — 11% less
225/60R15135 mm sidewall — 9% more
225/50R17113 mm sidewall — 9% less
245/55R15135 mm sidewall — 9% more
205/55R17113 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
Delta ESTEEM XLE700A
Montgomery OVATION700A
Yokohama AVID TRZ700A
CONTINENTAL ContiProContact540AA
Spartan TOURING LSV520A
Americus Sport HP500A
Summit Mach 2 R301500A
Tempra Mach 4 R302500A
Yokohama AVID H4s/V4s500AA
Goodride SA07460A
Nexen RADIAL N2000440A
Falken ZE502420A

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
205/60R1629.9 mph49.9 mph69.8 mph9,977
245/50R1629.9 mph49.8 mph69.7 mph9,962
215/60R1630.5 mph50.8 mph71.1 mph10,161
215/55R1629.5 mph49.2 mph68.8 mph9,832
235/55R1630.5 mph50.8 mph71.2 mph10,168