Skip to content
Sidewall

235/45R17

235 mm across the tread, a sidewall 45% of that — 106 mm — on a 17-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 25.3 inches tall.

106 mm sidewall643 mm · 25.3"
Sidewall
4.16"
106 mm
Overall
25.3"
643.3 mm
Circumference
79.6"
2.021 m
Revs per mile
796
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

i

It mounts on a rim between 6.5" and 8.5" wide, and the tread follows the rim: roughly 5 mm of section width for every half-inch, so about 225 mm across at the narrow end and 245 mm at the wide one. Written the way lift kits and wheel wells are, it is a 25.3×9.3R17 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

i

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

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

What let goComplaints
blister12
blowout11
tread separation9
out of round9
crack6
road hazard2
not stated22

Where the wheel is named, 26 of 39 were on the front — the end that steers.

What fits instead

i

Same 17-inch rim, height within 3%. Past that the speedometer starts lying and things begin to rub.


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
215/50R1725.5" +0.5 %+1.8 mm60.3 mphside by side
255/40R1725.0" -1.2 %-3.8 mm59.3 mphside by side
225/45R1725.0" -1.4 %-4.5 mm59.2 mphside by side
245/45R1725.7" +1.4 %+4.5 mm60.8 mphside by side
225/50R1725.9" +2.1 %+6.8 mm61.3 mphside by side
245/40R1724.7" -2.4 %-7.8 mm58.6 mphside by side
215/45R1724.6" -2.8 %-9.0 mm58.3 mphside by side
255/45R1726.0" +2.8 %+9.0 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.


215/55R16118 mm sidewall — 12% more
265/35R1893 mm sidewall — 12% less
205/45R1892 mm sidewall — 13% less
265/45R16119 mm sidewall — 13% more
235/50R16118 mm sidewall — 11% more
235/40R1894 mm sidewall — 11% less

Tires graded in this size

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


TireTreadwearWet grip
CONTINENTAL ContiProContact540AA
Granada GRANADA Touring HP520A
Sunny Mach 3 R702500A
Toyo Crusade HP500A
Vanderbilt Strada II500A
Yokohama AVID H4s/V4s500AA
Goodride SA07460A
CONTINENTAL ContiSportContact 5420AA
Falken ZE502420A
Nexen RADIAL N5000420A
Vredestein ADVAN S.4.400AA
Yokohama AVID W4s400AA

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
215/50R1730.2 mph50.3 mph70.4 mph10,054
255/40R1729.7 mph49.4 mph69.2 mph9,883
225/45R1729.6 mph49.3 mph69.0 mph9,860
245/45R1730.4 mph50.7 mph71.0 mph10,140
225/50R1730.6 mph51.0 mph71.5 mph10,210