Skip to content
Sidewall

235/70R15

235 mm across the tread, a sidewall 70% of that — 165 mm — on a 15-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 28.0 inches tall.

165 mm sidewall710 mm · 28.0"
Sidewall
6.48"
165 mm
Overall
28.0"
710.0 mm
Circumference
87.8"
2.231 m
Revs per mile
722
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 28.0×9.3R15 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

i

26 drivers have filed a complaint. 3 of them ended in a crash, hurting 1 person. 1 person did not make it home.

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

What let goComplaints
tread separation10
blowout7
out of round2
blister1
not stated6

Where the wheel is named, 14 of 21 were on the rear, and 7 on the front.

What fits instead

i

Same 15-inch rim, height within 3%. Past that the speedometer starts lying and things begin to rub.


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
255/65R1528.1" +0.4 %+1.3 mm60.2 mphside by side
215/75R1527.7" -0.9 %-3.3 mm59.5 mphside by side
225/75R1528.3" +1.2 %+4.3 mm60.7 mphside by side
245/65R1527.5" -1.5 %-5.3 mm59.1 mphside by side
225/70R1527.4" -2.0 %-7.0 mm58.8 mphside by side
245/70R1528.5" +2.0 %+7.0 mm61.2 mphside by side
215/80R1528.5" +2.1 %+7.5 mm61.3 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.


235/65R16153 mm sidewall — 7% less
235/75R14176 mm sidewall — 7% more
255/60R16153 mm sidewall — 7% less
215/70R16151 mm sidewall — 9% less
205/75R16154 mm sidewall — 7% less
225/80R14180 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
Big O LEGACY TOUR PLUS700A
Yokohama AVID Touring620A
Big O Advantage Touring600B
Thunderer R601560A
Nexen ROADIAN HT520A
Yokohama Geolandar A/T-S500A
Thunderer DIRECCIONAL460A
Big O SXP SUPER SPORT440A
Cyclone Radial GT440A
Yokohama Aegis LS4420A

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
255/65R1530.1 mph50.2 mph70.2 mph10,035
215/75R1529.7 mph49.5 mph69.4 mph9,908
225/75R1530.4 mph50.6 mph70.8 mph10,120
245/65R1529.6 mph49.3 mph69.0 mph9,852
225/70R1529.4 mph49.0 mph68.6 mph9,803