Skip to content
Sidewall

255/45R18

255 mm across the tread, a sidewall 45% of that — 115 mm — on a 18-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 27.0 inches tall.

115 mm sidewall687 mm · 27.0"
Sidewall
4.52"
115 mm
Overall
27.0"
686.7 mm
Circumference
84.9"
2.157 m
Revs per mile
746
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

i

It mounts on a rim between 7" and 9.5" wide, and the tread follows the rim: roughly 5 mm of section width for every half-inch, so about 243 mm across at the narrow end and 268 mm at the wide one. Written the way lift kits and wheel wells are, it is a 27.0×10.0R18 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

i

6 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 crack. Bridgestone is named more than any other brand.

What let goComplaints
crack4
tread separation1
blowout1

Where the wheel is named, 4 of 6 were on the rear, and 2 on the front.

What fits instead

i

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" +0.8 %+2.8 mm60.5 mphside by side
245/45R1826.7" -1.3 %-4.5 mm59.2 mphside by side
265/45R1827.4" +1.3 %+4.5 mm60.8 mphside by side
275/40R1826.7" -1.4 %-4.8 mm59.2 mphside by side
245/50R1827.6" +2.3 %+7.8 mm61.4 mphside by side
265/40R1826.3" -2.5 %-8.8 mm58.5 mphside by side
235/45R1826.3" -2.6 %-9.0 mm58.4 mphside by side
275/45R1827.7" +2.6 %+9.0 mm61.6 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.


255/50R17128 mm sidewall — 11% more
255/40R19102 mm sidewall — 11% less
285/45R17128 mm sidewall — 12% more
225/45R19101 mm sidewall — 12% less
235/55R17129 mm sidewall — 13% more
285/35R19100 mm sidewall — 13% less

Tires graded in this size

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


TireTreadwearWet grip
Nexen Redline460AA
Spartan TOUR PLUS LSW440A
Sumitomo HTR ENHANCE L/X440A
Hankook veNtus S1 evo3 (OE)420A
Vredestein ADVAN S.4.400AA
Neutral/Universal N7000360AA
Nexen RADIAL N3000340AA
Vredestein ADVAN S.T.320AA
CONTINENTAL ContiSportContact 2280AA
Yokohama ADVAN Sport280AA

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
235/50R1830.2 mph50.4 mph70.6 mph10,080
245/45R1829.6 mph49.3 mph69.1 mph9,869
265/45R1830.4 mph50.7 mph70.9 mph10,131
275/40R1829.6 mph49.3 mph69.0 mph9,862
245/50R1830.7 mph51.1 mph71.6 mph10,226