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Sidewall

255/50R18

255 mm across the tread, a sidewall 50% of that — 128 mm — on a 18-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 28.0 inches tall.

128 mm sidewall712 mm · 28.0"
Sidewall
5.02"
128 mm
Overall
28.0"
712.2 mm
Circumference
88.1"
2.237 m
Revs per mile
719
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

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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 28.0×10.0R18 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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

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
235/55R1828.2" +0.5 %+1.8 mm60.3 mphside by side
275/45R1827.7" -1.1 %-3.8 mm59.4 mphside by side
245/50R1827.6" -1.4 %-5.0 mm59.2 mphside by side
265/50R1828.4" +1.4 %+5.0 mm60.8 mphside by side
245/55R1828.6" +2.0 %+7.3 mm61.2 mphside by side
265/45R1827.4" -2.3 %-8.3 mm58.6 mphside by side
235/50R1827.3" -2.8 %-10.0 mm58.3 mphside by side
275/50R1828.8" +2.8 %+10.0 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.


255/55R17140 mm sidewall — 10% more
255/45R19115 mm sidewall — 10% less
235/60R17141 mm sidewall — 11% more
285/40R19114 mm sidewall — 11% less
285/50R17143 mm sidewall — 12% more
225/50R19113 mm sidewall — 12% less

Tires graded in this size

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


TireTreadwearWet grip
Hankook veNtus S1 evo3 (OE)420A
Nitto P ZERO Asimmetrico220AA

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
235/55R1830.1 mph50.2 mph70.3 mph10,049
275/45R1829.7 mph49.5 mph69.3 mph9,895
245/50R1829.6 mph49.3 mph69.0 mph9,860
265/50R1830.4 mph50.7 mph71.0 mph10,140
245/55R1830.6 mph51.0 mph71.4 mph10,204