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Sidewall

255/60R15

255 mm across the tread, a sidewall 60% of that — 153 mm — on a 15-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 27.0 inches tall.

153 mm sidewall687 mm · 27.0"
Sidewall
6.02"
153 mm
Overall
27.0"
687.0 mm
Circumference
85.0"
2.158 m
Revs per mile
746
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 27.0×10.0R15 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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

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

What let goComplaints
tread separation2
out of round1

Where the wheel is named, 3 of 3 were on the front — the end that steers.

What fits instead

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


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
235/65R1527.0" -0.1 %-0.3 mm60.0 mphside by side
275/55R1526.9" -0.5 %-1.8 mm59.7 mphside by side
245/60R1526.6" -1.7 %-6.0 mm59.0 mphside by side
265/60R1527.5" +1.7 %+6.0 mm61.0 mphside by side
245/65R1527.5" +1.8 %+6.3 mm61.1 mphside by side
265/55R1526.5" -2.1 %-7.3 mm58.7 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.


255/55R16140 mm sidewall — 8% less
235/60R16141 mm sidewall — 8% less
235/70R14165 mm sidewall — 8% more
285/50R16143 mm sidewall — 7% less
275/50R16138 mm sidewall — 10% less
225/75R14169 mm sidewall — 10% more

Tires graded in this size

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


TireTreadwearWet grip
Thunderer DIRECCIONAL460A
Big O SXP SUPER SPORT440A
Cyclone Radial GT440A

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
235/65R1530.0 mph50.0 mph69.9 mph9,993
275/55R1529.8 mph49.7 mph69.6 mph9,949
245/60R1529.5 mph49.1 mph68.8 mph9,825
265/60R1530.5 mph50.9 mph71.2 mph10,175
245/65R1530.5 mph50.9 mph71.3 mph10,182