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Sidewall

265/45R21

265 mm across the tread, a sidewall 45% of that — 119 mm — on a 21-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 30.4 inches tall.

119 mm sidewall772 mm · 30.4"
Sidewall
4.69"
119 mm
Overall
30.4"
771.9 mm
Circumference
95.5"
2.425 m
Revs per mile
664
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

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It mounts on a rim between 7.5" and 9.5" wide, and the tread follows the rim: roughly 5 mm of section width for every half-inch, so about 255 mm across at the narrow end and 275 mm at the wide one. Written the way lift kits and wheel wells are, it is a 30.4×10.4R21 — tall by wide, in inches.

What goes wrong on this size

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

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

What let goComplaints
tread separation1
not stated1

Where the wheel is named, 1 of 2 were on the front — the end that steers.

What fits instead

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Same 21-inch rim, height within 3%. Past that the speedometer starts lying and things begin to rub.


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
245/50R2130.6" +0.8 %+3.3 mm60.5 mphside by side
255/45R2130.0" -1.2 %-4.5 mm59.3 mphside by side
275/45R2130.7" +1.2 %+4.5 mm60.7 mphside by side
285/40R2130.0" -1.4 %-5.3 mm59.2 mphside by side
255/50R2131.0" +2.1 %+8.3 mm61.3 mphside by side
245/45R2129.7" -2.3 %-9.0 mm58.6 mphside by side
285/45R2131.1" +2.3 %+9.0 mm61.4 mphside by side
275/40R2129.7" -2.4 %-9.3 mm58.6 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.


265/40R22106 mm sidewall — 11% less
265/50R20133 mm sidewall — 11% more
235/45R22106 mm sidewall — 11% less
295/45R20133 mm sidewall — 11% more
235/55R20129 mm sidewall — 8% more
245/55R20135 mm sidewall — 13% more

Tires graded in this size

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


TireTreadwearWet grip
Hankook Dynapro HP2580A
HanKOOK Dynapro HPX (OE)540A
Michelin Primacy Tour A/S540B
Hankook veNtus S1 evo3 SUV (OE)520A
CONTINENTAL ContiSportContact 5420AA
HanKOOK iON evo SUV (OE)340A
Hankook veNtus evo3 SUV320AA
Bridgestone DUELER H/L 400 "V" Spd Rtd (OE)260A

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
245/50R2130.3 mph50.4 mph70.6 mph10,084
255/45R2129.7 mph49.4 mph69.2 mph9,883
275/45R2130.3 mph50.6 mph70.8 mph10,117
285/40R2129.6 mph49.3 mph69.0 mph9,864
255/50R2130.6 mph51.1 mph71.5 mph10,214