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Sidewall

265/50R15

265 mm across the tread, a sidewall 50% of that — 133 mm — on a 15-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 25.4 inches tall.

133 mm sidewall646 mm · 25.4"
Sidewall
5.22"
133 mm
Overall
25.4"
646.0 mm
Circumference
79.9"
2.029 m
Revs per mile
793
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 25.4×10.4R15 — tall by wide, in inches.

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
245/55R1525.6" +0.7 %+2.3 mm60.4 mphside by side
255/50R1525.0" -1.5 %-5.0 mm59.1 mphside by side
275/50R1525.8" +1.5 %+5.0 mm60.9 mphside by side
255/55R1526.0" +2.4 %+7.8 mm61.4 mphside by side
275/45R1524.7" -2.7 %-8.8 mm58.4 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.


265/45R16119 mm sidewall — 10% less
295/40R16118 mm sidewall — 11% less
235/50R16118 mm sidewall — 11% less
245/50R16123 mm sidewall — 8% less
275/45R16124 mm sidewall — 7% less
235/60R14141 mm sidewall — 6% more

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
245/55R1530.2 mph50.3 mph70.5 mph10,070
255/50R1529.5 mph49.2 mph68.9 mph9,845
275/50R1530.5 mph50.8 mph71.1 mph10,155
255/55R1530.7 mph51.2 mph71.7 mph10,240
275/45R1529.2 mph48.6 mph68.1 mph9,729