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Sidewall

275/50R18

275 mm across the tread, a sidewall 50% of that — 138 mm — on a 18-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 28.8 inches tall.

138 mm sidewall732 mm · 28.8"
Sidewall
5.41"
138 mm
Overall
28.8"
732.2 mm
Circumference
90.6"
2.300 m
Revs per mile
700
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

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It mounts on a rim between 7.5" and 10" wide, and the tread follows the rim: roughly 5 mm of section width for every half-inch, so about 263 mm across at the narrow end and 288 mm at the wide one. Written the way lift kits and wheel wells are, it is a 28.8×10.8R18 — tall by wide, in inches.

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
255/55R1829.0" +0.8 %+2.8 mm60.5 mphside by side
295/45R1828.5" -1.3 %-4.8 mm59.2 mphside by side
265/50R1828.4" -1.4 %-5.0 mm59.2 mphside by side
285/50R1829.2" +1.4 %+5.0 mm60.8 mphside by side
265/55R1829.5" +2.3 %+8.3 mm61.4 mphside by side
285/45R1828.1" -2.5 %-9.3 mm58.5 mphside by side
255/50R1828.0" -2.7 %-10.0 mm58.4 mphside by side
295/50R1829.6" +2.7 %+10.0 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.


275/55R17151 mm sidewall — 10% more
275/45R19124 mm sidewall — 10% less
305/50R17153 mm sidewall — 11% more
245/50R19123 mm sidewall — 11% less
255/50R19128 mm sidewall — 7% less
295/50R17148 mm sidewall — 7% 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
255/55R1830.2 mph50.4 mph70.5 mph10,075
295/45R1829.6 mph49.4 mph69.1 mph9,870
265/50R1829.6 mph49.3 mph69.0 mph9,863
285/50R1830.4 mph50.7 mph71.0 mph10,137
265/55R1830.7 mph51.1 mph71.6 mph10,225