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Sidewall

285/50R16

285 mm across the tread, a sidewall 50% of that — 143 mm — on a 16-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 27.2 inches tall.

143 mm sidewall691 mm · 27.2"
Sidewall
5.61"
143 mm
Overall
27.2"
691.4 mm
Circumference
85.5"
2.172 m
Revs per mile
741
per minute at 60 mph

What it needs to sit on

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It mounts on a rim between 8" and 10.5" wide, and the tread follows the rim: roughly 5 mm of section width for every half-inch, so about 273 mm across at the narrow end and 298 mm at the wide one. Written the way lift kits and wheel wells are, it is a 27.2×11.2R16 — tall by wide, in inches.

What fits instead

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Same 16-inch rim, height within 3%. Past that the speedometer starts lying and things begin to rub.


SizeHeightRide heightSpeedo reads 60, you doCompare
265/55R1627.5" +0.9 %+3.3 mm60.6 mphside by side
275/50R1626.8" -1.4 %-5.0 mm59.1 mphside by side
295/50R1627.6" +1.4 %+5.0 mm60.9 mphside by side
305/45R1626.8" -1.5 %-5.3 mm59.1 mphside by side
275/55R1627.9" +2.5 %+8.8 mm61.5 mphside by side
295/45R1626.5" -2.8 %-9.8 mm58.3 mphside by side
265/50R1626.4" -2.9 %-10.0 mm58.3 mphside by side
305/50R1628.0" +2.9 %+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.


285/45R17128 mm sidewall — 10% less
255/60R15153 mm sidewall — 7% more
255/50R17128 mm sidewall — 11% less
265/50R17133 mm sidewall — 7% less
295/45R17133 mm sidewall — 7% less
315/40R17126 mm sidewall — 12% less

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
265/55R1630.3 mph50.5 mph70.7 mph10,094
275/50R1629.6 mph49.3 mph69.0 mph9,855
295/50R1630.4 mph50.7 mph71.0 mph10,145
305/45R1629.5 mph49.2 mph68.9 mph9,848
275/55R1630.8 mph51.3 mph71.8 mph10,253