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Sidewall

285/55R16

285 mm across the tread, a sidewall 55% of that — 157 mm — on a 16-inch rim. That puts the whole wheel at 28.3 inches tall.

157 mm sidewall720 mm · 28.3"
Sidewall
6.17"
157 mm
Overall
28.3"
719.9 mm
Circumference
89.0"
2.262 m
Revs per mile
712
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 28.3×11.2R16 — 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
265/60R1628.5" +0.6 %+2.3 mm60.4 mphside by side
305/50R1628.0" -1.2 %-4.3 mm59.3 mphside by side
275/55R1627.9" -1.5 %-5.5 mm59.1 mphside by side
295/55R1628.8" +1.5 %+5.5 mm60.9 mphside by side
275/60R1629.0" +2.3 %+8.3 mm61.4 mphside by side
295/50R1627.6" -2.6 %-9.3 mm58.5 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.


285/50R17143 mm sidewall — 9% less
265/55R17146 mm sidewall — 7% less
315/45R17142 mm sidewall — 10% less
265/65R15172 mm sidewall — 10% more
295/50R17148 mm sidewall — 6% less
255/65R15166 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
265/60R1630.2 mph50.3 mph70.4 mph10,063
305/50R1629.6 mph49.4 mph69.2 mph9,882
275/55R1629.5 mph49.2 mph68.9 mph9,847
295/55R1630.5 mph50.8 mph71.1 mph10,153
275/60R1630.7 mph51.1 mph71.6 mph10,229