215/65R16 — a tire that measures exactly 27.00 inches
Round numbers are rare in metric notation. This is one.
Metric notation · Passenger touring
- Overall diameter
- 27.00 in
- 686 mm
- Section width
- 8.46 in
- 215 mm
- Sidewall height
- 5.50 in
- 140 mm
- Aspect ratio
- 65%
- sidewall as a share of width
- Wheel diameter
- 16 in
- the hole in the middle
- Circumference
- 84.8 in
- 2155 mm
- Revolutions per mile
- 746.9
- geometric, not measured
- Revolutions per km
- 464.1
- geometric, not measured
- Typical load index
- 82–99
- 1047–1709 lb per tire
A passenger tire's load index tracks its air volume, and volume tracks section width and sidewall height. Sizes in this class sit in the band that carries a typical two-tonne car with its rated payload across four tires.
The load-index range shown is the band this CLASS of size is typically produced in — not a list of what is in stock for this exact size today. Load index and speed symbol are printed on the sidewall of the specific tire you are holding, and the required minimum is on the placard of the specific vehicle you are fitting. Read both.
Nearest real sizes in imperial notation, same wheel
- 31x10.50R1631.00 in tall+4.00 in
- 33x12.50R1633.00 in tall+6.00 in
- 35x12.50R1635.00 in tall+8.00 in
Compare any two sizes, including ones this site has no page for, in the comparison tool.
Run the arithmetic and 215/65R16 comes out at 27.00 in. Metric codes almost never land on a whole inch, because the sidewall is a percentage of a millimetre figure and the wheel is measured in inches — the two systems have no reason to agree. Here they do, to two decimal places.
Where it is fitted
Compact crossovers of the 2000s and early 2010s — CR-V, RAV4, Forester, Outback in base specification — plus a number of small vans and estates. It was the size that took over from 205/65R15 as the class moved up a wheel size without wanting a taller vehicle.
An improbable cluster at 27 inches
| Size | Wheel | Diameter | Difference | Section |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 255/35R20 | 20 in | 27.03 in | +0.02 in | 10.04 in |
| 255/40R19 | 19 in | 27.03 in | +0.03 in | 10.04 in |
| 255/45R18 | 18 in | 27.04 in | +0.03 in | 10.04 in |
| 235/55R17 | 17 in | 27.18 in | +0.17 in | 9.25 in |
Three of those are the same 255 mm casing on three different wheels, a deliberate plus-size stack aimed at performance saloons. They land on top of a crossover tire on a 16-inch steel wheel. The section widths differ by 1.57 in and the sidewalls by around an inch, but the rolling diameter is the same to within four hundredths.
It is a good reminder that overall diameter says nothing about what kind of vehicle a size belongs to.
The end of the passenger range on a 16
225/60R16 is 0.37 in shorter at 26.63 in; 215/60R16 is 0.85 in shorter at 26.16 in. Going up from here on a 16-inch wheel means leaving the passenger range altogether — the next entries are 225/75R16 at 29.29 in and the light-truck sizes above it.
Reading the load figure
Small vans and heavier estates were both delivered on this code, and they were not given the same tire. A commercial casing in this size is built and rated for a job an estate car never asks of it, and the only place that shows is in the characters after the size. Which of those characters mean what — and which of them are survivals of a system that stopped being literal decades ago — is set out in the load range and ply rating reference.
Related
- 31x10.50R1631.00 in tall
- 33x12.50R1633.00 in tall
- 35x12.50R1635.00 in tall
Class: Passenger touring. Every figure above is computed from the size code, not stored — see how these numbers are calculated.