Skip to content
TreadMathSupport Us
Tire sizes

32x11.50R17 — the flotation size in a metric crowd

A whole-inch size dropped into the part of the catalogue where metric notation is at its most crowded.

Flotation (imperial) notation · Flotation (imperial)

Overall diameter
32.00 in
813 mm
Section width
11.50 in
292 mm
Sidewall height
7.50 in
191 mm
Aspect ratio
65.2%
sidewall as a share of width
Wheel diameter
17 in
the hole in the middle
Circumference
100.5 in
2553 mm
Revolutions per mile
630.3
geometric, not measured
Revolutions per km
391.6
geometric, not measured
Typical load index
108–128
2205–3968 lb per tire

Flotation sizes are almost always LT construction, so they share the light-truck band. Speed symbols run low because the aggressive tread patterns these sizes are sold in are rated against heat build-up, not against sustained high speed.

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 metric notation, same wheel

  • 255/75R1732.06 in tall+0.06 in
  • 275/70R1732.16 in tall+0.16 in
  • 265/70R1731.61 in tall-0.39 in

Compare any two sizes, including ones this site has no page for, in the comparison tool.

No vehicle here is recorded on 32x11.50R17, which is unusual for a size sitting where this one sits. The 17-inch band around 32 in is the most heavily fitted stretch of the whole catalogue, and almost all of it is metric.

Six metric codes inside three quarters of an inch

Size Diameter Against 32x11.50R17 Section width
245/75R17 31.47 in −0.53 in 9.65 in
265/70R17 31.61 in −0.39 in 10.43 in
32x11.50R17 32.00 in — 11.50 in
255/75R17 32.06 in +0.06 in 10.04 in
275/70R17 32.16 in +0.16 in 10.83 in
265/75R17 32.65 in +0.65 in 10.43 in
285/70R17 32.71 in +0.71 in 11.22 in

Seven codes within 1.18 in, and this is the widest of them by 0.28 in. Section widths in that table run from 9.65 in to 11.50 in — a spread of 1.85 in, more than the entire spread in height.

That is the argument for this size in one table. Everything around it is a fraction of an inch away in the dimension the instruments measure, and up to two inches away in the dimension they cannot see.

Against the most-fitted truck size in North America

265/70R17 is the tire more vehicles in this catalogue leave the factory on than any other. Against it, this size is 0.39 in taller and 1.07 in wider. Measured from that starting diameter the height change is 1.25%: an indicated 70 mph becomes an actual 70.9 mph, and a hundred indicated miles becomes 101.2.

Those figures are small enough that the change is effectively a width change with a rounding error of height attached. The two sizes are worked through in a direct comparison.

Above it, the notation skips a rung

The next flotation size on this wheel is 33x10.50R17 at 33.00 in — 1.00 in taller and, unusually, 1.00 in narrower. Imperial notation on a 17-inch wheel goes 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 40, and the width attached to each of those heights is whatever the market asked for rather than a progression. Here it moves backwards.

Related

Class: Flotation (imperial). Every figure above is computed from the size code, not stored — see how these numbers are calculated.