Toyota RAV4 5th gen: the 19-inch trim can drop two wheel sizes for free

Three sizes, and the largest wheel has the tallest tire

225/65R17 at 28.52 in, 225/60R18 at 28.63 in, 235/55R19 at 29.18 in. The spread is 0.66 in, or 2.32%, and unusually for this site the ranking follows the wheel size: bigger wheel, bigger tire.

The 19-inch fitment is also the widest at 9.25 in and has the least sidewall at 5.09 in. The 17-inch fitment has 5.76 in.

The swap that costs nothing

235/65R17 measures 29.03 in. Fitted in place of 235/55R19, that is −0.15 in — a 0.51% reduction — with the section width identical at 9.25 in and the sidewall rising from 5.09 in to 6.01 in.

Two wheel sizes down, nearly an inch of extra sidewall, no meaningful change to rolling diameter, no change at all to width. It is the cleanest wheel-diameter change available on any platform recorded here, and it explains why a 17-inch winter or all-terrain package is such a common second set on this vehicle.

The catalogue matters too. Tire selection at 17 inches is several times what it is at 19, and the prices are lower at every point in it.

The rest of the recorded steps

From 225/65R17:

• 235/65R17 — +0.51 in, 1.79%, +0.39 in of width.
• 245/65R17 at 29.54 in — +1.02 in, 3.59%, +0.79 in of width.

From 235/55R19, 245/65R17 is +0.36 in and 1.24%.

Nothing here exceeds 3.6%, which is characteristic of a unibody crossover with wheel wells packaged closely around the factory sizes. The speedometer consequence of the largest change is an indicated 70 mph reading 72.5 — noticeable on paper and invisible in practice.

What the extra inch delivers

245/65R17 from the base 17-inch size raises the axle by 0.51 in, which is half the diameter change. It also adds 0.51 in of sidewall, taking it to 6.27 in.

For a vehicle used on gravel roads and rough surfaces, the sidewall is the part that does the work, and it is worth being clear that the ground clearance gain is half of what the tire size change suggests.

All-wheel-drive versions and the spare

Where all four wheels are driven, rolling circumference differences between axles are absorbed continuously rather than ignored. A size change applied to all four leaves the relationship intact. Fitting an original-size spare after upgrading does not, and the mismatch it introduces is exactly the percentage figure for whichever change was made.

Why the 18-inch trim sits awkwardly

225/60R18 is 0.11 in taller than the 17-inch fitment and 0.55 in shorter than the 19-inch one, with 5.31 in of sidewall — between the two, as you would expect.

What it lacks is the clean escape route the 19-inch trim has. A drop onto the base 17-inch fitment costs 0.40% of rolling diameter, which is fine arithmetically, but returns only 0.44 in of sidewall rather than the 0.93 in the 19-inch owner gains, and the wheel saving is smaller.

The result is that the middle trim tends to stay where it is, and its owners choose between the two recorded upgrades on the 17-inch wheel: +1.39% to 235/65R17 or +3.18% to 245/65R17.

Why the empty ratio column costs this vehicle very little

At changes of this size the gearing effect would be small whatever the ratio. On the hybrid versions there is not really a ratio to quote: engine speed is set by a power split rather than by a fixed multiplier on wheel speed, so the usual arithmetic — taller tire, lower engine speed at a given road speed — does not describe what happens. The wheels turn more slowly; the engine does whatever the control strategy asks of it.

Where the arithmetic stops

It does not say a tire fits. How much room the casing has beside the strut and inside the liner with the wheel turned, and what the placard demands of the tire's rating, are properties of your vehicle. Note which way round the risk runs on this platform: every step listed here is small in diameter and modest in width, so the constraint people actually meet is the wheel — a 17-inch rim over the brakes of a trim that was never sold with one.