215/45R17 Tires & Tire Size

215/45R17 refers to the size of the tire. It’s a standard which is used by car and tire manufacturers. By having the standard, tire manufacturers are able to manufacture same size tires independently and users can buy same size tires from different manufacturers.

Here’s an explanation of what these metrics mean in practice:

215 The tire width is 215mm.
45 The aspect ratio of the tire is 45. Aspect ratio refers to the height of tire sidewall in relation to tire width in percentages.
R The letter in the middle refers to tire construction. Practically all tires sold for cars are radials.
Sometimes you also see tires with RF or ZR. RF indicates the tire is run flat, whereas ZR means the tire has speed rating higher than V. These tires are also radials, as the R indicates.
17 Rim diameter for the tire. 215/45R17 tire can be mounted only to a 17″ rims.

Best selling 215/45R17 tires

What is 215/45R17 tire size in inches?

Because the width of 215/45R17 tire is stated in millimeters and sidewall height in percentages, you have to make calculations to see what the true size of 215/45R17 is in inches. Luckily, we have made these calculations for you.In this table you can see size of 215/45R17 in inches, as well as few additional metrics:

  In inches In millimeters
Section Width 8.5″ 215mm
Sidewall height 3.8″ 97mm
Diameter / Height 24.6″ 625mm
Circumference 77.3″ 1964mm
Rim Diameter  17″  
Revolutions  819 per mile  509 per kilometer

Recommended Rim Sizes for 215/45R17 Tires

For 215/45R17 tires you need to have correct size rims to install the tires to. There are different width rims available in the market, and you can run into problems by installing 215/45R17 to a too wide or too narrow rim. Here are the recommended rim sizes for 215/45R17 tire:

Diameter Width Range
17″ 7-8″

215/45R17 – Variations

When you look at the tire code on 215/45R17 tires, you may see there are additional numbers and letters after the code 215/45R17. These numbers and letters refer to speed rating and load index of the tire. 215/45R17 has at least following variations available on the markets:

215/45R17 87H 215/45R17 87T 215/45R17 87V 215/45R17 87W 215/45R17 91H 215/45R17 91S 215/45R17 91T 215/45R17 91V 215/45R17 91W 215/45R17 91Y
Available for Amazon Prime