if you have a 245/50/16 and a 245/50/17 nitto555r which tire will have a bigger sidewall??

i know both are 50s sidewall but i heard somewhere that the smaller the rim the bigger the sidewall?? its not a huge diff but the sidewall on the 16 compared to the 17 will be a bit bigger..

thanks for any info

 

The sidewall should be the same, because in either case, the sidewall height is going to be 50% of the section width.

 

The size of the tire 245 represents the actual tread width in millimeters. The next number 50 represents the height of the sidewall in percentage of the tread width. The last number 16 and 17 respectively, represents the size rim for the tire.

 

No.

245 is the "section width", not the tread width. Section width is the widest point of the tire, on the sidewall. Tread is generally quite a bit narrower. The rest is OK.

The problem with a 245/50-17 is that because it has the same sidewall height, it will be 1" larger in diameter than the stock tire, raising the car 1/2" off the ground, pushing the tire 1/2" further up into the wheel wells (rubbing), has the same effect at swapping in numerically lower gears, and throws the speedo and odometer off by almost 4%.

245 = 9.65"

50% of 9.65 = 4.82 = height of sidewall.