Tire Concerns: Are 225 75R16 tire chains compatible with 235 60R 16 tires?

by Julie
(Oregon)

My tires are 235 60R 16 and I was just given a set of 225 75R 16 chains. Are they compatible?


You could use our Tire Size Calculator to get an idea of the difference in the sizes of the two tires remembering that when you install chains they need to wrap around not only the diameter of the tire, but also they wrap around the sides, so they have to fit two ways.

I'm not an expert on chain fitting but when I look at the size differences I see that your tire has a circumference of 85.18 inches while the tires the chains came from is 89.26 inches, which gives a difference of 4.08 inches larger for the chains.

To get a better idea of what this means imagine that your waist size is 85 inches (yeah that's pretty big) but someone offers you a belt which made for an 89 inch waist. This would mean that you're going to have to make a few more holes in the belt to have it fit … it's possible, but it may be a sloppy looking fit.

I think you've got a similar situation and if you can make the adjustments it may work, at least for a temporary use which chains are generally for anyway. If you are going to make regular use of them, you may be better off getting a size which is closer to what your tire requires.

At least, you don't have chains which are too small for the tire, which might have been the case if you had the chains for your present tire and were using the other tires on you vehicle. That would have definitely been more unlikely.

TG