I don't often write reviews but my experience with these tires was so profound that I feel compelled to do so. I just bought a Pathfinder that came fitted with these Hifly 602 they came with a DOT number of 0824 and are worn so little that the injection hairs are still on the tread however I took the car for a drive on a gravel track, nothing very extreme with stone size between 2-4cm and nothing sharp. Actually a track I have been driving in my other 4x4 with Bridgestone Duelers 100s of times but this was the first time with the Hiflys and after about 500m I hear a hissing noise and immediately turn back and just made it home, removed the wheel and inspected the tire carefully and noticed multiple cracks in between the tread and chunks of tread ripped and missing, one of the cracks must have got a stone stuck in it and ripped right through the braiding which is something I have never seen before. The tryes feel flimsy without air inside them, like something for a wheelbarrow, quite shocking really and scary to think what would happen if these tires were pushed hard in a remote place. All the tires fitted to the car have similar cracks to the one I removed. Considering my Bridgestones have a Dot of 0318 and I absolutely hammer them on various challenging offroad surfaces and never once had a problem I thing the Hifly falls well short of what is required of a M+S tire. Avoid and go for a reputed brand that has gone through safety and durability testing, these tires will be going in the bin as having a situation like this in a remote mountain is a big risk if it happens to more than one tire on the trip.
255/50 R16 Tires
Everything we know about the 255/50 R16 tire size: 3 owner reviews covering 11,000 miles of driving, and EU label data for the tires you can actually buy in it.
- 3owner reviews
- 11,000 milescovered on them
- 6tires made in this size
255/50 R16 EU tire label data
EU label values are declared for each individual size, so the figures here are exact for 255/50 R16 rather than a range across a model. 1 tires carry label data in this size. The most common load index is 99 (up to 775 kg per tire). Speed ratings on offer: W (270 km/h).
72dB Quietest tires
The quietest 255/50 R16 tires are labelled at 72 dB external noise:
- Toyo R888 R Summer 6.1
Label values come from the EU EPREL database and apply to the EU market versions of each tire. Wet grip and rolling resistance run from class A (best) to E; noise is the measured drive-by figure. A good label is a floor, not a verdict - the tests and owner ratings above tell you far more.
What does 255/50 R16 mean?
A 255/50 R16 tire is 255 mm wide, its sidewall is 50% of that width (128 mm) tall, and it fits a 16 inch wheel. That gives an overall diameter of roughly 661 mm.
| Section width | 255 mm |
|---|---|
| Sidewall height | 128 mm |
| Rim diameter | 16" (406 mm) |
| Overall diameter | ≈ 661 mm |
| Circumference | ≈ 2,078 mm |
| Revolutions per km | ≈ 481 |
| Revolutions per mile | ≈ 775 |
Also written as
255/50R16 255/50 ZR16 255-50-16 255 50 16
Figures are calculated from the nominal size. A loaded, rolling tire runs a few percent smaller, and true widths vary slightly between makes.
What cars use 255/50 R16 tires?
The cars most often running this size in our owner reviews. Each links to the best rated tires for that exact car.
What drivers say about their 255/50 R16 tires
The most recent owner reviews fitted in this size, in their own words.
Bought a set of these for my scooby in November last year, found myself grinning like a mad 'un all the way home. The grip is astounding in both wet and dry, particularly pleasing in the wet especially at over a tonne. When cornering at the limit on twisty country roads, once smoothly lost grip comes back swiftly in a controllable manner, thrilling rather than scaring me. In the few instances I've had to swerve while braking grip has been maintained and stopping distances are excellent. I've had no trouble driving in deep snow and ice, even in Sheffield with its hills I'd say it was great fun. A couple of points, they get noisier as they wear and they wear quite quickly, after roughly 10000miles I have around 4mm of tread left, although to be fair I've done a few donuts and drifts ;-) that said, they are a damn good tire and I have just ordered some more.
Drive on 255/50 R16 tires?
Review your tires and help the next driver choose. It takes about five minutes, and every review on this page came from a driver who took them.
Where this data comes from
Owner ratings are submitted through the review form on this site, naming the tire, the size and the distance covered, and are checked by hand before publication. Test results come from independent published tire tests indexed by size, and label values from the EU EPREL database.
About the TR Score
The Tire Reviews Score rates each tire out of 10 using independent test results and the full body of owner reviews, so you can check a car-specific ranking against the wider evidence.
Who does the testing
Every test published as a Tire Reviews test is run by Jonathan Benson, who has been testing tires independently since 2007.