Vijay

Check out the pics below. These are all top rated max performance tires. Very revealing:

#1


What you see here, is that the 275 Michelin (left) is about 3mm narrower than the 265 Continental (right)


#2


The 265 Continental (left) is 10mm narrower than the 255 Yokohama (right)


#3


Finally, the 275 Michelin (left) is a full 13mm narrower than the 255 Yokohama (right)

I knew there are variations in sizes but for a 275 of one brand to be 13mm NARROWER than a 255 of another brand is quite surprising to me. This can be quite an issue with tight/aggressive fitments, rubbing, etc. Guess you really can't compare between tire brands.

Gary@Tirerack.com

Any chance that one tire is mounted on a wheel and the other is not?

Vijay

Nope....all are unmounted

brya6

Those are great pics for comparison! Michelin tends to have a more rounded sidewall, so I guess it probably has the least contact tread width.

spoon671

Not really THAT great of pics for comparison. I can already see that one tire has sort of a rounded shaped sidewall, and with the tires unmounted and laying on their sides, the difference becomes exaggerated. You can't just simply lay them flat on the floor and say "hey look, this one is sooo much wider than that one."

If you really want a comparison, take a ruler and run it across the contact patches of all tires.

With that said though, it's pretty common knowledge that tire widths differ a tad between manufacturers.

Reggie

What were the aspect ratios of the tires?

Rusty Axle

Without being mounted and at pressure, no valid comparisons can be made.

freeriderchad108

I found the same with my Continental DW tires. They were 10mm wider than the same size Potenza Poles