Wheels and tires wanted - or advice

[Jamie P]

I haven't been on the site for a while. I sold off my last kart a while back, but now I'm planning a very involved build. My plan is to build a miniature hot rod pickup. The only thing preventing me from starting is that I'm struggling to find wheels and tires. The reason it's so hard is that I need to scale the pickup correctly. I'll be fabricating everything, so I'll build it around the wheels/tires. The tire outside diameter will drive everything else, but the size matters because too small and the kart will handle awkwardly... too big and it won't fit in my truck for transport.

A guy at GoPowerSports was very helpful, but all they really have that will work for me are slick tires. I want treads, mainly for appearance. Plus, brand new tires, rims, and hubs is going to cost $400 through them. I might be okay with that cost except for I'm not getting the tires I want.

Kenda seems to have some options, but then I need to source rims that fit. Mixing and matching rims and tires from different suppliers has its own challenges.

Building a fiberglass cab and a custom frame is a piece of cake compared to finding wheels and tires! Does anybody have advice, or better yet some for sale? Wheel style and material don't matter. It's the outside diameter of the tires that matters. I'm looking for 11.5" +/- 1" for the fronts and 13" +/- 1" for the rears. The front tires on my riding lawnmower are absolutely perfect for the rears, but of course they're mounted on rims with bearings. I could buy tires just like it, but that's only half the solution...

I'm open to suggestions (or fingers are crossed that somebody has something for sale that will work).

Thanks

 

[Functional Artist]

There are lots of options if ya use golf cart type wheels

I used them on my mini-Jeep

Here is the build threrad
...check it out "if" interested
https://www.diygokarts.com/community/threads/wittle-wesistor-mini-jeep.46893/

 

[Speedster]

The front tires on my riding lawnmower are absolutely perfect for the rears, but of course they're mounted on rims with bearings.

I recently found this: wheel hubs while I was searching for wheels for a go kart. You take the bearings out and weld these in place, to turn the wheels into drive wheels. I did not look into this much, as I found better options for my situation, but maybe they would work for yours? Here is a video of someone installing them: Install video. I hope this helps. Of course, this might not be the safest at extremely high speeds, but that's up to you.

 

[Denny]

You could look for trailer tires with 4” x 4” hubs.

 

[Rat]

I haven't been on the site for a while. I sold off my last kart a while back, but now I'm planning a very involved build. My plan is to build a miniature hot rod pickup. The only thing preventing me from starting is that I'm struggling to find wheels and tires. The reason it's so hard is that I need to scale the pickup correctly. I'll be fabricating everything, so I'll build it around the wheels/tires. The tire outside diameter will drive everything else, but the size matters because too small and the kart will handle awkwardly... too big and it won't fit in my truck for transport.

A guy at GoPowerSports was very helpful, but all they really have that will work for me are slick tires. I want treads, mainly for appearance. Plus, brand new tires, rims, and hubs is going to cost $400 through them. I might be okay with that cost except for I'm not getting the tires I want.

Kenda seems to have some options, but then I need to source rims that fit. Mixing and matching rims and tires from different suppliers has its own challenges.

Building a fiberglass cab and a custom frame is a piece of cake compared to finding wheels and tires! Does anybody have advice, or better yet some for sale? Wheel style and material don't matter. It's the outside diameter of the tires that matters. I'm looking for 11.5" +/- 1" for the fronts and 13" +/- 1" for the rears. The front tires on my riding lawnmower are absolutely perfect for the rears, but of course they're mounted on rims with bearings. I could buy tires just like it, but that's only half the solution...

I'm open to suggestions (or fingers are crossed that somebody has something for sale that will work).

Thanks

On a project like that I would be more inclined to use 10x8.5 ATV/UTV rims on the rear with 8x4 golf kart rims up front.

Street tread type tires are not particularly easy to find, nor are they anything resembling cheap when found.

 

[Jamie P]

There are lots of options if ya use golf cart type wheels

I used them on my mini-Jeep

Here is the build threrad
...check it out "if" interested
https://www.diygokarts.com/community/threads/wittle-wesistor-mini-jeep.46893/

That's a good idea. Thanks. Very cool Jeep!

 

[Jamie P]

I recently found this: wheel hubs while I was searching for wheels for a go kart. You take the bearings out and weld these in place, to turn the wheels into drive wheels. I did not look into this much, as I found better options for my situation, but maybe they would work for yours? Here is a video of someone installing them: Install video. I hope this helps. Of course, this might not be the safest at extremely high speeds, but that's up to you.

That's interesting... Thanks for the idea

 

[Jamie P]

On a project like that I would be more inclined to use 10x8.5 ATV/UTV rims on the rear with 8x4 golf kart rims up front.

Street tread type tires are not particularly easy to find, nor are they anything resembling cheap when found.

Thanks for the lead. That might work, but 8" rims are pretty big. Of course the hot rod would look fantastic with low profile tires (to get to that ideal 15" OD), but now I'm really looking for something hard to find - low profile tires with treads...

 

[Rat]

Thanks for the lead. That might work, but 8" rims are pretty big. Of course the hot rod would look fantastic with low profile tires (to get to that ideal 15" OD), but now I'm really looking for something hard to find - low profile tires with treads...

Sure 8" rims are "pretty big" if all you stare at is typically 4", 5", and 6" kart wheels... to me 10" wheels seem kinda small and they are the factory size on my Mule (I want to put 12s on it eventually since it needs at the leas 2 replaced as is)

FWIW, 8" Golf cart tires (classic radial zig-zag tread) are relatively low profile compared to a turf saver for the same size rim.