Any concern about brakes with bigger wheels/tires?

SaltLifeCC

My old cart was lifted with bigger tires on it when I bought it so I really don't know much about what was on there. But my guess is it had a 3" lift with 20" tires on the stock rims with plastic chrome hubcaps on it. Never had any issues with stopping or the brakes themselves.

I've seen a few posts where people have asked about upgrading to disc brakes and I'm wondering why? If I put 23" all terrain style tires on my cart, could I develop brake issues as a result? Another reason I ask is because a neighbor of mine put some big mudlite tires on his son's 4-wheeler and it was no time before his brakes were shot because of it. Wondering if the same thing could happen on a cart with stock brakes.

BGW

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AirJunky

23" tires shouldn't be too big a strain on your stock brakes. But adding a big block engine or a ton of weight (like a bed + cargo) might very well put the cart over the brake's limit.

gornoman

Here's the logic: You lift the cart, put 23's on, beef-up the motor, and next thing ya know you're doing 25mph on 12mph brakes.

scottyb

Another thing to consider is the wheel/tire weight. A good example is 10" steel wheels ... those 20x11x10 carlisle on steel wheels weigh twice as much as a stock wheel & tire. When you get them spinning ~ It takes twice the braking power to stop them. Disc brakes are a great addition to any modified cart.... especially if that cart is an Ezgo.

SaltLifeCC

I'm not planning on "souping" up the cart from a performance perspective. I thought about an upgraded motor for about 30 seconds but we really don't need all of that for what we use the cart for. The most I would do is have the speed mode set at the highest level other than the mode 4 that requires a code from CC. So, assume this question is about a stock cart set at the fastest stock settings but has 23" AT tires with 12" aftermarket rims on it.

AirJunky

Who does?

How much weight are you hauling around. Looks like you have a back seat. How often are you hauling 5 or 6 people up & down big hills?

SaltLifeCC

Never more than 4 people and 2 would almost always be kids. The back seat is there because when you need it, you need it, but it doesn't get used very often. And here at home and most of the places we camp, hills are not an issue at all. I live in a very flat region of the country. The biggest hills we typically encounter are the speed bumps that some campgrounds install to slow traffic down.

AirJunky

Yea, your situation doesn't sound like a big issue to me. I didn't notice much difference in how mine stopped when I went to 20" tires. And since I don't haul big loads, or have many big hills, or have a big engine (some day), I don't feel the need to upgrade the brakes (yet).

Greg Moss

It's not because of the size of the tires so much as that the bike now can go threw more mud and stuff that can grind down the brake pads.