Hello, first post, many reads. Thanks all for helping.
Bought an 05 Gem. Thought it had a bad motor but was a bad pedal. Upgraded to the Ride-4-fun motor (Was gonna anyway as I drive on roads only pretty much) and spent some time on the phones annoying those folks.
Gem cam with 23 x 10 - 14 knobby tires with aftermarket SS rims. Which are 23” tall and 10” wide, pretty sure 0 offset.
After the motor install (and $500 pedal replacement!!!) I get 27-29mph.
After speaking with the guy from ride-4 he mentioned running either 185/60R14 Which are 22.7” high and 7.3 wide or 195/60R14 which are 23.2” high and 7.7 wide.
So I tried to find a car wheel and tire combo that looked a little over the top but somewhat affordable. Found best pricing for both at the 16x8 wheel.
I found that if I went to a 16” wheel that’s 8” wide, I can install either a 205/40R16 (set up 1)or a 215/40R16 (setup 2).
Set up 1 is 22.5” tall and 8.1” wide
Set up 2 is 22.8” tall and 8.5” wide
Anyone have any input on if they think this will work or not?
Any input / thoughts on speed?
Note: Set up 1 will be cheaper and only be about 3/8” wider or half of that on each side due to the 0 offset.
ca6772738758, it took me a long time to get to the point where I educated myself enough to even write that post! Thus, I have no idea what you are talking about. Can you be more specific on Dave Set and how to reach him and what I need from him please?
Speed is always a consideration I guess but the real issue is that the previous owner was on dirt roads and the car came with knobby tires on aftermarket rims. They vibrate like crazy and are not really balanced well so the front end has a little hop at speed and it shakes a bit. I can’t get decent road tires for that rim, thus the wholesale wheel change. While I was at it and spending the money I found that I could get a reasonable low profile style package at the 16" rim size. About 450 for the wheels and 280 for the tires. Considering that I was going that direction, I was more worried about chopping down the speeds that I am seeing now. After some calculations for speed and consideration for height, width and offset, I am leaning hard towards 215/45R16, which is about 1/2" taller but more narrow than what I am running now. I am going alloy so the wheel is light. These are a bit taller than the 195/60/R14 that R4F recommended but after some calcs, it may also give me a bit more top end. I am seeing 27 now and by calc alone, should get a bit over 28. With the knobbies gone, the reduced surface area and the hopefully the shimmy gone as well, I am guessing I should see about 30-32.
I was more concerned about going through the hassle of all this if someone here has run something like this and experienced a problem. I only bounce around the neighborhood with it and my kids love cruising around.
I was going to keep the knobbie set up to swap out when we go to a Bluegrass festival and its electric only but on dirt roads on a farm.
If you have 10" wide tires on it now you should have not problem with any of the sizes you listed.
Most of the time the trouble is getting a wide tire under the rear spat. Does not sound like you have that issue.
One inch in additional height is going to give you about ~2 or 3 mph top end.
2005’s had the T3 controller, it has a hard coded max speed limit of about 28-ish. It’s kind of a piece of crap when it comes to tuning and tweaking. Very little can be reprogrammed on it.
Even with bigger tires, you likely won’t see 30+ unless you can trick the controller, it just won’t let you fly. Get a magic magnet and be done with it. The display will be off, but an inexpensive GPS speedo from Amazon and you’re golden.
I would recommend 205 max tire with . I run 205/50/16 required a little modifying but just fit . FYI i have a lithium Gem . When you say 27mph , What does your speedo show?
I was only sending it out to get reprogrammed by R4F to match the new set up as I purchased their motor. I did not send it out before as I did not know what was going on with the car. I could only get it to 5-6mph then it would gradually slow down until it basically would not move any more. I was always going to upgrade the motor, heck I was looking at the motors before the cars! So I swapped the motor out and had the same problem and realized pretty fast that it was the pedal, so I bought one on ebay and finally got it sorted. The next step was dumping the knobbies with a new tire/wheel combo and then with the set up done, I was going to send the controller out to be programmed for that set up.
Many thanks for that. I changed to run the style you have and after doing the calc, I may even see more top end with the taller tire. I was losing my mind running combos to compare size, price and speed impacts.
I have my speedo running in km mode as that was the fix for it with the R4F motor set up. It is actually pretty accurate when I compare it to gps. I am seeing a consistent 27-28 on a full charge and have seen as much as 31.
I am running all lead wet batteries (as that was what the cart came with) and am going to try what Inwo recommended, adding another. He sent me the diagram for it. If it works I I’m gonna see if I can buy the lithium power pack from him. Now that I think of it, I am going to buy it from him anyway.
Thanks for the tire option, I appreciate it. Was going to run crazy drift tires but am opting for a nice low profile radial, the Achilles Sport.
Is it a type three or a type four controller you’re going to find out you can’t do too much to or three it’s kind of like a type one that’s why I recommend going to the Magic magnet you’ll see it the gentleman‘s name goes oh I NWO on this electric form he will let you know a lot about that I use him for the magnets instead of going in and programming you get an Extra few miles per hour but I’ve been told not to go above a size 15/50 or 55 are use 185 or 195 60 or 205 at most at one point the tire eats more of your power than needed I have friends that go to these 18s and they’re losing battery life trying to turn them
I don’t need mean to be nosy but are you or where are you located if you don’t mind me asking at one point I was like you didn’t know much about them 10 years ago and then after my heart problems I went back to him as something to do