Tyres and wheels

Tyres, wheels and hubs decide how a golf buggy rides, steers and uses its charge, and this category covers pressures, punctures and slow leaks, sidewall cracking with age, diagnosing uneven wear, wheel bearing checks and replacement, wheel nut torque, vibration at speed, and what actually changes when larger wheels are fitted. Pressure is the first check for almost everything here. Buggy tyres run far softer than car tyres: turf tyres commonly sit somewhere between roughly 15 and 25 psi depending on the tyre, and the correct figure is moulded on the sidewall or printed in the handbook, so check against that rather than habit. Underinflation shortens range, wears the shoulders and makes the steering heavy, while overinflation wears the centre of the tread and harshens the ride. After any wheel has been off, tighten the nuts in a star pattern rather than working around the circle, and recheck them after a short drive, because newly seated wheels settle. Bearing wear announces itself as a rumble that changes with speed and as rocking movement when the raised wheel is gripped at twelve and six o'clock. Punctures, pressures and torque checks are owner jobs, and bearing replacement is manageable with the right tools and the buggy on stands. Vibration that survives correct pressures, tight nuts and sound bearings suggests a bent rim or a tyre out of shape, and that is worth booking a Hawke engineer to assess.