If the wheels are on the ground, and you use a full step to start with, then a stepper motor will miss steps.
A stepper motor can not drive wheels, it has trouble to start, and it can not do high speeds. A stepper motor has a very specific use, such as in printers or 3D printers.
Try half stepping, that should help at low speeds.
I'm not sure if half stepping is enough. Those wheels are 70 mm (2.75") in diameter. That is not okay to drive those directly with a stepper motor. That is not what stepper motors are for.
To drive wheels, you need a normal DC motor. If you want to know how far it got, then you can add an encoder to the wheel or axis.