Itinerant Air-Cooled

yea, I know, keep it stock. not with this one.




nothing crazy, just a little tweaking to make it look a little more 'right' than it does sticking pointlessly way up in the air.

between the new lower position and the new seats I put in the other day, I freakin LOVE the way this thing drive now. it tackles corners no problemo.

I think some smaller overall diameter front tires with a wider footprint and some carb/dist tweaking and it's going to be ready for a nice long run.

I actually like the look, not too aggressive. What route did you go for the lowering?

Im glad you like it...

To lower I used CB Performance drop spindles for the front, then using an inclometer I moved the rear spring plates up one click. It was surprisingly easy to do both front and back.

my driveway is at an incline so I can't go any lower without worrying about scraping, but I don't want to deal with all of that front beam narrowing and whatnot.

technically the stance would be perfect if I could get the nose down about 1.5 more inches, but it's just too much time/$$ for this particular project.

airkooledchris wrote:technically the stance would be perfect if I could get the nose down about 1.5 more inches, but it's just too much time/$$ for this particular project.

Nah, I'd say it looks great right where it is.

thanks again, I really am happy with it overall.

this is what I meant by 'technically perfect'



in that an 1.5 would make it perfectly even front to back, but it drives great right now and I don't want to start throwing things at it that make it too harsh of a ride. we don't exactly have perfectly smooth roads around here...

If you feel like going lower, just add 900 pounds of bricks from Home Depot. That's what I did in my Impreza.

Before:


After:


It's only like $87!

The stock suspension on a Beetle is great for bad roads, which is why it's ride is somewhat higher. The roads in Germany were terrible in the 30s.
An unmodified Beetle will go anywhere, with very nice ride and handling characteristics. I don't understand why people think they ride too high, it looks fine to me. Whatta I know?

hambone wrote:..... it's ride is somewhat higher.

agreed, I think it's ride is somewhat higher than what you would expect it to be based on it's design.

I don't understand why people think they ride too high

I think you understand just fine.

from a design perspective, cars look better with a minimal amount of gap inbetween the front fender and the top of the tire. the beetle, at stock, has a near ridiculous amount of gap at the front fender.

this is what it looks like at stock with the tallest tires you would ever put on the front of a bug, and with the front tire squished a bit because of the angle of the road I took this shot on:




do I think that looks good? Yes, I think it looks great. It feels a little squirrely at high speeds and around corners, but I could drive it off road without worrying about hitting the underside at with brush - which isn't exactly the style of driving I am planning to do with this car.



I just think this looks better. less gap between the fender and the top of the tire. plus I think it drives much nicer for how I drive and where. on the highway it feels more confident in it's stance, and turning and cornering just feels like its better planted. I get less front wheel squeal taking corners at medium speeds, where before Id hardly carry any speed into the corner and the front tires would always chirp like I was going way too fast.

Anyway thats my case for wanting to lower the beetle in a legitimate way.
I have to admit though, I am not faithful to any school of thought when it comes to customizing a car. I like things jacked up, slammed to the ground on airbags or left bone stock, it all depends on what your wanting to achieve.

from a design perspective, cars look better with a minimal amount of gap inbetween the front fender

Well that's a personal definition, not a truth. I like the stock ride just fine while others like lowering, purple paint, etc. There really is no way to gauge. If it does effect handling, that's another story. Your bug looks fine that way, but to me it doesn't look any better. But it's your car and you're happy with it so that's what really matters, not some kook's opinion on a forum.
I'm sure this topic has been beaten to death elsewhere.