Been trying to find info in wheel sizing/offsets, but coming up blank. I've been playing around with jap imports for years, and offset info is easy to find for them, but it would seem VW guys do things differently (not that it's a bad thing).

I'm getting my plans in order for my bug build, and I'm set on fitting either 17's or 18's under the guards. I'm going to be using vvds aeroguards.

What I'm after is a rough idea of what offsets to look for (assume standard length axles).
17's I'd be running 7s up front and 8 or 9s under the back.
18s would be 8s up front and 9s under the rear.

Disc brake conversion is on the cards, but I'm not looking at a narrow beam at the moment.

Hope somebody out there can help, or point me in the right direction.

Cheers.

Unless. You can find some 17 x 4.5 or 5. A narrow front end is unavoidable.

So if you want at least 17's up front, you will have to have a narrowed beam, unless you can get 5" wide rims

You want at least 7" wide rims, so you will need at least a 2" narrowed beam. With the disc brake conversion, it may be more.

I have 7 x 17 on the front of a standard width beam, disc brake conversion with dropped spindles, also 2" wider guards, no issues at all, i will have to have a look at them but from memory I think they have a ET of 55mm plus, do not narrow the beam as it will destroy any chance of getting the best out of ther handling and introduce some unwanted side affects. just be carefull about the tyre size you run as there is a law of deminising returns and you run into the limitations of the beetle front end, i have four cars and i have found that on the front the best compromise is a 195/50/17. on my beetle it has 205/45/17 fronts , it is my avatar, i am currently away working overseas and will be home on the 10th so i can confirm then.

Still need to maintain the scrub radius if you have any hope of getting the car to handle well and as i said a et of plus 55 is what i have and this is not a deep dish wheel

Hi

My car is running Aeros but is a different model so my ETs would not be useful to you. 114.3 is the way to go, my son is into the Jap scene as well as owning a Beetle, he's always showing me cool wheels for his bug in 114.3, we went 100x5 on his bug but the OEM wheel choice in that stud pattern is limited, we fitted 17x7 ET55 Subaru BBS wheels to his car.

Maybe Vintage have a list of offsets that will work.

My old bug used Aeros as well, the rears were 17x9 ET 14.5

Steve

Thanks for all the info guys. Definitely helps me a lot.

vwo60 - If you can let me know the offsets you're running that'd be great.

Joel - Do you happen to remember the offset of the 17s you were running?

Steve - I never thought to just ask vvds, that seems the most obvious option.

Yep they were ET40 but that is on a ball joint front end, link pin may be slightly different width.

Anyone know how much wider aeroguards are than stock?

Was your loss of turning circle due to hitting the outer guards, or was it fouling on something else?

It was the tyres rubbing on the trailing arms and possibly the inner guard at the back but that was with a ball joint beam, link pin may have more or less clearance, someone else will have to chime in there, I havent owned a beam bug for 7-8 years now.

If you run a set of dropped spindles and a dsc brake conversion a wheel with a et of 55 + will clear the trailing arms while still retaining the scrub radius, also will not hit on any thing, the front track is only 17mm over, well withinn the standard track increase of 25mm.

Thanks vw060. So my offset range would be between +55 and +47 for fronts? What about rears? Are you running same size front and rear? If so, how much room do you have under the back?

Your set up sounds exactly like what I'm looking for, so I'd like to use your set up as a guide.

The rears uses a short axel set up, i would have to look , on the back it is a 8' x 17" rim, try to stick around the +55et on the front, plenty of porsche wheels that will fit your requirement, if you change the track and scrub radius to much your steering will get very heavy, i cannot remember the rear ET, i had the composite wheels made by ROH so i will have to check it out when i get home.

It is best to fit the wheels and then work out the guards, keeping the geometry correct, this is the most important issue, if the guards are 2" over it will work out.

THey only make aeroguards in one width for standard Beetles.

It's going to suck for him if he fits the wheels first then finds out aeros arent wide enough to cover them.

Hi

If your using a ball joint front beam, lou0060 on here has 68 Beetle with Aeros, he's running 15x6 Cookies on his car, they have a 36 ET

Steve

These are all the things you have to work out, it is worth it to get the basics correct before the appearance, that is the handling and ride which directly relates to the safety, if the aero guards are 2 " wider then thats great, i do not understand appearance before safety. with planning you can have both.

An engineer looks at a sunset & sees cooling thermal mass, everyone else sees a beautiful fading of light & colours. You do the maths. My2c

you just might need to apply a bit of engineering to achive a good out come.

I'm definitely looking for safety, that's the main reason why I'm wanting the disc brakes.
I am actually considering doing a pan swap and going for an IRS pan from a later bug. I know that will change everything regarding my original question. I'm wanting to go through as much information/options as possible so I can do things the way I want from the start, so I'm not wasting any money (been there, done that, regret it).

Yes you can do what ever you want, my vehicle is a early pan so it is totally different to the later one but my convertable is ball joint swing axel, long axel tube so it will be the same as an irs, i have porsche wheels on that under the standard guard, you could run 6' x 17' on the front and 7' x 17' on the rear, go to large and you will not handle as well as the smaller rim and tyre combination, unsprung weight will upset the handling. my ghia has 6" x 17" front and 7" x 17" rear