I own a 59 Beetle with a narrowed beam and dropped spindles and want to fit new lowered shocks but have seen empi sell gas and oil shocks.

What is better for narrowed lowered front ends??

Please share youre opinions and experiences?

Thanks Chris

I doubt there would be any difference between empi gas and oil shocks

I would also stay away from Cofap

I use to have KYB Gas shocks on my lowered (strut) beetle and it handled well

Otherwise Bilstein

My preference is KONI. You may have to check if you need shorter shocks if you are lowering a significant amount

Bilstein, Koni or KYB. Any of those will be good.

oil shocks

Tried the KYB gas on the front and nearly lost every bone in my body.

Being a newbee and not having any prejudices against EMPI and not wanting to waste another couple hundred dollars I thought I would give EMPI oil shockers a try.

Agree, not the worlds best but certainly good enough and cheap enough to throw away if nor happy.

Currently have EMPI shocker on the front, lowered version and Monroe Gas on the rear with heavier sway bars front and rear.

Car handles as good as my sports car but not as good as the XR6T.

Ken

Quote:

Originally posted by ian.mezz oil shocks

DON't buy EMPI. Far too many horror stories on their build quality.

Boge, Bilstein, KYB, Koni, Bugpack are all good brands with Bugpack and Boge being the more affordable of the brands.

As for gas pressurised or not? Well, you may well find that due to the lowered vehicle having a firmer strung ride than a normal height Beetle that the gas shock makes things far too stiff for normal road driving whereas the non-pressurised will give a more compliant ride. Also, the shocks valve head should be roughly in the centre of it's range of travel to give the best ride and also stop the shock bottoming out due to lack of available travel of the piston rod within the casing.

I don't think Boge sell shortened shocks but Bugpack do along with some of the more expensive brands.

opinions on gas shock vs oil shocks
oil shocks

Quote:

Originally posted by ian.mezz opinions on gas shock vs oil shocks oil shocks

There is basically no difference between the two, as far as the 'damping' action goes. They are both hydraulic.

Gas [Nitrogen], under pressure, helps keep the oil from'boiling' during high frequency operations, such as off-road racing. A good quality non-gas shock should be quite OK for normal road use.

Thanks for the tips all.

As my cars pretty low and not a great ride I had read somewhere that the oil shocks do give a slightly better ride due to not being pressurised so I thought Id ask for opinions before getting a set to try.

psimitar, have you still got that early floor pan I sold you?

thanks again

Ive sent you a PM psimitar

Thanks matt.

Im starting to lean towards oil. So the next question is EMPI the only brand to sell oil only shockys??

In October, 1963 I drove a 1200 Beetle [Standard] in the Armstrong 500 at Bathurst. The Armstrong shock absorber company issued every compeditor with a set of Armstrong shocks to fit to their car.

I must admit I was not too keen on these Armstrong shocks - Konis would have been nice - however Armstrong was the race sponsor, so we were obliged to fit them.

Let me tell you...those shock absorbers absolutely transformed the Beetle ! Down 'The Esses' flat out in 3rd gear, over the 'Dipper' without any loss of stability...marvelous. I wanted to keep those shocks to whack on my own Beetle, but Armstrong wanted them back. They were for their "Testing and development" purposes, and must be handed back. Armstrong knew how to make really good shocks...if they wanted to.

I run low in a 62 bug with a 4.5 narrowed beam and CB wide 5 dropped spindle disks up front that I have adjustable Koni classics all round and the general feel and handling went from appaling 100% of the time with empi oil shocks to the car feeling stable and now being able to throw it into corners with confidence.

From memory I think I set the rebound at 3/4 on the rear and 1/2 on the front.

Konis