Hi all, have just picked up my new toy, a 74 L Bug which is totally stock standard.

Have ordered a new set of Cosmo 5 15" rims and tyres (195/65-15 rears and 175/65-15 fronts).

http://www.vollks.com.au/store/Cosmo-5-Gloss-Black-and-Polished-Lip-4x130.html 

What is the best method to lower the front end? Hoping to drop it around 2.5"

Car will be used as a daily driver, but also hoping to take it out on track occasionally at the nationals and Valla once I get it sorted.

Also, any recommendations where to get the work done, I live on NSW Central Coast between Newcastle and Sydney.

Spoke to Volksbahn and Vintage VW. Sounds like modified struts is the way forward. Any other recommendations?

The Cosmos are an off set of ET20

They will rub when you lower it

A 6" wheel should have an offset of around ET36 to work

Ok - more pictures here

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=36756&page=1 

The front wheels are 15" x 6" ET36 - same as Cookie Cutters

The rears are 15" x 6" ET20

Ideally Supers need different offset front and back







[

you can see in the last picture - 15mm further out and it would rub

The Cosmos are fine for a beam, or a non lowered Super

Thanks Bizarre, Nice looking car.

I'd better cancel the order for the Cosmo's which I was told would work on a lowered L Bug.

What size tyres are you using front and rear?

Not my car any more 😂
Moved onto T3's (Vanagons)
Still around with the Porsche Boxsters

I was running 195/65 rear and 195/60 front.
L bugs are tricky to get the right wheel to suit lowering.

Have a look on Super Beetles Only for ideas

A lot of people go with fibreglass flared guards to fix the issue but not my cup of tea
The Spiders I had are no longer available.

Hi

Is your car 2 bolt or three bolt on the base? It should be 2 bolt but many things can happen over the years.

Going skinny struts give more inner wheel clearance, I was running 17x7 ET 55 on my sons 74, but the wider you go the less inner clearance you end up with so less steering lock.

Steve

Hi Steve, it's a 2 bolt, so from what I understand getting the right size rims and tyres can be tricky.

The rims arrive today, and I've ordered 175/65-15s for the front and 195/65-15's for the rear.

Will put them on with stock suspension and see how it goes. Would prefer to maybe modify the guards slightly or change struts if need be to keep the Cosmo's when I lower it.

You can roll the lip of the guard flat with a smooth piece of wood.

I widened my front guards by having the guard near the inside lip (where it bolts to the body) cut off, and adding about 25mm in there. It still looks stock. No one picks up that the guards are widened.

^^^^^ one of the better efforts

Hi

The strut bottoms on a 2 bolt car are the same as Mk1 Golf, so on my sons car I filed out the upper bolt hole to fit camber bolts from a Mk1 Golf then I had 2 camber adjustment points, using both of them I could adjust the camber to make the track as narrow as possible.

I gave it maximum negative camber on the strut leg and corrected it using the camber adjustment on the lower control arm.

Steve

Got the new rims and tyres fitted today. Definitely needs to be a lot lower. Hoping to drop down 2.5" front and rear without having to change struts or modify guards. Fingers crossed!

http://s1104.photobucket.com/user/scm048/media/Beetle/IMG_2853_zpslvjsgjxm.jp...

http://s1104.photobucket.com/user/scm048/media/Beetle/IMG_2856_zpszohivtdg.jp...

have you got a shot showing how far the rim / tyre sticks out?

You may ba able to lower the cup / spring perch on the strut

Have a look here

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=48798&page=1#pid454881 

They only stick out around 5mm.

[img]http://s1104.photobucket.com/user/scm048/media/Beetle/IMG_2868_zpswdjtbrwn.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0[/img]

they look great, how much spring to wheel clearance do you have? Is it only 5mm on the front?

I wouldn't worry about 5mm, the tire markings stick out nearly half of that!
I'd just run those wheels like that myself, I think it looks great, throw in 2" lowered springs if you want to and call it done.

Change to 3 bolt and grab the V Foce struts for sale
Bargain at that price

maybe you could get them under with my mod to the camber adjustment

Or maybe we could work something out, my son wants to go 3 bolt on his car, he has V Force 2 bolts in it now, maybe we could do some swapping, we buy the 3 bolts for my sons car and sell you his 2 bolts

Thanks Steve,

Spoke to my brother in law (mechanic) and he thinks he can modify the existing struts based on some of the advice above. If that doesn't work out I'll get back to you about the 2 bolts.

Gave up on the Cosmo's and took the easy route - have just received my Topline Maxx struts and bought a set of Boxster 16" rims.

Now I need to try and fit them all before Valla....