Hey, Have you ever used castor shims to correct issues in steering once you had lowered ur beetle? if so what was the details of the issue and what noticable difference did using castor shims do for it?

Thanks

yes they correct the castor to what it should be

because of the lowering

They restore the king pin inclination angle and the self centering of the steering, you need to have a wheel alignmnet to determin weather you even need them, if it is withinn specs and you fit a set all you will do is increase the effort required to turn the steering wheel at low speeds, vw used to fit them at the dealers to stop the car wandering. if you have fitted dropped spindles the castor should be around factory specs, if you lowered it using adjuster's then you will probably need to fit a set

Main effect I know from reduced castor is that you lose some of the self centering effect in the steering... so the steering will try to wander a bit when driving in a straight line, and can get a "tram lining" effect where front tyres want to follow grooves or cracks in the road.

Had it occur on Jezzi when first lowered her many moons ago (with adjusters), and once threw set of castor shims in it was much improved.



Only slight negative was that the girlfriend at the time drove the car occasionally, and she complained it made the steering a bit heavier... easily fixed tho by keeping the castor shims and ditching the girlfriend !!!

I fitted them when I lowered MY beetle but My Wife doesn't like to drive it because its heavy to steer at slow speeds..

as She is here to stay Dave,, ..

its not as low as it used to be...
I don't have any mud guard rubbing issues now..

and I have 20psi in front tyres.. bald tyres would make it easier..lol

How LOW does the front need to be before they are fitted??
1 1/2 inches -- 2 inches??

I may take them out and see if I can see or feel any difference..

LEE

you only need the shims if you end up with a nose down stance over a certain amount. These shims can quite easily put the castor past what it should be on mildly nose down bugs