Just wondering on peoples experience in rolling the outer edge of a beetles guards. Going to fit wide tyres and dont want tyre to rub on the guard where it rolls over and under.

On Jap cars its easy to bend up the guard lip, but I am not so sure with beetles. I think the rolled outer lip also goes towards strength and keeping the shape.

If you have done this, is there any special tricks ??

Thanks, Kevin

i did my fronts when i ran 18s
35+ year old german steel is alot tougher than the japanese alfoil so the ricer hall of shame method with a baseball bat doesnt quite work
i ended up just getting the shits and doin it with a hammer and dolley

still nice and strong but has made for some nice panel work waiting for me
joy of a white car it doesnt stand out much

i wont mention names..... but someone amounst us found cutting the lip off with an angle grinder doesnt do much for the gaurds rigidity

Hi Joel,

Thanks for your reply and experiences . Mine are still bare metal so I will take to them with a dolly and hammer prior to preparing for paint. Best to try and work out all future requirements before painting the car.

Cheers, Kev

I can't remember seeing any beetles with the inner lip rolled over, but I have seen some type 2 Kombis with the rear arches done...

but the most strength of the Guard is that lip...

I can remember many many years ago [probably in the late 60s - 70s] seeing where a beetle guards lips had some 1/8th inch steel flat welded around them...
the bonnet edging was done too...

My fathers 60 beetle had the bonnet lips done as only having one stay on one side - usually ended up with the bonnet lip cracked..

LEE

PS: I wish I had done the front guards before they were painted... lol.. those lips can wear a good groove in the tyres.... lol... and produce blue smoke when braking..lol

no worries kev if u have the chance to do it b4 painting then its not a real painfull job
i did mine after painting and 2pak chips like a bitch if ur not carefull
i meant to get u a pic of how i did mine when i was up there today

i forgot that the rears on my blue Lbug are also done same way to cos it runs stupidly fat rims altho thats the original 35 year old olympic air ride crossply spare on it in the pic.... the height of saftey

Burson Auto Parts were selling a guard roller recently for a reasonable amount,it bolted to the hub using the wheel studs,you then adjusted the stroke and wound out the roller as the guard stretched until there was sufficient clearance,it should take a lot of trial and error out of the modification as it works from the point that needs the clearance. good luck Les

Lee - I was thinking that most of the strength would be in this rolled area and that is my concern. Also good idea re the strengthening metal.

Joel - Thanks for the photo and I will be have 18x8 on the rear with a 235 tyre

Les - I have seen these rollers you mentioned and they work great on jap cars etc, but I dont think these will work on the vw's due to the guards being so flexible. Think it will just flex the guard out rather than folding lip over. But you never know and thanks for that.

Thanks all, Kevin