i keep hearing bout lots of people narrowing their front beam by usually 2 or 2.5 inches.

why do people do this? im not sure what it does so please pardon my ignorance. what are the positives and negatives for this modification?

thanks in advance

trev

have never had one but the alternative cheaper quicker option is put on wider wheels at the rear due to vw's being tailend heavy

appearance is similar but prob a better ride if the car is not full due to increasing leverage on axles and giving better camber. (angle of rear wheels)

bottom line to me is; increase stability either way!

my car is the irs type. would it be needed as much as a swing axle? if i had 245 tyres on the rear (or 10mm short of 10inch) would there be any need for a shortened front beam?

Guys,

You have lost me here. You asked about a narrowed front beam and then you both talk about the rear suspension ???

As to narrowing the front beam, I think a lot do it mainly for appearance. I changed from front drums to disks and the kits makes the wheels 1/2 inch wider, so I narrowed it to compensate for this.

So that was a positive reason for me, but I have hears that the narrow wheel track on the front reduce stability a bit but I cant confirm this.

Kev

ok so its basically cosmetic then. if this is the case with no major handling or any other increase apart from looks i think ill give this one a miss. especially for the dollars it costs. thanks guys for your response its much appreciated

hey craig i sent you a pm in the last couple of days can you reply when your free

When most people narrow their beam they often eld in adjusters for loering or raisning the suspension.

besides "looks" i would have thought the main reason for a narrowed bean was to get a decent 6" or 7" rim on the car when it is lowered??

so if i dont intend to lower my car yet have 7inch wide rim on the front should i need the narrowed front beam?

my car is a eureka (kit car from the 70's and 80's) and i have purchased a set of 14x7 bathurst globes. the rear will have 245 im hoping but the front wont be that wide maybe 215 or 225.

craig, i just checked my outbox and it never sent??? i think i must be losing my mind, anyway ive just sent another one to you now

Given that you have to narrow a lowered beam to put on wide tyres, wouldn't it be easier to run narrower tyres on the front than the rear? If a low profile is desired for looks you may need to re calibrate the speedo. Anyone know if it would adversely affect the handling to have narrower tyres on the front than the rear?

more tread = better grip

So does it follow that more grip on the rear than the front will help balance out oversteer?

if you want to fit fat front tyres you can always raise the front, however unless you have a baja you need to narrow the beam to lower the stance of the car otherwise the tyres will scrub when you turn. This also depends how low you want to go. Also not sure about a Eureka they might have more room in the front wells.

I am looking at installing some drop spindles and putting 175's on the front and 195's on the rear, will install the tyres first then do the drop spindles.

If I put lower profile tyres on the front it will alter the speedo, can you actually recalibrate the speedo?

Dropped spindles have other issues with legality
There is a tread on here with the trials and tribulations of getting an engineers certificate with dropped spindles

oh really but isnt there issues with welded beams as well?

not as much as dropped spindles

I thought that people fitted a narrowed front beam to allow the fittment of wheels that have the wrong offset for the particilar car, this raises all types of complications in the legal and handling departments, first up it will change the scrub radius to the positive causing an increase in bump steer and tramlining, increase in unsprung weight as now the wheel hang further out on the suspension, imcrease in wear on the king/link pins/ball joints/wheel bearings and inner trailing arm bushes, if you pointed out to any automotive engineer that you have narrowed the beam to fit wheels that you bought that look good but dont fit the car there is no way that that would be a approved modification as it is the wheel placement in relationship the the actual suspension that is the major issue with the mudguard clearence being the second one, i had my 7' x 17" wheels made and with the disc brake conversion that i engineered and machined the front track on my car is 14MM over standard,all you have to do is fit wheels that are engineered for the car