Are there any elements of your Beetle that you look at and think "fail"?

For me, the worst designed part has got to be those damned clips that hold the door cards on. Total fail in my opinion.
Anyone ever had any success with them?

I have only ever had a 99.9% success rate with about a thousand cars I have worked on the inner door trims with this type of clip. The few clips I have had problems with were either rusty, the door shell plastic plug they go into was missing, or the door trim was falling apart. The design has never been a problem for me.

Never had a problem with them they seem great. Sometimes if there not lined up they wont go striaght on but never got the shits with them. From Dylan

Yeah. Door clips arenot great.

Parts fail?? Parts that you can't get.

Engine bay seal and the lip that retains it.
Foam in rear pillars on the later bugs.
Wheel screws instead of studs.

The ''fail" I have had with door clips is with the rubber plugs. I bought some plugs that were really soft rubber and the door card kept popping off when you closed the door. I found some hard plastic ones and have not had the problem since.

As far as design fails goes, the fresh air system in my 72 is pretty lame. Every thing is connected and sealing good but the flow of air into the cabin would not blow out a match.

Yeah i was going to say that bout the foam in pillars also heater channels when the warm air passes through the cold metal channel creates condensation and rots out. tyre air presure windreen washer.

Agree C-Pillar foam is a defo fail

Hi

I get about 1 or 2 door clips that don't want to line-up properly, they are a pain to get aligned at times.

The fresh air box in 1303s, a total rust trap waiting to happen.

The dash board and fuse box layout in 1303s, stupid stupid.

Steve

Those clips are very annoying, i got mum to do it cause i didnt have the pattience.

I have had issues with trying to line the clips up and get them to hold.

just as an experiment years ago when i was young and had more patience one of the door panel sets i made up i designed to use toyota/nissan style plastic clips



they worked well but the extra labour involved in making them fit the door panel wasnt worth it

they need a figure 8 style hole in the door panel which involved to very carefully placed holes

I found that the door clips often worked too well on my beetle - you couldn't get them off without damaging the door cards.

Another fail - on my golf I go through window winder cranks regularly cos the brazilian replacement parts are so feeble. It's not helped by the winder mechanisim inside the door being a but stiff cos I don't want to ruin the pristine (and rare) door cards to get inside the door and lubricate the mechanism.

Also on the golf, the vent windows are held in place by being glued to metal parts - including the pivot point and the clip that holds it shut. The glue is notorious for failing, leaving the window in place only through good luck. Doesn't matter how many times I fix it, it comes unstuck. As a result, I never open them in case they fall out. Never had a problem with them on my beetle.

cant beleive noones mentioned one piece windows yet

ive got a set for my bug i never fitted, glad i didnt now after how much hassel they were on my black bug

I just cut my finger on one of them clips.

Not good

Are one piece windows really that bad, i wanna get some on my bug soon.

Why are they, is there any way that they can be made better

they look good from a distance but the door loses it strength cos u have to chop out the inner brace, you have to remove the door check rods which hold them open and stops the hinges getting bent when they fly open to far

the seals are shit and fill the doors up with water not to mention look ugly where they dont follow the line of the door in the corners

and worst of all cos theres no front channel track they rattle alot

you can spend a heap of time and address some of these problems but most people give up and cry about there hacked up doors

the best way to fix the ratteling is to use twin point lifters but these were only in 68 bugs and are very hard to find

i had one in my black bug and it was alot better than the single lift in the other door but it still rattled when it was down

besides, in summer and hot weather smokers windows are the best invention ever if u dont have A/C

Okay, I didnt realise you have to cut the door up sort of to get em to work, my stock windows leak a sfarir bit but thats cause they arent seeted right but im gunna get onto that when i put my new door cards in.

its not a major hack, just the brace from the inner skin to the outter skin but it wouldnt be there if it wasnt needed

you wont realise how much u miss quarter windows till there gone
found out yesterday my drivers side is speed limited to 145km/h
always good fun wjhen they slam shut

In 30 odd years of people trying, dont you think most options would have been tyied???
There is a few problems, the glass is heavier so the regulator ( either already old and worn or new weak as piss) cant hack the strain. The glass is not balanced as the regulator attaches to the lift channel in the center of the old glass which becomes way off center on a 1 pce, so the front of the glass tends to always drop foward. To improove this there is a dual lift regulator that is quite rare that hepls so much I'd say it's a necessity. They allow water into the door as the seals do not seal at each end very well and usually look ugly in that area. Also such large unsupported glass is a big pain when just down a little.

Well done Joel, you were quicker than me with some forgotten points too about the check straps (which is most unsatisfactory altho we used to put in flexible ones that were a so so fix) and cutting the brace.

Just black out the 1/4 window frames and tint the windows....looks good and WORKS.

Ive got tinted windows but when i open the vent window it acts as a mirror cause of the tint.

my quarters close @ 80km's

Mine close at different sppeds, passenger at 60kms and drivers is at 110.

You guys with your late model cars.......cant adjust the tension of your 1/4 window pivot.....ha.

Oops me neither........damn late model rubbish, lucky they have a few other good points.

I'll add a new one on here and say all the cardboard parts! Cardboard glovebox, front luggage area trim, even the drain hose for the fresh air box was originally some kind of cardboard. Mine was replaced with a piece of bike tyre inner tube, but the glovebox and all the cardboard trim was gone. Must've been the leaky front bonnet seal combined with rain!

Oh, and the biggest one of all, NO OIL FILTER! It was perfectly fine in the 1950s, acceptable in the early '60s, but by the time my cars were made in the 1970s the lack of an oil filter is completely ridiculous. Can't wait to put on a full flow filter with my next engine build.