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Lowered Beetle Suspension Help & Wows

5K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  dc66 
#1 ·
Hi,

Having owned my 1968/69 Beetle for a year I have started to turn my attention to the suspension and need some help

The PO has lowered the front by about 4 inches and the rear by about 2. This gives the sloped stance which I quite like and not too extreme.

I am not very happy about the handling and lack of suspension and need some advise on how to improve it.

Can't find a good website OR a good book - Can anyone recommend anything?

Also I have no idea on how or what to improve. It has a adjuster on the front that's all I can see. Not sure if its got dropped splines or has any other improvements.

My main problems are. Front Suspension is hardly there. It bumps (spine breaking) and has no spring when you bounce the front and hardly any travel. There is quite a bit of bump steer and also tramlining on white lines etc.

I see many parts on-line shorter shocks, caster shims, swaybars, dropped splines,..... etc..... BUT I don't want to spend / waste money on trying to improve it without understanding what I am doing.

All I have done so far is greased the front beam, connected back the steering damper and changed, adjusted and greased the wheel bearings.

Can anyone point me to a good source of information?
What is the Top 5 things i should check?
What are the top 5 things I can replace / buy to improve the suspension?
 
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#3 ·
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/How-to-...8?epid=96817842&hash=item41ee0fb9fa:rk:1:pf:0 A good source of information, starting with the front, if you lower the front without dropped spindles, the suspension operates outside its design , for a good ride the front trailing arms must be angled down so the wheel moves up and away from the bump, lower the car and now the wheel moves up and into the bump, with dropped spindles you can lower the car by 2 1/2 inches and maintain the correct geometry and ride with no down side other than a increase in track, But with your ball joint front end it is minimal. if you maintain the stock height with the dropped spindles you will also have the least bump steer, also consider castor shims when using the dropped spindles. Standard length shocks. front sway bar.
Rear Suspension, is it swing axle or IRS, If it is swing axle you can lower the car so you have about 1 degree of negative camber, you can shorten the bump stop to maintain the travel, if you want the car to handle you will need wheel travel that is controlled correctly, standard length shocks and camber compensator. PS, four wheel alignment after the mods and all components checked for wear.
 

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#4 ·
Spindles give you a 2'' drop with no change in suspension. So in theory you could fit drop spindles, raise your suspension 2'' to give yourself more travel.

Could be other issues tho. It's possible your at the damper travel limit so the suspension is not working it's just hitting the damper top. If it doesn't have them fitted I'd look at short shocks for a 4'' drop. I previously used bug pack red on an old car and we're comfortable but no idea what other opinions on these dampers are

Could also be you have seized or seizing trailing arms. Makes sure grease nipples are fitted and the beam has had a good grease injection. If they are missing it might be too late and require strip and refresh.

You can get bump steer kits to help with that.

Tyres make a huge difference.
 
#7 ·
I'd remove the front shocks and see if you have suspension travel. If you do then measure between the upper and lower shock mounts when the car is on the ground. This info is vital when ordering new shocks.
If you still don't have any movement after the shocks are removed then I'd suspect seized arms. If that's the case, split the ball joints to remove the stub axle. Any seized arms will become apparent.
My money is on the shocks running fully compressed.
I would avoid driving it until its sorted (obviously don't drive it without shocks)
 
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