TheSamba.com Forums
 
  View original topic: Effects of Wind on Your Lowered Beetle Vs. Stock? Page: 1, 2, 3  Next
Bret2094 Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:16 am

I've always had issues with my beetles, no matter how fresh the front end or tire spec, they all get tossed around by wind, and especially when I get passed by an 18 wheeler or a large suv going 60+.

With a beetle lower to the ground, is this as drastic? I've never driven a lowered or "slammed" bug so I have no frame of reference. Sometimes driving in the wind with my beetles leads to a bunch of "OH SHIT, HOLD ON TO YOUR BRITCHES!" moments.

I've never been a fan of the "low" crowd based upon practicality and my personal distaste of the so called "look" but lowering a bit for handling increases is a whole other matter.


What are your experiences? Please don't turn this into a battle of fanboy squabble. I am looking for honest assessments


Bret

-Zodiac- Sun Apr 19, 2015 7:08 am

My Ghia gets knocked around in the wind too - I've defiantly have had some "oh shit" moments, like trying too keep it in one lane. I would have thought for sure it would have been better than a beetle, the roof is a good bit lower - and mine isn't slammed, probably just under "stock".

raygreenwood Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:10 am

Have your castor checked.....and make note of if your car likes to get caugbt on or follow grooves in the pavement.

All ACVW have some sensitivity to crosswind simply because they are relatively light and have little weight in the front end in the case of bug, ghia, type 3 and type 4 cars....and....also in the case of types 1 and 3 they have flat bortoms and curves on the top. At various angles they produce lift. You see a lot of lifting in diagonal winds.

The type 4 has a bit less curves and lift in diagonal winds.....but in crosswinds it has a little more area than the bug, ghia and type 3. The bus is just a sail from any direction.

Slight lowering in the front end and not the rear end can actually make it worse in some diagonal winds because....again...like a wing it changes the angle of attack and you still have that flat bottom and curved top.
Dont know how well overall lowering works as far, as what limits.....

One of the biggest changes you Can make is positive castor. Slight overall lowering (again not just the front end alone) in strut suspension VWs makes a difference in steering control in crosswinds because it slightly increases static castor.

This helps because one of the biggest factors in direction change in windy conditions is the fact that these cars are already experiencing some lift at highway speeds so they have less ground pressure. Textures changss, bumps and grooves make the car change direction more readily. Its called bump steering or tram lining.

An extra 1-2° of castor makes a huge difference. The strut vehicles have about half the amount of castor the factory as the torsion bar front end cars. They can all benefit from a little more castor. Just dont add so much that you lose the self centering function of the gear box.

The problem of getting blown from lane to lane from trucks....nothing will help. That is nust because you are light and have a lot of side surface area. My 2012 golf is 3300 lbs and still gets some of this.
Ray

Mike Fisher Sun Apr 19, 2015 12:35 pm

My square is better in the cross winds & handles/corners better lowered. It might ride a little harder 2 splines down in front & 1 spline down in the rear w/185X60 & 205X70 tires but it feels much more sure footed! :D

Brian Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:07 pm

eh, my bug was up three inches and had the front swaybar taken off. Handled like stock.

Bret2094 Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:33 pm

Brian wrote: eh, my bug was up three inches and had the front swaybar taken off. Handled like stock.



I have the sneaking suspicion that when I get my 59 put together, it's gonna be way different than what i'm used to. No sway bar and no steering damper. Lawd hep me


Bret

Karly Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:24 pm

I've only had stock height cars so far (soon to change) but I found the type 3 better than the bug in windy conditions. You also notice a change with a full fuel tank .... I would think more weight in front would make more difference than lowering. As previous posters said I think the problem is how light a car they are.

mark tucker Mon Apr 20, 2015 10:00 am

my baja was horrible,so I put old style glass fenders on it and made a glass noze to go over the baja nose.much better,I still need to lower it more

Brian Mon Apr 20, 2015 10:21 am

Bret2094 wrote: no steering damper.

You're going to reconsider that one realllllll quick. I drove on a shot one once and couldn't get over 35 without feeling like I was going lose control.

Randall Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:02 pm

Here are some links about lowered Beetles that should help

Sticky topic: Beetle FAQ and 1958-1967 Beetle Info available on TheSamba
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=101972

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/search.php?cx=partner-p...;sa=Search

Official "Link Pin" lowering topic
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1...;start=680

Pictures of tire, wheel, and suspension thread for FAQ's
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=247735&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Images from The Samba
https://www.google.com/search?q=changing+caster+on...CAkQ_AUoAw

Rob and Dave’s Aircooled Volkswagen Web Pages
http://www.vw-resource.com/front_suspension.html

Emeraldlion Tue Apr 21, 2015 7:13 pm

I would suggest driving a stock height split window bus with ancient suspension. Then drive your bug, will feel like it's on rails :lol:

raygreenwood Tue Apr 21, 2015 11:42 pm

Brian wrote: Bret2094 wrote: no steering damper.

You're going to reconsider that one realllllll quick. I drove on a shot one once and couldn't get over 35 without feeling like I was going lose control.

Great point. I have twin stock steering dampers run end to end spoon style in a bracket I fabbed on my 412. Great mod! Fantastic along with a, little more castor in cross winds at high speed.
Ray

Bret2094 Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:08 am

raygreenwood wrote: Brian wrote: Bret2094 wrote: no steering damper.

You're going to reconsider that one realllllll quick. I drove on a shot one once and couldn't get over 35 without feeling like I was going lose control.

Great point. I have twin stock steering dampers run end to end spoon style in a bracket I fabbed on my 412. Great mod! Fantastic along with a, little more castor in cross winds at high speed.
Ray


Yea, I've got alot of stuff to do before I even think about welding a flange for a damper. Gotta love the earlier suff. Trying to keep the mods low on this one, but some things are just going to be upgraded/ Installed. LED snowflake assemblies and seatbelts just to name a few. Worse comes to worse, I drive it around for a bit, hate the lack of damper, and throw in my spare beam to get a frame of reference with the same car.


Cool stuff guys, thanks for the comments so far

Bret

Bruce Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:24 am

Bret2094 wrote: ...... they all get tossed around by wind........

IMO, it's nothing do do with the ride height. It is your wheels and tires.

I have two sets of wheels and tires for my car.
Snow tires: 155/80/15 on 4½s and 165/80/15 on 6" wheels
Summer tires: 205/55/15 on 7" (F) and 215/60/15 on 8" (R)

With the skinny snow tires, the car is all over the road above 70mph. It's kinda scary above 85mph.
With the summer tires it is dead stable above 110mph even when I can see the trees bending over due to cross winds.

What are your wheel and tire sizes?

Bret2094 Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:41 am

Bruce wrote:

What are your wheel and tire sizes?

165/80/R15 on the stock rims for my 67. The buggy is kind of irrelivent, but I run 195/60's on the front with some old smootie stock rims and some big 30 inch mud grabbers on the back. Don't remember the exact spec off hand, but they are rarely used on road. out of the two drivers I have right now, it gets tossed around the least



Bret

KTPhil Wed Apr 22, 2015 8:05 am

Another hidden contributor to skittishness in winds is the adjustment of toe for all FOUR wheels. The rear needs a little bit of toe-OUT. That way, as you corner, or are blown aside in the wind, the extra traction on the outer tires will slightly self-steer the car into the corner or wind, causing a correction without you having to move the steering wheel.

When you lower a swing axle car, the relationship of toe settings through the wheel travel arc changes also. You may need more toe-out to bring it back into stability.

Also make sure you have lower tire pressure in front, as the extra grip that gives resists the wind gusts better.

Bilbobug Wed Dec 20, 2017 3:35 am

I have lowered my 1200, about 2 inches, in the search of better stability in windy days at freeways...

Now, my experience is that doesn’t change too much. The car feels stiffer, but doesn’t feel more stable. It feels light and unstable as previously.

So, if you like to lower your car for the look, do it.
If you want to do it to improve stability, I don’t recommend it.

Greetings

mark tucker Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:07 am

if the right shocks are used lowering shouldent realy make it stiffer untill your on the ground. of corse this depends on how you lower it and your setup.

if your getting blown around when the trucks are passing you that's a eazy fix, build a bigger motor and speed up. I never realy noticed that issue that much with big trucks, but there are some newer cars&suv's that put out one hell of a wake. I guess it also depends on the train around and speeds & other vehicles too. my issue was mainly just wind resistance and gust. much better with full fendrs on it.

my59 Wed Dec 20, 2017 6:39 pm

Bret2094 wrote: Brian wrote: eh, my bug was up three inches and had the front swaybar taken off. Handled like stock.



I have the sneaking suspicion that when I get my 59 put together, it's gonna be way different than what i'm used to. No sway bar and no steering damper. Lawd hep me


Bret

Now get a set of new bias ply on that and see how that is! It gets even better as the tires age and harden. Wind drift becomes secondary to taking curves on a wet road.

pwmcguire Wed Dec 20, 2017 8:58 pm

Bruce wrote: Bret2094 wrote: ...... they all get tossed around by wind........

IMO, it's nothing do do with the ride height. It is your wheels and tires.

I have two sets of wheels and tires for my car.
Snow tires: 155/80/15 on 4½s and 165/80/15 on 6" wheels
Summer tires: 205/55/15 on 7" (F) and 215/60/15 on 8" (R)

With the skinny snow tires, the car is all over the road above 70mph. It's kinda scary above 85mph.
With the summer tires it is dead stable above 110mph even when I can see the trees bending over due to cross winds.

What are your wheel and tire sizes?

And air pressure



Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group