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lowered 1966 vw bug
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max619
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:52 pm    Post subject: lowered 1966 vw bug Reply with quote

i recently purchased a 66 bug. it had a fiberglass front end and fender piece when i bought it. i hated it so i welded a front clip nad did all the body work to the quarter panels. i bolted my fenders on and now i realize that my tires rub against the fender. it really rubs if i am sitting in the car.

teh beam hasnt been cut or modified in any way. there is no aftermarked lowering kit welded to the beam. i am not sure if the spindles are the dropped kind. i can take a picture and post it on here. i am going to take the torsion arms and see if there has been any leaves removed. this is not a link pin type suspension. i was also thinking about the possibility of installing lower profile tires and see if i get the clearance i need.

my question to anyone with the knowledge is...

can anyone help me with some input. i cant wait to finish this ride so me and my babe can go for a ride to the drive in

thanks a million

max
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bossride
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 5:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Does it sit like it is lowered? What size are your tires? Where exactly is it rubbing?

Somebody has probably removed the smaller leaves from the beam and possibly rotated the arms after that.... and it may or may not have dropped spindles.
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drscope
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 8:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pictures would really help!

Are you sure the beam hasn't been modified? Sometimes they cut the center section around the center grub screws and rotated that portion of the beam and welded it back together at the ride height they wanted.

If they did a nice job of welding and grinding things smooth, you may not notice the cuts.

But if you are sure the beam is not altered, then drop spindles are the only other way. They would drop the car 2 1/2 inches up front. It just sounds like you are lower then that. Unless you have very large fat tires up front, it shouldn't be rubbing with drop spindles alone.
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bossride
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Many, many moons ago, (late '90s..) I had this bug and the front was lowered by pulling the smaller leaves out and rotating the trailing arms upward until they went back on and just cranked the indexing screws on the arms all the way in until they stopped, wedging themselves against the leaves. No adjusters, no spindles... this was the ghetto method and I did it on several cars, and it was pretty common in my area. Not saying it was safe, but I never had any problems, either..

If they did this, you wouldn't know it until you pull the arms out and see if the skinny leaves are present or not.
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Maimas13
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

are they stock wheels? what size tires?
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MAIMAS... read it backwards

(.o\ ! /o.) 62 chopped, dropped, cal looked, oval grafted, 57 styled, ragtop with polk audio sound system, driven daily by an 18 year old

A must read for understanding tires sizes and wheel offsets
Go Bears!!! Mech E
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max619
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks for the info guys. think i am on the right path. i am going to remove the torsion arms and see if someone removed a couple of leaves. i will also take some pics and post them as well as posting the tire size. gotta run out the door.

i forgot to mention it has a disk break conversion.. would it have dropped spindles with this disk break conversion? it does seem too low.

thank again
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spotfreerynse
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 5:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

just buy some 135/15 front tires , problem solved !
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Maimas13
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 5:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

spotfreerynse wrote:
just buy some 135/15 front tires , problem solved !


unless you drive your car daily and want to have a quality contact patch with the pavement. me personaly I wouldn't go with any thing narrower than 165s. there are many modern alternatives to 135s which give a low profile look but maintain a wider tread pattern


just my two sense
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MAIMAS... read it backwards

(.o\ ! /o.) 62 chopped, dropped, cal looked, oval grafted, 57 styled, ragtop with polk audio sound system, driven daily by an 18 year old

A must read for understanding tires sizes and wheel offsets
Go Bears!!! Mech E
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max619
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:12 pm    Post subject: lowerted 66 bug is too low Reply with quote

i have some pics finally. the tire size i have in the front are 185/60r15. i talked to tire shop near my house and dude said that 175/55r15 would be the best fit at 100 dollars per tire. if i was to just do this option and purchase the tires the height of the bug would stay the same right? all that would change is the tire clearance.

the 135 size would be skinnier but not lower right? i think it would still rub. if you look at tthe pictures you can see that the problem is at the top of the tire. in the pic it looks like it clears but if i sit in the car it really rubs.

did i mention it has disk brakes?

if its dropped do i need shocks for dropped suspension? maybe using smaller tires and stiffer shocks would solve this problem.



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Maimas13
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

play around with this for a bit
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/brochure/info/tmpInfoTireMath.jsp

135s are the same height (within .01 inches) as 185/60s but they are two inches narower, meaning that the tire would outside of the tire would be pushed in one inch, which would likely solve your problem

175/55s are a total of 1.2 inches smaller (in diameter) than 185/60s, so this would lower you car .6 inches and make the top of the .6 inches further down from the fender. also the 175s would be 1 cm narrower than the 185/60s (about .4 inches) so the outside of the tire would be pushed in a total of .2 inches


if you do end up going with 135s just keep in mind they are more than an inch narrower than the stock tires vw put on the car, which are pretty skinny by todays standards
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MAIMAS... read it backwards

(.o\ ! /o.) 62 chopped, dropped, cal looked, oval grafted, 57 styled, ragtop with polk audio sound system, driven daily by an 18 year old

A must read for understanding tires sizes and wheel offsets
Go Bears!!! Mech E
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corvette6698512
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

if you run 135's make sure your being careful on wet or gravel roads. my bug dosent like to stop very easy with 135's
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lucille66
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:30 pm    Post subject: Re: lowerted 66 bug is too low Reply with quote

max619 wrote:
i have some pics finally. the tire size i have in the front are 185/60r15. i talked to tire shop near my house and dude said that 175/55r15 would be the best fit at 100 dollars per tire. if i was to just do this option and purchase the tires the height of the bug would stay the same right? all that would change is the tire clearance.

the 135 size would be skinnier but not lower right? i think it would still rub. if you look at tthe pictures you can see that the problem is at the top of the tire. in the pic it looks like it clears but if i sit in the car it really rubs.

did i mention it has disk brakes?

if its dropped do i need shocks for dropped suspension? maybe using smaller tires and stiffer shocks would solve this problem.



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Ok it's obvious you don't now what tire sizes mean. There are 3 total:

#1 (WIDTH) 185, 155, 145, 135
#2 (HEIGHT) 65, 60, 55, 50, 45, 40, 35
#3 (WHEEL DIAMETER) 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13 in inches

So, in conclusion -

you are runnng 185-width tires now, so you need to get a tire that has a smaller width i.e. 145/135s. Also, decreasing the height of the tire, going to 55 or 50 series tires are going to lower the car as well. All in all, it looks like you need to get skinnier, shorter tires. Period.
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Maimas13
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

heres a good read that explains everything about tires. its a little long but you will come out VERY educated in tires

http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html


basicilly you need skinnier, shorter tires OR a narrowed beam... or both Cool


just keep in mind
Quote:

if you run 135's make sure your being careful on wet or gravel roads. my bug dosent like to stop very easy with 135's

_________________
MAIMAS... read it backwards

(.o\ ! /o.) 62 chopped, dropped, cal looked, oval grafted, 57 styled, ragtop with polk audio sound system, driven daily by an 18 year old

A must read for understanding tires sizes and wheel offsets
Go Bears!!! Mech E
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max619
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 23, 2008 5:45 pm    Post subject: 66 lowered bug Reply with quote

whooooowhoooooo!!!!!

the 175/55/15's worked and now i am no longer scraping. even with a full tank of gas and two pasengers.


thanks to all for your help

peace
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