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photoghog
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Joined: January 31, 2009
Posts: 105
Location: Bella Vista Arkansas
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 Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 5:22 pm Post subject: Narrowed beam question |
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I just got my bonus today  and am wanting to get to lowering my car. I am thinking I will run a narrowed beam with stock spindles because I don't want to be in the weeds and I want to run 165 or larger front tires. Thinking a 2" narrowed beam. My question:
1. Who has the best deal on a narrowed beam?
2. How difficult is the installation? I can turn a wrench but no real experienced with VW's
Any help would be appreciated. |
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SoCalJes
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Joined: November 02, 2011
Posts: 1093
Location: Broward, FL
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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Swapping a beam is relatively easy. Having a statically lowered suspension and coming across a big road bump is hard! 
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Jesse
71 Ghia
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c21darrel
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Joined: January 22, 2009
Posts: 8211
Location: San Dimas
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photoghog
Samba Member
Joined: January 31, 2009
Posts: 105
Location: Bella Vista Arkansas
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 6:07 pm Post subject: narrowed beam question |
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thanks. Can you not transplant the stock parts from the standard beam to the narrowed beam after replacing ball joints, etc...?
The reason i am looking at a lowered beam is because I am running 145's up front and I would like to get a little bigger tire under the fender without rubbing. Sorry if these are noob questions, I am just new to this. |
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motorhead364
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Joined: November 04, 2008
Posts: 715
Location: Amarillo Texas
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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CB performance is where I got my 2" narrowed beam. I also got 2" narrow leaves and tie rods. You're arms and spindles and ballpoints will all move over to the new beam easily as well as the steering box.
Or you can narrow the leaves your self. Search here or look up airkewld forum. They have a step by step for narrowing the leaves. It's more than just cutting them down.
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SoCalJes
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Joined: November 02, 2011
Posts: 1093
Location: Broward, FL
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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Some. Did you remember to get narrowed tie rods, narrowed torsion leaves and narrowed sway bar? Take Darrel's advice. 
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Jesse
71 Ghia
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c21darrel
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Joined: January 22, 2009
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Location: San Dimas
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photoghog
Samba Member
Joined: January 31, 2009
Posts: 105
Location: Bella Vista Arkansas
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 6:16 pm Post subject: |
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| thanks guys. Wondering if it is worth all the hassle or if I should just try to fit more rubber on the road at stock height. |
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SoCalJes
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Joined: November 02, 2011
Posts: 1093
Location: Broward, FL
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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| photoghog wrote: |
| thanks guys. Wondering if it is worth all the hassle or if I should just try to fit more rubber on the road at stock height. |
That all depends on who you ask 
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Jesse
71 Ghia
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scotty timmerman
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Joined: January 10, 2010
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Location: gigharbor W.A
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jpjohns
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Joined: May 03, 2014
Posts: 882
Location: Harrisonburg, VA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 9:35 am Post subject: |
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That's what I'm going to do. I want to use the 2.5 drop spindles then raise it back up maybe an inch just to close up the cap on the wheelwells.
I'm curious as to why you would want to narrow a beam if you didn't plan on lowering your car or use wider tires anyway?
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"Scrapyards are for quitters" - Beetlenut (a Samba member) |
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sactojesse
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Joined: November 21, 2006
Posts: 2655
Location: Sacramento, California, USA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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If you don't want to lower your car that much, have you considered getting an adjustable stock width beam?
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SoCalJes
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Joined: November 02, 2011
Posts: 1093
Location: Broward, FL
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| Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 3:53 pm Post subject: |
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| sactojesse wrote: |
| If you don't want to lower your car that much, have you considered getting an adjustable stock width beam? |
That is a brilliant idea but I have a burning question. Why use 2" drop spindles and then raise it again? Why not just lower it to where ever you want it and be done with it? Drop spindles are going to add to your front track width forcing you to narrow the beam to compensate for it anyways...
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Jesse
71 Ghia
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c21darrel
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Joined: January 22, 2009
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Location: San Dimas
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motorhead364
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Joined: November 04, 2008
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Location: Amarillo Texas
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| Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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I went with a 2" beam and stock spindles because I just wanted to center the tires in the fender with stock wheels and tire size and be able to get a rake without lowering the rear. I'm not looking to have the beam 1/2 inch off the pavement either. Depends how low you want to go really.
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sactojesse
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Joined: November 21, 2006
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Location: Sacramento, California, USA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2015 9:27 am Post subject: |
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IMO, drop spindles are great because they maintain the stock steering geometry. However, they create other problems in two ways: 1) added track width and 2) potential interference issues with the lower ball joint against the rim. If the OP only wants a mild drop, a stock width adjustable front beam should accomplish that with only minimal or no degradation of ride quality. If the drop is mild, you may not even need caster shims.
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jpjohns
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Joined: May 03, 2014
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Location: Harrisonburg, VA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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| SoCalJes wrote: |
| sactojesse wrote: |
| If you don't want to lower your car that much, have you considered getting an adjustable stock width beam? |
That is a brilliant idea but I have a burning question. Why use 2" drop spindles and then raise it again? Why not just lower it to where ever you want it and be done with it? Drop spindles are going to add to your front track width forcing you to narrow the beam to compensate for it anyways... |
I was told that lowering with spindles only tends to ruin the ride and mess with geometry and that adjustable beams don't lower that far...they are for fine tuning. Maybe now, I think it's a bad idea?
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"Scrapyards are for quitters" - Beetlenut (a Samba member) |
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SoCalJes
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Joined: November 02, 2011
Posts: 1093
Location: Broward, FL
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| Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:00 am Post subject: |
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| jpjohns wrote: |
| SoCalJes wrote: |
| sactojesse wrote: |
| If you don't want to lower your car that much, have you considered getting an adjustable stock width beam? |
That is a brilliant idea but I have a burning question. Why use 2" drop spindles and then raise it again? Why not just lower it to where ever you want it and be done with it? Drop spindles are going to add to your front track width forcing you to narrow the beam to compensate for it anyways... |
I was told that lowering with spindles only tends to ruin the ride and mess with geometry and that adjustable beams don't lower that far...they are for fine tuning. Maybe now, I think it's a bad idea? |
Lowering with drop spindles does absolutely nothing to your suspension. It sits the same as stock. What it does is raise the spindle's position there by making the car lower. Who ever told you that would ruin the ride and mess with geometry doesn't have a grasp of how a suspension works. Anything can be installed incorrectly. As for adjustable beams they are for lowering, I've never heard of anyone fine tuning their suspension by altering the ride height. Fine tuning is done "after" you alter the suspension.
If you don't like lowered suspension that's one thing but to say that suspension can't be lowered correctly is an abused misconception reinforced by people that refuse to make the effort to do it correctly.
I lowered the suspension on my car and I can make the front sway bar touch the ground.
Do I have any suspension binding?
Do I have any part of the suspension out of alignment?
Do I have less suspension travel than stock?
NO, NO and NO! I can have stock ride height with better than stock ride quality and at my choosing I can lower the center of gravity of the car and take a corner like a go-cart!
Once you get past the "Boogie Man" suspension critics and judge the "design and execution techniques" you can identify correct from foolish crap.
Here is an example comparing a stock spindle position and a lowered spindle position. As you can see absolutely nothing is the geometry of the suspension is changed. The only thing that changes is the position of the spindle but the suspension is unchanged. The idea is that you can change the position of the spindle and still maintain full suspension travel.
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Jesse
71 Ghia
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jpjohns
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Location: Harrisonburg, VA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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well, that makes more sense. How far can you adjust suspension with the adjustable beams?
I was told by a guy at a local VW show about the lowering but I also have an older VW Trends mag and theres an article in it where the guy lowered with spindles and raised the car up a bit by the beam adjusters and it says it gave him more travel? I'll have to search through the box of mags to find it.
I don't plan on using anything wider than a 4.5 inch wheel on the front anyway and only wanted about a 1.5 inch drop to close the wheel well gap.
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"Scrapyards are for quitters" - Beetlenut (a Samba member) |
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SoCalJes
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Joined: November 02, 2011
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Location: Broward, FL
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| Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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| jpjohns wrote: |
well, that makes more sense. How far can you adjust suspension with the adjustable beams?
I was told by a guy at a local VW show about the lowering but I also have an older VW Trends mag and theres an article in it where the guy lowered with spindles and raised the car up a bit by the beam adjusters and it says it gave him more travel? I'll have to search through the box of mags to find it.
I don't plan on using anything wider than a 4.5 inch wheel on the front anyway and only wanted about a 1.5 inch drop to close the wheel well gap. |
For 1 1/2" skip the spindles and use an adjustable beam.
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Jesse
71 Ghia
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