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Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:37 am

Your car already has a swaybar.

Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:40 am

Yeah but I was looking to get the 7/8 for more stability and less body roll! Will this not do that? Just trying to improve the handleing. How thick is my stock sway bar?

Mon Mar 13, 2006 10:28 am

Stock is about 3/4". If you go with the heavier sway bar up front make sure you install a 3/4" rear sway bar at the same time. Just changing the front one will screw up the ballance. Here are some pics I took installing them on my '74

http://www.superbeetlesonly.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5089&hl=swaybar

Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:50 pm

okay guys just purchased my 71 super. I would like to lower the front I have been thinking of cutting the coils but dont know how much to measure and cut would like to lowerer the front 3" and the rear 3". I bought my running super for 600.00 and I will have to paint the vw soon So I want to save as much $ as possible so please let me know if it will be okay to cut the springs in the front or can i use the original struts and just buy some aftermarket lowered springs. Remember I want the front lowered three inches. I have a 68 ghia that was lowered 3" all around the irs of the super is allittle different than the swing axle i have in the ghia but can i lower it the same way by changing links at the torsion area well that is it for now thanks for the imput .

Sun Mar 19, 2006 5:29 am

Cutting the springs is a bad idea... and it's not safe.

Either do it the right way with lowered struts or wait till you can afford to do so.

Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:14 pm

ok where is the best place to get lowering struts?
im talking cheep....
and if you buy a strut.. do you NEED a strut insert... can i do without it... as in use the old one... will it be to long?
thanks

Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:14 am

I dont know where anyone else gets them! But I got them for mine from Kustom1Warehouse.com They were $150 for both sides and they came with the strut housing, cartriges, and the springs. They were easy to put on and I did all the work myself.

Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:41 pm

I don't know... Cheap is as cheep does. I like Topline for all my front suspension. Prices are competitive, high quality and they fit - period. Do it right and you you won't end up in a ditch.

Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:00 pm

not cheeply made... just cheeper... I dont have the money to spend 300 bucks for a new setup

Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:26 pm

Hey has any one intalled the lowing kit sold by JcWhitney? They advertise a lowerng kit for a super for 124.00 It will lower your super up to 4". I think i wil order it. how about the stearing and what not will i have to make any adjuctments after i install the lowering struts & coils. also what is a bump stear will i nead it? handeling is also important. thanks y'all 8)

Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:38 pm

hi,

ive been reading this thread with interest as im hoping to lower my '71 1302s soon. However, all of the replies seem to include special shorter springs or adjustable struts, dont these modifications compromise the ride comfort? Im hoping to lower the front of my super, yet still be able to keep the same ride quality and achieve a better stance. The way i propose to do this (please bear in mind i have very little mechanical knowledge!) is to carefully cut off the cup supporting the spring and lower it down about 2-3" then weld the cup back on, obviously the strut assembly will dissassembled at the time.

does this sound feasiblie or just dam right outrageous??

honest answers welcome! :wink:

Mon Mar 27, 2006 11:22 am

wisdom:
Stay away from JC Whitney. You almost never hear of a happy ending with them. The struts and inserts can be had at CIP1 and So Cal imports for less than the Topline stuff but, you always get what you pay for... I've not heard any complaints about the fit and quality of the stuff but hey, I'm loyal to Topline for front suspension parts.

evenstar:
Not outragous at all just labor intensive. Lowering (adjustable) struts basicly do the same thing they simply lower the baseplate for the spring. Using Toplines' Sport +springs actually improved the ride of my '74. You will have to use a shorter insert with a altered, adjustable strut.

Give Jon a call at Topline - he'll treat you like a customer, not just a sale.

Make sure you put in an upper strut brace - takes the body flex out!

Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:40 pm

Can you put the lowered strut inserts in the stock strut housings?

If this works, I figure I can just weld the spring cup in a lower spot on the housing and achieve the same result as the adjust a strut.

Does anyone know if there is anything that would not allow the strut inserts to fit in the stock housing? Thanks.

Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:39 pm

matt911949 wrote: Can you put the lowered strut inserts in the stock strut housings?

If this works, I figure I can just weld the spring cup in a lower spot on the housing and achieve the same result as the adjust a strut.

Does anyone know if there is anything that would not allow the strut inserts to fit in the stock housing? Thanks.

Should work just fine... do a good job on the welding though.

Mon May 01, 2006 1:40 pm

I used the Topline strut housing on the 2nd notch down, used the COFAP Rabbit struts that Topline machines to fit, and the stock springs. Total drop was 1.5 inches and I think the ride is better. It is not stiff (still plenty of body roll) and now sits level with the completely stock rear. This did wonders for the look of the car, but doesn't look "lowered" at all. Coupled with the front disc brake kit, feels like a new car.

Wed May 03, 2006 11:05 am

So now add a 7/8" front swaybar, 3/4" rear sway bar and a strut tower brace and watch out! You will suprise a lot of folks (including yourself) with how impressive that little car handles.

Fri May 19, 2006 10:41 am

Hi guys, i bought and installed my lowering kit for my 73 super beetle (from CIP1), everything fits right, the problem is that the wheel touchs on the front fenders.

anyone had this problem? how did you fixed it?

I'm thinking in modifying the fenders, any other ideas?

thanks for reading this, I´ll post some photos this night.

best regards from Chile

Gonzalo.

Mon May 22, 2006 9:17 am

You could try VW Innovations for some widened rear fenders, though they are fiberglas too I think.

http://www.vwinnovations.com/bug.html

On a seperate note, a buddy of mine with a VW garage helped me install TopLine's Adjust-A-Struts this weekend. We used the OEM springs I installed a few years back and the machined Rabbit struts from Top Line. We set the lower perch for a 2.5" drop. The ride feels a little stiffer, but I'm concerned about some of the sounds I'm hearing over bumps.

Today for instance, there was noticeably more noise coming from the front left strut... very clunky and metallic. I'm sure that's kinda vague and it'd be hard to tell me what's wrong with looking at it, but I was just wondering what problems anyone might have had installing these and what I should check for, or it they are just going to be loud.

Mon May 22, 2006 11:33 am

How bad are they rubbing? Sometimes you can get away with rolling the fender bead, especaly with the mex/brazil fenders. They have a wide lip on them to accomidate the thinner guage steel. I've had good luck with a baseball bat wrapped with duct tape. Roll the bat between the tire and the fender - go slowly don't try to do it all at one time.

Mon May 22, 2006 11:48 am

That's the problem. They don't sound like they're rubbing. I hear the sound when I go over bumps, but's metallic sounding, almost like something's loose. The directions I got said to cut off the bottom of the bump stops, but it looked like after we finished that they would've fit on anyhow. Could I be bottoming out? I can jump up and down on the front left bumper and I don't here it, but hitting those center land reflectors or little potholes, I hear the "clink".

I suppose the best thing to do would be to take it back to the garage and put it on the lift to inspect it.

BTW, I wonder if it's possible that we over-tightened the nut on the upper bearing mount. It took quite a lot of twisting to get the bolts on the upper mount to line up with the holes in the body. What's the point of that bearing it takes that much forces to twist? :?