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Tue May 23, 2006 9:16 am

Gumby_Mac wrote: .

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? :?

I think you're on to something there... that upper mount should turn freely, after all it's the upper pivot point for your steering. CIP1 has replacements, or you can go hunting for used one that arn't in too bad of shape.

Tue May 23, 2006 10:34 am

Well, I think we fixed the problem last night. Originally, we thought the springs weren't sitting in the spring perch plates right. The ends of the springs weren't fitting into the "dimples" on the plates so we fixed that.

Then after bolting everything back together, I jumped up and down on the front bumper and it was still there! :shock: My chief mechanic and sage elder friend crawled underneath and noticed it was coming from the upper spring plate. He torqued down on the nut inside the trunk are on the upper mounting plate and it went away. That makes me wonder about how tight that should've been. It was quite a pain getting the upper mount rotated so that the strut would mount to the spindle and the holes would line up with the body on top. That's where I was thinking the bearing should've made the upper mount swivel. :?

Tue May 23, 2006 11:09 am

Gumby_Mac wrote: 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 have that same problem! I assumed the strut bearing on that side had gone bad.

Tue Jun 06, 2006 4:30 pm

This is a Super Beetle topic.

Supers have MacPhearson struts, not beams.

Wed Jun 07, 2006 5:43 am

I thought I'd write back let everyone know what the really problem was to the clunking sound I heard. Turns out I left out those thick washers that sit between the top spring perch and the bottom of upper strut mount.

We took the strut apart again, replaced the washer (lowered it another 1/2 inch :lol:), bolted everything back together and the upper mount spun free and easy!

Once the struts were back in the car, I took it for a spin and all the noises I heard were gone. I'm no expert, but I think since the strut couldn't spin freely over twists and bumps it was making the clunky/creaky noise. Steering slop is gone and I got a sweet lowered Super!

Thanks for everyone's help, especially Jon at Topline for the suggestion and for my buddy Spook at Airkooled Kustoms for the help.

Tue Jun 20, 2006 5:59 pm

Don't want to slam my beetle, but wanna use 17x7 wheels. I am thinking of the topline maxx kit. And I also want to use topline front and rear disc kit. Are these quality parts? Will they work with the bigger wheels?

Thanks

Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:55 pm

rohan wrote: Are these quality parts?...

Topline Feedback Thread Here

Wed Jun 21, 2006 6:53 am

I'm not the expert that Jon at Topline is, but from what I saw on my strut/spring/wheel setup (stock 4.5" wheels), if you're going to go to something that wide, you'll definitely need the tapered sport springs and depending on the offset of your new wheels, you might have to use a spacer to push the wheel away from the spring. Of course, that might mean you need wider fenders.

I believe last month's Hot VW had a '73 super German Looker and he was running Porsche wheels, front 17x7 and 17x9 in the rear. He had to use wider fenders.

If you haven't already seen it, read this article from the GermanLook.com

http://www.germanlook.com/Html/Tech/Tech22FittingModernWheels.htm

Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:01 am

rohan wrote: Don't want to slam my beetle, but wanna use 17x7 wheels. I am thinking of the topline maxx kit. And I also want to use topline front and rear disc kit. Are these quality parts? Will they work with the bigger wheels?

Thanks

For 7" wheels you'll have to do the Maxx struts. I don't think you'll be able to fit them with the wider sport+ springs. Call Jon - He's done so many of these cars He can steer you to what you need. I'll add that he doesn't try to up sell you - just what you need.

Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:04 am

So how far down can one really take a SB? Looking at Toplines web site thier "superlow" kit says it can go as low as 5" (depending on wheel offset and tire size) can anyone show me some pics of ultra low supers?

Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:51 am

Hey all what is the best way to remove the struts from the housing it sits on I removed the front left strut with ease it just neaded a couple of taps with the hammer and it came right out I have problems with the front right strut it does not want to break free. I don't want to hit it with the hammer to many time is there another way to remove it with out the hammer. Oh and does any one know how many links equal an one inch at the rear torsion bars on a independent rear suspension. I would like to lower the rear 3 inchs. I just nead to know how many links or splines i will nead to skip. thanks all

Fri Aug 25, 2006 2:53 am

I did it in a different way and I did not use any aftermarket parts at all.
Still, its lowered about 4 inches:

For about 4cm lowering (1 3/4 inch?) you can use Passat 2-door model 1977-81 (or there about) rear springs. They have the same width and are that much lower and slightly stiffer (25%?), which is very good on both accounts.

When lowering further you loose travel because the bump stop can only be shortenend that much.
Further lowering without loosing ride quality on a late Super (as of model '74) can be done by using Golf/Rabbit I struts. grind off the lower perches and weld back (only professionally done!!) your super beetle perches in a lower position. Now you can use a nice progressive shock of a gas-one for an early Rabbit (cheap too) and you're done :D

Using Rabbit struts and Passat springs I am about 10 cm lower with still some travel and thus good ride quality.

Here's a picture:

Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:07 am

hey guys i want to go lower

i have 195-50's up front, at the last notch, 4" drop
on my adjust a struts with the lower strut inserts and progressive rate springs

whats needed to do it right, i want another 1.5 or 2"

Mon Sep 11, 2006 2:51 pm

thats why i post in the reg forum not in the sticky

NOBODY ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wed Sep 13, 2006 3:50 pm

Super Beetle single A arm front suspension.

Since I am putting on the 944 porsche brakes on my car I have decided that due to the heavier nature of the porsche set up that I would like a beefier controll arm. I had first considered fabricating one from scratch, but then thought some off the shelf technology would make finding replacement parts easier in the future. I found some Audi 4000 A arms that may work.

I may have some questions for the pros here as this is my first front suspension mod.

Here is what I know so far.

The frame head for a super looks like an Capital I just with larger lines on the top and bottom lol. The S beetle control arm attaches to the midded of the I shape in the middel of the I kind of like this I-. How ever to mount the A arm the arm will have to be mounted to the ends of the I like this I>. This puts the pivot points a good 4 to 5 inches farther from the center of the car than the original S bettle control arm. It will have the same amount of travel as the original S bettle control arm. How ever the A arm has no provisions for camber adjustment at the ends like the S bettle arm does. To get around this I will be either using the lower half of a porsche 944 strut assembly as the camber adjustment is built in there or adapting the S beetle strut to do the same.

Here is where the questions come in.

1- Will having the pivot points moved farther out from the center of the car cause problems I need to know about?

2- Has any one done this before? If so what parts did they use?

Sat Sep 16, 2006 2:00 pm

Hello? Echo echo echo............

Sat Sep 16, 2006 3:20 pm

see no response

sorry man i can't answer ya either

Tue Sep 19, 2006 6:09 pm

For anyone who may want to try this you can follow along here.

http://www.germanlook.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=53742#post53742

Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:35 pm

gray wrote: hey guys i want to go lower

i have 195-50's up front, at the last notch, 4" drop
on my adjust a struts with the lower strut inserts and progressive rate springs

whats needed to do it right, i want another 1.5 or 2"

gray wrote: thats why i post in the reg forum not in the sticky

NOBODY ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:roll:

This is an enthusiast support forum, NOT a paid help desk. People here are exceptionally helpful, but don't expect an immediate response.

Stickies are threads intended to keep related & useful info at the top of the forum. If you actually read it, it has already answered your question multiple times.
A) Maxx struts will get you lower,
B) Call Jon at TopLine for professional advice, and
C) Low-profile tires are important.

And in case that doesn't sink in, I'll spell it all out for ya. 195/50's are a hair under 23 inches tall. A tire like the 165/45 Federal Fermosa is less than 21 inches tall. Divide the difference by two to get the net vehicle height change. It equals right around an inch - almost to your target just with tires. Maxx struts can give you up to 5 inches of drop, depending on the car. Another inch. 1+1 = 2 inches of additional drop. If you want to go lower than that, look into 14-inch wheels.

- David

Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:21 pm

Awesome :lol: