Handling: How to Make My Bug Take Turns

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This is my garage find 1969 beetle. It had some significant frame head rust issues and now I am doing a full body off restoration.

Goal:
The goal of this project is to make it handle well. I am looking for any setups or tips to make it stick to the turns as well as possible while still maintaining it as a daily driver. I do not mind a stiff ride and really enjoy riding in my friends little hot-hatches (golf gti, ford fiesta, audi tt).

I understand that the stock 1500sp is no powerhouse, but I can always change that later although I doubt it will happen soon.

Basically, I am looking to make this car keep momentum through the turns to help make up for the lack of horsepower; just to have a fun driving experience.


Ideas:
I really like the look of an adjustable beam in the front to just lower it about an inch or so just to level out the front end. I considered lowering spindles, but I think that they are too low for my area, and I don't want to tear up the bottom of my pan. Again, this is still going to be my daily.

Currently I am looking at an upgraded front sway bar and adding a rear sway bar, and will adjust as needed when I get the car together.

Stiffer shocks are definitely in the picture (side note- it came with red napa shocks so I will be testing them before changing them). So, any suggestions on shock setups are welcome.

I want to put wider wheels and tires on it, but I don't want to ruin the playfulness of the thinner ones. I also absolutely hate when tires rub the body, so I need to make sure that doesn't happen.

Camber and toe are definitely an important piece of the puzzle, but that changes for every setup, so numbers are welcome, but I am not focused on that right now. Some negative camber and slight toe-in will be a good starting point.

Kamei front lips also look incredible, and I have seen the data on them, so I will probably add one later to reduce front end float at speed.

Misc.
I have done ALOT of research on this site among other sites regarding this topic. I am happy to look through old forums and pursue other suggestions. This is my first post on here so I am hoping that you guys can help me out.

ANY pictures, suggestions, setups, etc. are welcome!
Thank you!![/b][/u]

[rndnoramericaina72poptop]

Really nice looking stock sunroof 69! It would make a great sleeper with a dual port engine with more displacement. Maybe some 195-65 or 205-70 tires with some KYB gas shocks would do wonders for the handling and on a budget.
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[airschooled]

If I'm going for some longer drives in the mountains, I'll adjust tire pressure to get a bit more oversteer from my '69 convertible. A larger front sway bar would be the opposite of what you want for spirited driving, while a rear sway bar would help induce oversteer nicely. I have no experience with the shocks you mentioned.

The front seats eventually become the weak link once you've got grip where you want it from suspension mods. It's hard to keep control of a hard corner when your body slides six inches in both directions.

Robbie
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[rosevillain]

There are a few companies making and selling coil over a-arm suspensions for the front of beetles.

[KTPhil]

I think all your ideas are good ones, especially for a street car. Better handling will always be more fun than more power.

As posted, be sure to add a rear bar if you also increase front roll stiffness.

A slight lowering of both front and rear can make it stick better. An inch or so is enough for a daily street driver.

Eliminate steering play through the entire path from steering wheel to tires. Adjusting the box can be done badly and wear it out. Check for centering of the BOX, not just the steering wheel, and go from there. THere are several good threads on how to do it right.

Tire pressures make a big difference, too.

You have a great basis with the IRS rear end.
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Current Fleet:
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[Buggeee]

I have a Super Beetle, with different suspension, but for your standard beetle the adjustable beam plus indexing the rear spring plates will let you drop a little bit in height, lowering the center of gravity.

I have the thicker sway bars front and back. I also have a set of monroe air shocks in the back that I use to tune the rear for the activity. I indexed it down to about 1" away from the bump-stops, then use the air shocks to stiffen from there. About 30 psi for street driving and 60 psi for aggressive driving at the drag strip is what works for me.

The wheels and tires make a big improvement. The stock wheels on beetles are 4.5 or 5.0 inches wide, depending. Most of the aftermarket mags are 5.5 and you can get 5.5 steel stock-looking wheels as well. With the 5.5 wheels and lower height, you go to a lower profile tire so it doesn't rub on the edge of the front fender.

Glenn is a moderator on this site and his red late-model bug will have the tire sizes you are looking for so save some research time, track him down and hit him up for the info. Or just type his name three times and he might appear.

Suhweet Bug!
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[Glenn]

My car handles like it's on rails, so here's what I did.

Front: dropped 3" with AVIS adjusters, 19mm sway bar, KYB GR2 low pressure gas shocks (2' shorter Opal GT), 15x5.5 alloys with BF Goodrich gForce 195/55-15 tires

Rear: dropped 1", 25mm sway bar, KYB GR2 low pressure gas shocks, 15x5.5 alloys with BF Goodrich gForce 205/60-15 tires

Mounts: Type 2 transaxle mounts, Berg rear engine support, Berg front transaxle mount

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[Glenn]

[johnnyvw164]

This is a good book to learn the basics of vehicle dynamics:

[Glenn]

[NJ John]

True, but they can look as good.
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[73stroker]

Awesome, I'm down this evolutionary path myself,

Front
lowered 2 1/2" dropped disc
narrowed 2" beam
single caster shims on lower
KYB 344098 front shocks
3/4" sway bar
185/60R15

Rear
rear dropped 2 1/4
truss bar
195/65R15

The wheels are Rivera's from the 80's that I buzzed off that rise on the spokes and had them powder coated... did that many years ago, really like the 914 2-litre wheels on Glenn's car.

Feels pretty good, I may be a 1/4" too low in the back, no rubbing and handles pretty good, still need to tweak it a bit and think about a rear sway.

Engine wise, pretty stout with a 2276cc, L6 DRD heads, sidewinder, dual 44's, XR-302 cam 1.4 rockers, runs pretty good.

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1973 standard Type 1
2276cc
DRD L6 heads
A-1 Sidewinder

[Zebedee]

My 1970 handles pretty well on mostly stock suspension.

Its got cheap KYB gas adjust shocks on the rear and stock oil shocks on the front.
Lowered a little at the rear to remove positive camber (its a UK bug so we still had swing axle rear suspension until end of production).
Its running factory spec alignment apart from the slight 0.5 degree negative rear camber.
Front lowered an inch or so on a stock width puma beam, stock front sway bar.
I tried loweering it more at the front but had tyre to wing contact with the wider wheels.
5.5" empi 8 spoke replicas with 185/65/15 all round with pressures at 18f/27r.
Its got a Kamei front spoiler which seems to work well at cutting wander in headwinds.
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[chicagovw]

Have you considered going all stock but properly done stock? I agree that your ideas and those from others on here can definitely help improve handing, but most any mod will come at a cost...VW engineers, by the time your car was made, with its ball joint front beam and double jointed rear axles, had developed the Beetle into a car that was pretty well balanced-good handling, good ride, good brakes, decent power with still very good fuel milage, and very long engine life with regular maintenance.

If you add stiffer shocks, you will get a stiffer ride-which I know you said you don't mind. If you get wider tires, you will get heavier steering. And so on. Again, not telling you NOT to make mods-it is your car of course and you should make it fit your wants. But I have seen many folks do mods to try to improve when all the car needed was for things to be done correctly. Just a thought, and again, do as you wish of course ( I own both stock and modified VWs myself).

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