Spacers or Steering adjustment

[The Family Bug]

I have a set of 17 inch BRM's sitting on my 67 bug, really happy with them so far. The problem is that the fronts will just barely rub at maximum steering turn.

Is there a way to adjust where the steering stops or am I stuck with adding spacers if I wanna be safe? I'd prefer not to go the spacer route as I like where the wheel sits now.

[The Family Bug]

Quote from user having_a_blast on reddit:
When I installed 17 x 7's on my 73 super, I adjusted the stops and am glad I did. It was a pain in the butt as they probably hadn't moved in 50 years but totally worth it with minimal loss of turning circle.

Looks like I'll be adjusting the stops!

[Mike Fisher]

VW tires rub the inner fenders at full lock, but it doesn't hurt anything but a little paint.
_________________
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69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[The Family Bug]

Unfortunately, it's not the tires that are rubbing. I've adjusted the Beam to be much lower than stock(I even blew a shock out while doing this and had to swap to the lowered style shocks) and the wheels would actually hit the axle or swap bars up at the front of the wheel, not the tires at the rear of the fender.

I adjusted my steering stops but u-turns are almost a no-go anymore. Not sure if I can buy myself any more clearance without the spacers, or just dealing with the fact I can't make u-turns and 3 point turns are my only option. Sometimes the look costs more than money, lol.

I haven't gotten a complete alignment accomplished yet, but it feels really squirrely now. I wonder if lowering the car on the adjustable beam alone messed with my caster enough to cause this or it really is just the alignment... I guess I'll have to wait until my next project day to align and then drive again to find out.

[RandyV]

Squirly could be both but caster compensation is always good.

Plus, any slop between your steering box, box to pitman arm, pitman to tie rods, to ball joints etc.......can create some squirly.

Alignment first is a great idea.

Then you can jack the car up & if you can get another person on the other wheel you can resist eachother turning wheels and see if you can find any movement from a particular place. It's hard to find such small movements but you may find it.....and FWIW, I'm always suspect of steering boxes that aren't practically new.

[NJ John]

Bad caster, to me, actually felt like the back of the car was on ice. And the front couldn’t keep up with it. Felt worse around 60mph. Worth checking.
Mine was lowered all the way with one set of shims. A second set corrected it.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[The Family Bug]

The old tires were not squirrelly and I really doubt it's the steering box and associated linkage as all that stuff is only 2 years old. I swapped it out along with the adjustable, 2" narrowed beams. Those narrowed beams are actually biting me right now on clearance, but c'est la vie.

I have no caster shims at all, so I might just grab a set or two before I take a day to align. They don't seem to be expensive and seem reasonably easy to setup.

Looks like you can also add camber adjustment inserts but I can't figure out where you'd put them. Almost looks like they'd go in the spindle arms?

[NJ John]

They go under the lower beam tube. Longer bolts are usually needed if double stacked.

_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[NJ John]

[The Family Bug]

OK, I'm definitely putting 1-2 pairs of caster shims in, but I'm curious if anyone runs camber adjusters like these?
https://www.jbugs.com/product/22-2817.html
I guess I could measure my camber in front first before worrying to much, but I wanna get the front end right before I move to the back end and putting a bigger motor in it.

[NJ John]

I’ve never needed them. But, I’m guessing in extreme cases it would help.
_________________
1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage