Brake upgrade for my '97 Mexican Beetle

[omarmillan]

Hello Guys! I'm excited because I finally got to buy my '97 Mexican a new Disc Brake Conversion Kit.

Ever since I got it (originally with the purpose of daily driving it) I was concerned with the braking features of the car. I wasn't trusting very much the drum brakes, especially since I drive it often up and down steep hills where I usually commute. I told my dad once that I thought even a bicycle had better brakes than my car lol

Not that they failed or anything, actually they are working pretty well 'till this day, but it would give me peace of mind to get a little upgrade.

After documenting myself with other Samba member's threads I decided to go with the cheap convertion kit sold in SoCal and it finally arrived yesterday, and I'm trully excited about having it installed on the beetle.

I received the AC Industries kit

I forgot to take a picture of the adapters but they arrived and all the bolts too.

I've read that it's a relatively easy conversion to do myself, but since the braking system its the principal safety feature of these cars I'd rather take it to a shop to get it done.

It's the braking improvement after the conversion notorious at all? Or did I just spend my siblings christmass gift money to get a silly upgrade?

Any advice and comments are welcome.

[KAmes]

I installed an AC industries kit on my '73 Thing. It makes a very noticeable difference, you'll be glad you did it.

[Tim Donahoe]

I converted mine seven or eight years ago. I’ll never go back to front drums. The difference is obvious.

By the way, what is a shop going to charge you to install the front disc conversion? It’s really very easy to do.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[BenJAMin]

What I'm wondering is why your Mexican Beetle didn't already have disc brakes?

[chicagovw]

I thought Mexican Beetles had disc brakes up front starting in 1992. My 1990 did not, but in all honesty, I never found the 4 wheel drum brakes to be in any way inadequate in daily driving, and I lived for over a year in Arizona with it on some pretty steep downgrades.

[Lingwendil]

[omarmillan]

Thank you guys for the comments, I haven't done the conversion yet. First I want to get some things done apart from the automotive life.

[GArBa]

[hopkin]

[Rome]

I think your upgrade to discs is a wise improvement. Another part that could be replaced are the 2 rubber brake hoses that connect the metal brake lines that are on the metal "stands" on the frame, to the brakes. Rubber brake hoses can swell on the inside over the years, narrowing down the center open passage. The hoses can look OK from the outside. Replacement rubber hoses are inexpensive and only take maybe 10 minutes per side to replace. If you do this work yourself, one trick that my dad taught me decades ago, which I don't know if anyone here does, is to put a drop or two of brake fluid onto the threads before you install the hose. Rubber hoses like this; "M/F" stands for male/female which describe the connection ends. http://vwparts.aircooled.net/Brake-Hose-Front-380mm-M-F-67-77-T1-113-611-701D-p/113-611-701d.htm

You can also upgrade to stainless hoses which are more expensive. You should also be able to carefully remove the existing wheel bearings from your front drums and install them into the new discs, instead of buying new bearings for the discs. Disadvantage is that if you ever want to swap back to the original drums, you'll have to swap the bearings back again. It would save time to buy the new bearings for the discs now. And the shop already gave you a very reasonable price for installing the new bearings.

After you install the discs and bleed the brake system, I recommend you go to an empty parking lot and try the brakes- press on them increasingly hard until the front wheels skid. That will give you an indication of the braking ability if ever you need them on the road.

[omarmillan]

[nagerjaeger]

I have a 1998 City Car that I converted to disk brakes about a month ago with the EMPI kit. It was a fairly easy job. I'm happy with the results.

[Jubilee Kafer 1985]

I can confirm, that early Mexican made, export beetles,
did not come with disc brakes.

This is our 1985 50th Anniversary Jubilee Special Edition Beetle

[ArnoudH]

Hi!

I had an 1600i built for the German market and it did come with discbrakes.
The setup used an hub on which the disc was bolted to.
It makes for an 10mm narrower trackwidth-comes in handy when running lowered spindles

Cheers,Arnoud

[GArBa]

[97Mexi]

Hey Omar,

I was looking for a conversion kit for my car when I came across this post from 2 years ago. Any updates? I hope you have installed the disk brakes by now.

I have a '96 Mexican that came with drums. I am looking for the kit to do the conversion to disks as I feel they are safer and work better. I had an experience quite a few years ago driving a '73 Super Beetle with drums. It was raining ( not sure if that was the reason or not ) and when I applied the brakes so I could slow and make a turn I kept going 50 meters straight through the highway intersection. Luckily the light was green for me and there was no accident, except for in my pants! Pumping the brakes, letting up and applying again, nothing worked. I was totally helpless.

Now, with a wife and kids, I want to play it safe so I am looking for this conversion kit.

I do have a question: I have heard that the Mexican Beetles are significantly different to the older '70s US spec Beetles and you need to buy a disk brake kit specifically for a Mexican Beetle. Is there any truth to this?

Hope all is well.

97Mexi

[Bruce]

[GArBa]

the misunderstanding likely originates from the fact that the factory disc brake setup for a 1600i is indeed different from older German bugs, in that the disc is a standalone part that mounts on the hub (in a way, a more "modern" setup). So if e.g. your 1600i has worn factory discs you will need to source the specific Mexican replacement parts. But even in that case, by swapping the spindles you can always convert to the older system with the disc integral to the hub.

Since your car has drums, the conversion process as stated by bruce is no different from German late models.
_________________
cars:
'97 type 1 1600i
'14 type AA Seat Mii (sadly dead after 270.000 km)
'22 type C1 T-Cross
'23 type AC3 Hyundai I10 (VW no longer makes small cars!)
-------------------------
moped:
'82 Benelli Magnum 3v

[97Mexi]

Omar, Thanks for the thread. I hope you have successfully done your conversion now.

Bruce and GArBa, thank you for your input. This clears up a worry I had about compatibility. Time to find the right kit and get to work!

[garry74T1]

This shouldn't be a problem in California, but for those in the Rust Belt who have made the conversion to disk brakes, how long do the rotors last before corrosion becomes a problem? On my 2008 Corolla all-season car I have to replace the rotors every four years or so due to corrosion. (This is in Ottawa, where road salt is used by the megaton.) Replacing rotors is an easy job on the Corolla, since the rotors separate from the hub and bearings. On the Beetle replacing the rotor would require pressing out the bearings and then pressing them into the new rotor. That's not something I would want to do every couple of years. For this reason I've held off converting from drum to disc brakes on my '74 Beetle. Of course the Beetle is never driven when the roads are salted, but even in summer there is a lot of rain and humidity here. Can anyone report on how long Beetle rotors last in the US northeast or central Canada?

Thanks,

Garry