Wheels and tires for my newly aquired Bug
Wheels and tires for my newly aquired Bug
I just bought my first Bug and want to put some chrome wheels and slightly wider tires on it since it needs tires anyway. `My question is what would be the most economical way to do this? Search around for some 66 VW wheels or can I use some kind of adapter to use say, a Chevy wheel or similar. I am new to Bugs and don't know my options. Thanks, Billyzack
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fatalifeaten
- Senior Member
- Posts: 512
- Joined: Sun Feb 03, 2008 12:05 am
- Location: The 480
There are aftermarket options for your car that are the stock 5x205mm (AKA wide 5) bolt pattern. You can also get blank drums and have them drilled in 5x130 (Porsche) pattern, which adds more options (including the fabled Fuch). There are also wheel adapters for Chevy and Ford patterns, though I'm always a little wary of adapters as they WILL add track and they can work themselves loose if not correctly installed, which means they're a potential safety hazard.
The thing you need to keep in mind is that when you change to different wheels and tires you have to make sure the geometry of the wheels will allow them to be fitted to your car. Things like ride height, backspacing, wheel width and size, etc, will all play a role in what wheels and tires you can stick on your car.
As an example, Here's a couple photos of my '66 and an explanation of what I had to do in order to get the car to look the way it does.
First, a "before". This was our '66 the day he came to live with us:
Suspension is stock, though a little tired out back at this point. tires are 205/60x15 up front, they stuck out. Rears are 225/60's, they fit inside teh fenders with no issues.
The wheels are American Eagle EMPI style 5 spoke wrapped in a 195/50x15 Kumho Ecsta AST. This is a stock wide 5 bolt pattern wheel and is a common aftermarket design. It's 5.5" wide (Compared to the stock 4.5")
To get it to fit and still be drivable, the front beam is narrowed by 4" to pull the wheels in under the center of the fender. It still rubs in extreme cornering, I'd say it's got 90% of it's original turn radius, which has been more than sufficient for 4 years of daily driving so far. I've also got CB drop spindles on it to get it lower to the ground and to reset the steering geometry to stock so it handles well. with my wheel and tire choice and the extra track from the drop spindles (3/4" per side), the front track is still an inch narrower than stock even with wider wheels and tires under there.
Out back all I did was install new stock 23mm torsions to correct the sag and then re-index them by 2 outer clicks to get the back down (if memory serves, this is approx 16.5 degrees of change in the torsion angle for a drop of about 4 1/3 inches from stock. The rear runs the same 225/60x15's.
This is the end result:
There are quite literally hundreds if not thousands of suspension combinations that will work for your car, and range from mild to wild (I'm in the moderate category, believe it or not.) With some planning and some research, you can pretty much do anything you want. It all boils down to 3 things:
What do you want it to look like?
Can you achieve that look safely?
How much are you willing to pay for that look, both in time and money?
Answer those 3 questions, and then do it!
The thing you need to keep in mind is that when you change to different wheels and tires you have to make sure the geometry of the wheels will allow them to be fitted to your car. Things like ride height, backspacing, wheel width and size, etc, will all play a role in what wheels and tires you can stick on your car.
As an example, Here's a couple photos of my '66 and an explanation of what I had to do in order to get the car to look the way it does.
First, a "before". This was our '66 the day he came to live with us:
Suspension is stock, though a little tired out back at this point. tires are 205/60x15 up front, they stuck out. Rears are 225/60's, they fit inside teh fenders with no issues.
The wheels are American Eagle EMPI style 5 spoke wrapped in a 195/50x15 Kumho Ecsta AST. This is a stock wide 5 bolt pattern wheel and is a common aftermarket design. It's 5.5" wide (Compared to the stock 4.5")
To get it to fit and still be drivable, the front beam is narrowed by 4" to pull the wheels in under the center of the fender. It still rubs in extreme cornering, I'd say it's got 90% of it's original turn radius, which has been more than sufficient for 4 years of daily driving so far. I've also got CB drop spindles on it to get it lower to the ground and to reset the steering geometry to stock so it handles well. with my wheel and tire choice and the extra track from the drop spindles (3/4" per side), the front track is still an inch narrower than stock even with wider wheels and tires under there.
Out back all I did was install new stock 23mm torsions to correct the sag and then re-index them by 2 outer clicks to get the back down (if memory serves, this is approx 16.5 degrees of change in the torsion angle for a drop of about 4 1/3 inches from stock. The rear runs the same 225/60x15's.
This is the end result:
There are quite literally hundreds if not thousands of suspension combinations that will work for your car, and range from mild to wild (I'm in the moderate category, believe it or not.) With some planning and some research, you can pretty much do anything you want. It all boils down to 3 things:
What do you want it to look like?
Can you achieve that look safely?
How much are you willing to pay for that look, both in time and money?
Answer those 3 questions, and then do it!