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Re: Can you track and street a Bug?

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:55 am
by Ian Godfrey
so if it is just rubbing at the top outer fender, some camber eccentrics set to say 1.5 or 2 deg neg will bring in the top of the tyre and improve your handling. More extreme is bending your top arms in a bit to gain the camber, and bring the top of the tyre in. This is a lot more work.
https://vwparts.aircooled.net/Extra-Adj ... -extra.htm
I used both the eccentrics and top arm bend and had to clearance the top of the shock tower, see photo, but it brought the top of the tire in a lot.
shock tower trim.jpg

Re: Can you track and street a Bug?

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 5:29 am
by SparksLP
Ok, cool! I'll look into that! I figured I'd try to find a used set of 185/55r15s and see if they rub, if it still is I'll try those adjusters.

While this thread is still active, any recommendations on shocks for street and track use? Not too concerned about ride, most I drive is like an hour at a time. Koni's are out of my budget, so I'll have to look at something cheaper.

Re: Can you track and street a Bug?

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 7:27 am
by H2OSB
I've really been considering GAZ. They have every Beetle application. www.gazcoilovers.com look under the Dampers section.

There's an east and west coast importer, but I understand the east coast guy has great prices and drop ships right from England to your door. I had been planning to use Koni Special D shocks and inserts and find the GAZ units are only a few dollars(literally) more. I would love to be able to adjust the suspension at the autocross venue, when swapping out tires/wheels or even betwixt runs. The one caveat to keep in mind is they're made to order so take 4 to 6 weeks to receive once ordered

H2OSB

Re: Can you track and street a Bug?

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:04 pm
by SparksLP
Oof, those look nice but still too expensive at this point. I keep reading mixed things about KYB stuff, any thoughts?

Re: Can you track and street a Bug?

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 2:59 pm
by H2OSB
Use what you can. Anything working is better than shot suspension.

I've used KYB and Boge/Sachs. I didn't have issues with any of them, though I do think Boge seemed towear out fast-ish

H2OSB

Re: Can you track and street a Bug?

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 3:22 pm
by SparksLP
Cool, thank you! I'll run the half decent stuff that's on it and save up for the good stuff.

Re: Can you track and street a Bug?

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 7:20 pm
by Ian Godfrey
Re saving some dollars, keep your eye out for second hand Bilsteins (non adjustable) or Koni's (one way adjustable) as they last a long time and can both be rebuilt. I don't have experience with KYB but many others do and as H20SB points out, standard Boge are way better than worn out stuff.

Re: Can you track and street a Bug?

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 7:43 pm
by SparksLP
I had no idea shocks could be rebuilt, I'll keep that in mind! I'd love to have something adjustable!

Re: Can you track and street a Bug?

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2021 1:49 pm
by volksbugly
another thought:
So I've been building my bug as a Track car for a while. I'm getting near the end and I start looking at rules... welp dam... I'm not going to fit in much of any place but I did find the HPDE which basically has the rule of "is the car safe"
https://drivenasa.com/hpde/

Re: Can you track and street a Bug?

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2021 7:08 pm
by Ian Godfrey
That looks good, you get to drive at great tracks and at the end of the day we mostly drive against ourselves.