Need Help.17"+18" on early Bug ('59) Tried search!

[Brother Mist]

Hello all! My first post here.

I need help with fitting 17" wheels on the front and 18's out back of my '59. I have seen a welth of information on fitting wheels on Supers, but relativly none on the early Beetles.

I know that the overall diameter of the wheels will fit, I am lost in the area of offset however.

I have the origional fenders on the car and do not want to add widened fenders. Any help with what width will fit on the car front and rear would be appreciated. And what mods may be needed for the correct offset, such as narrowing the beam...

My car has the short axle splitcase still in it as well.

Kinda hoping I can find someone here that has an early car that has 17's or 18's on theirs already who can shoot me some help.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.


...older pics. Now has same wheels but full polished, and origional bumpers. Going with a semi-GL now... or trying to anyway.

[Dennis]

You can narrow the front beam 2 inches and use a 17X7 wheel with ET in the 50-55 range and the wheel/tire should clear both the suspension and the fenders. I would limit tire size to 205/50-17.
The rear will be another matter. Most 18 inch wheels will be at least 8 inches wide and many are in the 8.5 to 10 inch range so trying to fit wheels that big (wide) under the stock fenders will prove to be a challenge.
I have a 70 type 1 and I have 17X8.5 ET 50 Porsche Turbo Twist wheels with 245/45-17 tires mounted to stock beetle trailing arms using 944 Turbo Brembo calipers, rotors and 944 NA hubs. This combination required using CCC 1-1/4 inch wider rear fenders to get the tires to tuck. I had to grind about 1/4 inch off of the rear bump stop and install a flat head bolt in the spring plate so that I wouldn't have to run spacers to get the tire away from the suspension. There is about 1/4 inch clearance between the tire and fender with this set-up.

The front beam was narrowed 2 inches and I have 17X7 ET55 Turbo Twists with 205/50-17 tires. The front brakes are 1987 944 Turbo Brembo hubs, calipers and rotors. This combination fits with plenty of clearance at the suspension and about 1/2 inch clearance between the tire and fender.

Great looking car you have there.

[Brother Mist]

Thanks for the reply.
I found a tech article about ET's and different year (suspention setups) bugs. The article can be found HERE

The article it states a 7" ET38 rim will be right on the edge of the fender and should be used with a narrowed beam. Also ststes that a link pin beam, as I have, can only be narrowed by 2" without needing body mods.

So if I am correct I want to go with a higher ET# than a lower one, the higher ET would bring the mounted wheel in on the car... and can be pushed out with spacers.

[GRMNLK]

I have 17 x 7.5, et52, Franklin's 4" narrowed King/Link beam, CB Discs 15mm spacers up front. Fits good, only rubs when fully turned at low speeds.

[rip]

grmnlk did you use dropped disc spindles? that looks nice

cause this will add to how much he spaced out the rim. Spacers aren't everything, the offset of the spindle, brake kit, spacers all play into where your wheel sits.

lanner's article is great. it provides good guidelines, just know that every case is different. best bet would be to find the rims you want look at the listed ET's, know about what the brakes and the spindles will push you out, then put them on the car, see how far you need to narrow, may be a little bit more so if you have to space them out with spacers. this is easier than having to narrow more.

good luck
rip

[Dennis]

Lanner did my front 944 Turbo hub machine work and modified a set of beetle spindles for me. His work is awesome and I highly recommend him for any conversion/machine work that you might need. He knows VW's and Porsche brake conversions for them.

[rip]

yea I can't speak for lanner's workmanship well not yet, the brake stuff should be here soon. But he is a great guy to deal with, extremely helpful and I know the brakes will be exactly what I want.

only a few more days....

[rip]

it's funny as soon as I hit post, the mail man knocks.

[rip]

they are sweet, I wish I had a digital camera.

[Brother Mist]

Originally Posted by GRMNLK

I have 17 x 7.5, et52, Franklin's 4" narrowed King/Link beam, CB Discs 15mm spacers up front. Fits good, only rubs when fully turned at low speeds.

GRMNLK, no problems fitting a 4" narrowed LP beam? I thought 2" was as much as you could narrow an early LP beam without doing body mods. Or are you running without shocks in the front like a lot of the 6" narrowed guys?

Thanks all for the replies. Just found out that some 'Vette's run 50+ET so I am gonna check into some of those rims as well.

[GRMNLK]

grmnlk did you use dropped disc spindles? that looks nice

cause this will add to how much he spaced out the rim. Spacers aren't everything, the offset of the spindle, brake kit, spacers all play into where your wheel sits.

Sorry for the delay in response, beautiful Seattle weather has me cruising more often
I did use 2.5 dropped disc spindles, and thank you.
I think they add .5" per side.

Originally Posted by Brother Mist

GRMNLK, no problems fitting a 4" narrowed LP beam? I thought 2" was as much as you could narrow an early LP beam without doing body mods. Or are you running without shocks in the front like a lot of the 6" narrowed guys?

I have a Franklin's VW Werks 4" narrowed beam. He uses cutom made shock towers...