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2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles
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Motor60
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 1:57 pm    Post subject: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

I have a 1970 bug convertible with the 2 Liter Porsche empis 5.5 wide with 195/65/15 tires on all four corners.

I lowered front last night with drop spindles and the lower ball joint is about a centimeter from the inner wheel lip. My tires also rub badly on the sway bar bushings when turning. I havent driven it yet as I can already see Im going to have rub issues. I have a stock beam, no adjusters.

I already know i have to change tire size. My question is....do i have to change out the wheels for a different wheel with different backspace? I believe if i dont, the lower ball joint with rub the hell out of the wheel.

If I do need to change out wheels, which wheels have the proper backspace to run with drop spindles to keep the tire inside the wheel well. What backspace should I be looking for?

I've even thought about going back to stock steels if I cant find a wheel that fits properly. And Im not fond of the 135 or 145 tires up front. I'd like a wheel/tire combo that will fill the wheel well, like Glen's red bug...His would be the perfect example of how I want my front end to look, but without an adjustable beam...

I had a 1965 bug hardtop, with dropped spindles, no adjust beam, with Empi 5 spokes / 185/55/15 tires and I had no rub issues. Was that because those wheels had different backspace or was it because it was linkpin beam?
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ps2375
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 2:21 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

I'm going thru same scenario, 5.5 wheels, 185/65 tires on front and drop spindles, only I have rub at fender lips. I'll just be narrowing the beam about 3". I had wheel contact at sway bar bushing mount, but that was easily fixed. I'd rather narrow the beam than to lose the use of the wheels I have(they've been on the car since about 1974 I'm told), and I have access to the cutting and welding needed.
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Motor60
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 3:23 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

Should I put this in Wheel/Tire discussion?
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ps2375
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 3:37 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

Motor60 wrote:
Should I put this in Wheel/Tire discussion?


If you do a search, I'm sure it's been discussed here and there many a time.
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Motor60
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 8:14 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

cant find anything regarding backspace/offset for these wheels for a stock beam and drop spindles...everyone narrows their beam...not lot of people run these wheels i guess....
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ps2375
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PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 8:17 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

Measure what you have and then figure what you need. I doubt there is a stock wheel with what you need, will prolly be a custom wheel needed, then you can decide if you want to change bolt pattern and wheel size.
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Derek Cobb
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PostPosted: Sun May 29, 2016 5:12 am    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

If the ball joint isn't hitting the wheel, it isn't hitting the wheel. No worries there. Shorter tires will fix your issues. Check out stock tires listed for Smart Cars. They have a few that should work nicely with your set up.
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Motor60
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PostPosted: Sun May 29, 2016 2:25 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

But its literally 1 centimeter from the inside of the wheel...if i turn the wheel max left or right, it looks like it will rub, its that close. i dont want to mess up these wheels if i have to sell them to get new ones...
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ps2375
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PostPosted: Sun May 29, 2016 4:09 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

Ball joint will stay that distance from wheel as long as nothing bends/breaks or comes lose. Go look at how the front end actually works.
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allsidius
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PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2016 5:17 am    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

If you used to run 165/55s , they were much smaller on the diameter and probably didn't rub because of that. 195/65 are close to the original rolling diameter, but I run 175/70s which fits perfectly on my 5.5 KpZ wheels. No rubbing at all. Hard to find, but Vredestein makes them. And they are listed in the original '70s brochures!
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Motor60
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PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2016 6:51 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

ps2375 wrote:
Ball joint will stay that distance from wheel as long as nothing bends/breaks or comes lose. Go look at how the front end actually works.


are you sure the ball joint will not touch the rim at all? its pretty damn close Sad
and it gets even closer when i lift up the front end with jack.
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PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2016 6:59 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

yes. Look again.
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PostPosted: Mon May 30, 2016 7:38 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

With dropped spindles there is one wheel measurement you need to worry about and it is not typically advertised... the ID of the wheel and whether it tapers. The stock steel wheels have enough clearance for ball joints on dropped spindles, but aftermarket cast alloy wheels are thicker than steel, reducing the ID and they can sometimes taper as you get closer to the mounting surface. This means if you push them further out you get more clearance around the ball joint. Pushing further out also means the tire may rub on the inside of the fender.
It also means if you have the same wheel in different offsets the greater offset could place the ball joint deeper into the wheel where the diameter may be smaller and you get rubbing. I believe this is why you often see people going with the narrowed beam solution to keep their desired wheel inside the fenders.
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 8:16 pm    Post subject: Re: 2 Liter Wheels with drop spindles Reply with quote

As noted, shorter tires will help with the tires rubbing on the fenders, for the ball joint issue, shorter, compact ball joints are available which will get you a little more clearance. 2 liters should be fine on your '70.

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