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After several weeks of parts-gathering, last week everything finally got mounted, completing the upgrade from 4-lug to 5:

  • New wide-5 disk brake kits on all four corners (with larger master cylinder fitted, too.)   Andy at SoCal Auto Parts put the kits together for me.  Great communication and service.
  • 5.5" wide 5 wheels mounted with 165/80 15 Vredesteins.  The wheels came from JBugs, and the tires were bought from Tire Rack.
  • Wheel skins installed to complete.  They were sourced from CB Performance.

I'm really excited about the outcome -- the more authentic look I was after.  😊

I do have rubbing of the tires in the front when turning.  My immediate two steps:

  • @edsnova warned me that this would be an issue with 5.5s on the front, but I had already bought them.  He said 4.5 wheels would be best, so I'm going to buy two of those and replace.
  • The archives also had info on fixing this tire rubbing issue.  I found a great post from 2020 with great suggestions from @DannyP  One of his suggestions was putting some negative camber on the fronts by installing camber adjusting nuts.   They're about $30 each -- two are required.  I'm ordering them today.



Little details to finish:

  • I ordered some open end lug nuts to replace the acorns that came with the wheels.
  • I'm going to paint the cones on the front wheel skins black.



Thanks again to the group for all of the advice and answers!  Y'all have truly enhanced the fun I'm having with this refurbishment.

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Last edited by Wulfrik (John)
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@dlearl476 posted:

That’s weird. I always thought the front and rear skins were the same, but the front ones had a rubber cap to provide access to the bearing pre-load nut inside the bearing cap.

That's correct.  The original drums had a dust cap in the front, covered by a rubber cover.  We paint the drum skins to mimic that look.  The rear had the exposed axle nut holding on the drum, so the skins have a hole to leave the castle nut exposed to mimic that look.

@wulfrik one note (that you may already know) all front upper control arms will already have a camber adjusting eccentric nut already, but they make one with 3 degrees of adjustment vs. the stock 2 degrees, to assist in camber and caster correction on lowered cars.  We run the 3 degree eccentric on the spyder because A) most people run the spyder front end lower than stock Beetle and B) the Spyder front end has an extra degree of caster built into it compared to a Beetle.  So this allows for a little additional adjustment over the stock part.  

Just pay attention when adjusting, there is a reference mark on the adjusters that has to stay pointing generally forward (from straight left to straight right or anywhere between as long as it is not pointing backwards).  Moving this reference mark to the rear starts to negate caster.

@chines1 posted:

That's correct.  The original drums had a dust cap in the front, covered by a rubber cover.  We paint the drum skins to mimic that look.  The rear had the exposed axle nut holding on the drum, so the skins have a hole to leave the castle nut exposed to mimic that look.

@wulfrik one note (that you may already know) all front upper control arms will already have a camber adjusting eccentric nut already, but they make one with 3 degrees of adjustment vs. the stock 2 degrees, to assist in camber and caster correction on lowered cars.  We run the 3 degree eccentric on the spyder because A) most people run the spyder front end lower than stock Beetle and B) the Spyder front end has an extra degree of caster built into it compared to a Beetle.  So this allows for a little additional adjustment over the stock part.  

Just pay attention when adjusting, there is a reference mark on the adjusters that has to stay pointing generally forward (from straight left to straight right or anywhere between as long as it is not pointing backwards).  Moving this reference mark to the rear starts to negate caster.

Thanks, Carey.  And no, I didn't know already, as I'm a newbie to the vintage VW world.  😁 Great tip on the adjusting of the nut -- much appreciated, Sir. 

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