Super Beetle brake shoes - are front and rear the same?

for both the front and rear?

Scott, most of the shoes available at a local shop are relined and even years ago, it was becoming difficult to get fronts and rears....usually they only carried the rears,a nd they are somewhat "universal" in that the spring holes and wherre they meet the wheel cylinder/adjuster are the same location....so they work just fine...i sold my 71sb in 92(i believe) and it had rear shoes on the front....(i had to ride all around town to get the pathetic explanation from several that they don't get the fronts returned for cores as often as the rears, and that they concentrate on relining the rears which are "fine")

Thanks for the reply, Chris.

If the holes were in the *exact* same location, I wouldn't worry about it .... but on these new ones the notch for the parking brake link is in the location where the spring holes are on the old shoes. The holes that are there on the new shoes are just above that and are closer together, making me worry about the return spring length and tension.

I called a few non-VW FLAPS, hoping that they might have a front set in stock that I could take a look at. No luck, of course. Pep Boys got my hopes up when they said they had a set but when I got there it was a set for a standard Beetle. I think I'm just going to wait and clarify this with my VW parts place tomorrow.

Thanks again,

-- Scott

but on these new ones the notch for the parking brake

that are there on the new shoes are just above that

that I could take a look at.

when I got there it was a set for a standard Beetle.

AHhh, in Scandinavia we where lucky, all 1302's and 1303's came with front disks... even the 1300cc engine that looked like a 1600(DP heads).

J.

holes that are there on the new shoes are just above that

gotcha...i honestly don't remember the holes being different spacing, but it has been many moons ago....if they were closer i never experienced any problems, and i drove that car till it was T-boned and totalled....(nice all origina 71sb with autostick, bought from second owner, that bought from family member who bought new....it as not "all original" *after* i got it...hehe)

Good point, P.J. I should have noted in my first post that I'm in the USA, where we never got disc brakes on any of our Beetles.

-- Scott

.... but on these new ones the notch for the parking brake

holes that are there on the new shoes are just above that

stock that I could take a look at.

but when I got there it was a set for a standard Beetle.

I put new brakes on my super two years ago and I believe the front brakes were larger and the wheel cylinders were different from the rear. Won't the ghia discs, pads and calipers just go on without any adjustment? I was thinking of doing that because the front drums are the heaviest of any beetle and I think may amplify any shimmy problems by their size and if they are a little out of round. Dennis

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">Den's1977 Puma

well i can say they most certainly will work...done it....correct, i don't know, if you read my post you will see that i did indeed put rears on the front, as i was told that they were the same...could have been mis-informed, however they do work...Scott, you have them there lay the "new" ones on the old ones and check for diameter differences...i do know the wheel cylinders were different front to rear....

I don't doubt that you fitted rear shoes to the front, but not Type 1 rear shoes. The front drums on a Super Bug have an internal diameter if 248mm, whereas the rears for those (and both front and rear standard Bugs) are

230mm. However, the Super Bug front uses the same wheel cylinder and shoe linings from early Type 3 rear drums, which also had a diameter of 248mm. So, it seems more likely that you fitted Type 3 rear brake shoes. I did not realise this before, otherwise I would have said.

mis-informed,

entirely possible...that has been a long time ago and they were rear shoes...they were purchased at a local autoparts chain store, however i was told by several places exactly what i replied to Scott.(that the rears worked for the front and that the front cores were more rare, therefore the rear was used for both)....not sure how true it was, and haven't owned a super since then.....i run 4 wheel disc brakes on my current bug, and can really never see me having drums after this one......

You're right, Peter. Front/rear diameter and width are different according to the Bentley. This is yet another case where I should've checked the Bentley before wasting bandwidth here.

The parts place had another set of shoes in stock so I went by there and compared them to my old shoes and to the first new set. Both of the new sets of shoes were the same diameter and width as my old shoes but the second set exactly matched my old shoes and did not have the notch like the first new set did.

I took a couple of pictures if anybody is interested in seeing the difference in the two new sets.

First new set:

can see where the notch in the new shoes is located where the spring holesare in the old shoes.I've placed the new spring in the only set of holes on the new shoes so that youcan see where the end of the spring falls. Second new set: notch and the spring holes exactly match the old shoes. Thanks for the input.

-- Scott

Oops, I replied to Peter's first post before I saw this part of the thread. Looks like the first set must've been Type 3 rears.

-- Scott

I just checked my new California Imports catalog and I was right, they sell the front brake shoes for the 71-79 Super Beetle as a seperate item from the standard Beetle and listed for $17.95. The rear brakes are listed with the standard Beetle for $18.95.

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">Den's1977 Puma