VW Beetle Brake Upgrade Guide

A common complaint from any modern car driver jumping behind the wheel of a classic for the first time is that the brakes really aren't as good as the vehicles of today. Whilst they do still perform their duty, and will bring the car to a halt, the lack of servo assistance requires a strong right leg and a few brave pills in damp conditions. What can be done to make this better? The options are limited, but let us explain how to improve VW Beetle brakes. 

Before we jump into changing this and modifying that, let's have a quick rundown on what braking systems were fitted to VW Beetles. 

• 1938-1953 VW Beetle 'Standard' models were supplied with cable-operated brakes. Yep! These early cars didn't even have hydraulics.
• 1950 VW Beetle 'Deluxe' models were supplied with a single-circuit hydraulic brake system using drum brakes in all corners. 
• 1953-1957 30mm wide brake shoes fitted front and rear.
• 1958 Front brake shoes upgraded to 40mm wide.
• 1965 Rear brake shoes upgraded to 40mm wide.
• 1967 Dual-circuit brake system was introduced, and front disc brakes were fitted to 1300-1500cc models.
• 1967-1979 Front drum brakes continue to be offered on lower specification cars, including 1200cc.

As simple as it sounds, filling the hydraulic system with fresh brake fluid can make a huge difference to brake performance and stopping distances, and this should be done every few years as part of your service schedule.

Your VW Beetle should be using DOT 4 brake fluid, although, if you have flushed the system completely, you could upgrade to DOT5, which is a silicone-based fluid, but importantly DOT 4 and DOT 5 MUST NOT BE MIXED. 

If your pedal feels spongy, be sure to check there is no air in the system by bleeding the brakes, starting with the wheel furthest from the master cylinder. 

Find out more about brake fluid here. 

If you own a cable brake car, you are unlikely to 'upgrade' the brakes to hydraulic in an effort to preserve its vintage provenance. So for this article, we will concentrate purely on vehicles fitted with a hydraulic system. 

Upgrading to a dual-circuit brake system won't improve braking performance, but it will offer an increased level of driver and passenger safety, should there be a brake failure. Dual circuit brakes split the system diagonally across the vehicle, meaning that even if the front left brake hose leaks, compromising the rear right brake too, the front right and rear left brakes will still operate as intended to bring the car to a controlled stop. 

You will need to replace the master cylinder, the brake fluid reservoir, and the metal brake pipes in order to complete this upgrade in full. 

If you own a 4 stud '67 onwards VW Beetle, fitting front disc brakes is a straightforward and affordable procedure. We offer a disc brake conversion kit with the correct spindles, and all the calipers, hoses, and fittings required to upgrade from 4-stud brake drums. We can supply a similar disc brake kit for owners of 1302 / 1303 models too. 

You may also wish to take the opportunity to combine upgrading to disc brakes with fitting dropped spindles to lower the front ride height, or altering the stud pattern to accept a different wheel fitment, such as Porsche with 5/130 PCD. We've written a great blog if you'd like to know more about VW Beetle wheel fitment.

Converting your pre-1967 VW Beetle to disc brakes is slightly more complex, as the 5/205 stud pattern can interfere with caliper placement. Volkswagen never offered this as an option from the factory, so any solution has had to be engineered by the aftermarket, and fortunately, a number of reputable performance parts manufacturers have produced kits. We are pleased to offer both CSP and EMPI VW Beetle disc brake kits for our customers, in particular the zero offset disc brake kit by EMPI which won't alter the track width of the car. 

Another option is to fit a brake kit that will convert your front stud pattern to the later 4/130 pcd like this version from EMPI. Why would you do this? Well, the cost saving is a big benefit as the kit utilizes the original style Beetle disc brakes which are readily available, and also makes use of the existing king and link pin spindles already fitted too. If you plan to fit Porsche wheels to your project car in the future, these 4 stud discs can either be re-drilled, or you can source 5/130pcd brake discs quite easily.  

No Beetle was ever fitted with rear disc brakes from the factory, and many would argue that it would be overkill on a vehicle with 40 bhp anyway. However, when you start tuning the VW Beetle engine, and double or even triple that original power figure, the logic behind rear disc brakes becomes far more apparent. 

On top of being more reliable, the rear disc brake conversion will also look great behind your alloy wheels and help with changing stud patterns (PCD) if desired. 

A great modification on all vehicles is the replacement of standard rubber brake hoses with the stainless steel braided variety from manufacturers like Goodridge. 

The benefits are two-fold. Being stainless steel they are far more resilient to corrosion, and from a performance point of view, the hoses won't flex under pressure from the brake fluid, meaning all pedal effort will be transferred to the brakes, rather than some of it being lost in flexing the hose side walls.

Find our range of VW Beetle braided brake hoses here. 

If you are fixed on keeping drum brakes on your pre-67 car, there is an OEM upgrade you can fit, but this will rely on sourcing some used parts from a 1961-1965 Type 3.

Popular with early Cal Look builders, the 45mm wide rear brake shoes and drums from a 61-65 Type 3 can be fitted fairly easily onto the rear of a 53-64 Beetle, to add some additional stopping power, and help make up for the loss of grip from skinnier front tyres, fitted to 'get the look'. However, you will need to source a number of parts, including backing plates, wheel cylinders, and of course brake shoes and brake drums. 

Not sure what a Type 3 is? Read our Type 3 buyers guide here. 

The Porsche 944 shares a number of components with Beetle models fitted with IRS (Independent Rear Suspension). It is possible to fit the rear arms from the 944 allowing you to then bolt up the rear disc brakes and calipers. There are, however, at least 3 versions of the 944 rear trailing arm, and each comes with its own set of rules!

It is also possible to incorporate larger 944 outer CV joints for better longevity with larger inner CV joints from Type 2 or Trekker especially if you go down this route. A must for big power cars. 

One of the downsides of any Porsche upgrade is cost. The Porsche 944, in this case, is no longer out of favour, and prices of used parts are now reflective of its status as a sought-after classic sports car. 

At the front, it is more of a case that anything is possible. If you have a later 1303, this conversion is a little easier, but it will still leave you with questions regarding the speedometer cable drive and the need to have some machining done to make everything fit together. 

This article clarifies what is required for this conversion in detail. 

The VW Beetle was never built to have a brake servo fitted, and as a result, any additional servo assistance that is added would need to be done as a DIY installation. 

Whilst remote brake servos can be sourced from places that specialise in kit cars, there would still be an issue on exactly where you might mount it, and how you would supply the servo with the required vacuum feed from the inlet manifold. 

Because of these complications, it is a modification we see very little of, especially as it wouldn't actually boost the performance of the brakes, just make it easier to apply them.

And that's pretty much all there is to it. If these upgrades still don't feel sufficient then you probably need to mount a parachute to your rear bumper and stay strictly on a drag strip! If you have any questions then please drop our Tech Team an email help@heritagepartscentre.com and they'll do their best to assist. 

Andy