Because the Beetle is blessed with that rugged spine chassis, the strength of many pressings and assemblies-particularly the sill / heater channel assemblies - is arguably not quite so vital as is the case with their.
A quick tour of the Beetle rot spots.equivalent on monocoque bodied cars. However, the only real difference between the two is that the Beetle with rotten sills but a sound spine chassis is unlikely to suffer any distortion capable of moving suspension mounting points, whereas the monocoque bodyshell with rotten sills can easily be bent to the point that the. suspension mountings are moved - which makes the cars unsafe to drive and which means that repairs have to be carried out with the aid of a jig (McPherson strut Beetles do rely on the flitch panel for the top damper mounting, so the foregoing is not really. applicable to them). The actual work entailed in rectifying bodyrot on the Beetle can be as difficult and time-consuming as the same work on any other car. When assessing the bodywork of a Beetle which you intend to buy, therefore, it pays to be as thorough as if it were any other car.
The suspension mounting points of the Beetle can, it should be pointed out, be bent in a frontal collision. A bent front axle is a sure sign that'not only has the car been involved in a heavy collision but also that the damage rectification was less than thorough.
Do bear in mind that it is usually more difficult and time-consuming to repair bodged previous bodywork repairs than it is to deal with honest to goodness rot. Furthermore, there can be little more dispiriting than to discover that a car is heavily bodged only after you have started work on what you believed to be a straightforward restoration. Once you discover just one shoddy bodywork repair, then you really have no option but to strip the entire body down in order that you can find all similarly bodged panels.
A quick tour of the Beetle rot spots.equivalent on monocoque bodied cars. However, the only real difference between the two is that the Beetle with rotten sills but a sound spine chassis is unlikely to suffer any distortion capable of moving suspension mounting points, whereas the monocoque bodyshell with rotten sills can easily be bent to the point that the. suspension mountings are moved - which makes the cars unsafe to drive and which means that repairs have to be carried out with the aid of a jig (McPherson strut Beetles do rely on the flitch panel for the top damper mounting, so the foregoing is not really. applicable to them). The actual work entailed in rectifying bodyrot on the Beetle can be as difficult and time-consuming as the same work on any other car. When assessing the bodywork of a Beetle which you intend to buy, therefore, it pays to be as thorough as if it were any other car.
The suspension mounting points of the Beetle can, it should be pointed out, be bent in a frontal collision. A bent front axle is a sure sign that'not only has the car been involved in a heavy collision but also that the damage rectification was less than thorough.
Do bear in mind that it is usually more difficult and time-consuming to repair bodged previous bodywork repairs than it is to deal with honest to goodness rot. Furthermore, there can be little more dispiriting than to discover that a car is heavily bodged only after you have started work on what you believed to be a straightforward restoration. Once you discover just one shoddy bodywork repair, then you really have no option but to strip the entire body down in order that you can find all similarly bodged panels.
