Brakes & Components

Stop as well as you go. Brake drums, calipers, shoes, lines, and hardware for air-cooled VWs and Porsches.

Drum, disc, and the year splits that decide which

Brake parts on an air-cooled VW are almost never all-years. Front backing plates in this catalog run 1966-1977 on the Beetle, rears run 1968-1979, and the Super Beetle is listed separately at 1971-1979. The dual-circuit master cylinder reservoir is a 1967-1979 part. Get the year off the chassis number before you order anything hydraulic.

Converting to disc

• Front. Our Wide-5 drum-to-disc kit is catalogued for 1966-1977 Beetle, 1966-1974 Karmann Ghia and 1973-1975 Thing, on 2.5 inch lowered ball-joint spindles and the 5x205mm pattern. Ball joint and link pin front ends are not the same car - check yours first.
• Rear. The Wide-5 rear disc kit is an IRS part: 1968-1972 Beetle and Ghia, 1971-1972 Super Beetle.
• Master cylinder. Four-wheel disc needs the right bore. We carry a Wilwood 1 inch tandem for conversions and a 20.6mm big-bore dual-circuit unit catalogued 1949-1977.

Parking brakes change year by year

The handle alone splits several ways: one part through 1964, a 1967-only handle, and a short handle from 1968 on. The ratchet gear changed too, which is why we wrote a year guide for it. We also machine our own billet parking brake bracket in 7075-T6, a weld-in adapter for round-top tunnels, and a slimline mount for heater-delete cars.

Porsche as well

356 front disc conversion on the link-pin 5x205mm pattern, complete 356 brake line kits, and front calipers catalogued across 356 C, 911 and 912 for 1963-1968.

Decode the year first with the VW chassis decoder. Related: suspension, Beetle parts, Porsche parts. Parts line (657) 438-7002, Monday to Friday 8am-5pm Pacific.