Making my Beetle different

Alright guys bear with me through the following questions.

I have a 2002 TDI beetle with 193K. With beetles being popular, it's hard to stand out from the crowd. I am looking for ideas to make my beetle be one of a kind, on a budget (I can't buy a $10,000 laser attachment, you guys get the point). I'm looking for links to shop. Also any mods I can safely do on my own would be awesome. Even roaling coal would be cool. If you guys have any help that would be awesome!

Side question- can Beetle fenders be rolled?

Popular? That ship sailed. The new versions are slated to be axed next year due to slow sales. Your version's sales dropped like a stone after about 2002, if I remember correctly. I hardly ever see any now it seems.

"Rolling coal" is never cool. Not sure what "rolling fenders" means, but if it is what I think it is, you should know that they are plastic, and you should also know that lowering the car makes them handle and ride worse. Much worse. Unless you do a bunch more modifications.

If you want to make it stand out, make it as close to being perfect as it left the factory. Trust me, that alone seems rare anymore. That is a great car just as Volkswagen made it. Some minor tuning and stuff makes it more fun to drive, but I'd not venture too far from the original.

Unless you are putting down MAD power, rolling coal is for (BAD WORD USED HERE)
Take Oilhammer's advice. Go clean, if you do anything its making it cleaner like removing badges, stealth things like mono wipers etc. A nice set of area correct wheels with a slightly smaller wheel wall would like nice. DONT GO RICE. we all hate rice and you will get made fun of. not some after market wheel but a nice one that looks correct to the car but better than the stock ones.

Let me ask, what is your budget? $500? $2,000? $5,000?
you would be better of selling the car, and buying a Miata, Porsche boxster or other car with more things going for it other than a chick car. You will get better brakes, suspension, tire size, ect. and your mods will be better and cheaper. Go buy a Porsche boxster for $4,000, sell ehte beetle for $2,000 and spend another 2K on tires and some fun things.

You could make a Baja Bug like I had with a 2" lift and mud tires, trim the fenders, get a good clutch, tune, gauges, and injector nozzles and motor on for lots of fun miles.

dogdots said:

You could make a Baja Bug like I had with a 2" lift and mud tires, trim the fenders, get a good clutch, tune, gauges, and injector nozzles and motor on for lots of fun miles.

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neat!, i would just buy a jeep though for the cost you did all that.

I had 2 YJ's at the time...I actually bought it this way in South Dakota from another club member back in 2013 for stupid cheap and had a blast with it. The Bug and my Jeeps now live on with new owners.

I know! Swap around the interior such that you make this a rear-wheel-drive car!

I really have not seen any tricked out Beetles, although I'm sure they are out there. Just remember. No matter what you make it look like,chances are it will only strike a "like it" with another Beetle lover.
Rolling coal is for azz holes.

As someone who prefers Golfs (I'm overly practical) I really like Bugs. Some look pretty darn cool to me. If I had time I'd love to tweak one.

Bugs continue to stand out. In this day and age where all the cars are starting to look like each other it's great to be different. (Golfs are still a bit different than most, but Bugs are unmistakable).

Like I said, the thing that makes them "stand out" now, to me, is just being in good shape. No faded paint, peeling clearcoat, interior panels falling off, wheel center caps missing, plastic shields ripped off, clouded headlamps, etc.

Rust out all the panels, and go mad max rat rod with huge tires, bumper guard, lots of rust, chains, etc... Or rust it out and make it look like those attack bugs on mad max

Do a paint yob similar to California highway patrol. You'll look different.

Not sure what it is about Beetles , but they are timeless.

Love the look of these headlights! Got them in California for about 300 bucks!



Or a 2,000 lbs trunk! This is always a head turner

Local guy (skilled fabricator) has built a pretty nice beetle