beam width

[Thomas]

I'm trying to figure out how much I would have to narrow my beam so I can use 5 1/2 smoothes on the front of my beetle. If possible I would like to keep the shock towers. In the picture The tire size is 205 but I would most likely use 185s. Thanks Thomas.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/yy188/Thomas1965_bucket/vw/vwfrountend006.jpg

[Alisdair]

sorry i just realised this was posted in ask dvkk section , i wish.

hi thomas,  i saw this has been posted awhile with no reply , thought id try help, but theres a thousand answers to this one.

 is it lowered any in front?  if so is it via  spindles or adjusters ?

My own 66 had 185s and 5 1/2 steelies when i bought it many years ago .
They rubbed   very bad,  it  only needed 1 inch clearance each side to stop the rubbing.  
If your set on 185s , i believe you  need to narrow your beam only 2 inches to stop them rubbing the fenders,  but if its lowered
  i m sure  the 185s will  rub on the inner side when cornering/braking  ,mine did after i  lowered the front . i then changed to 165s and cured the problem
personally id change tire size  before id narrow the front  beam .
I hope this helps some or at least brings your post up for others to help you out. cheers Al

[Thomas]

Thanks for the reply but since I posted this question I have decided to redo the car from the ground up. I'm going to go with the CB 2" narrowed beam and I'll be figuring out tire sizes later when the car is at the mock-up stage. Thanks again for the info. Cheers Thomas