Need opinions on front suspension.
  We all know the state of UK roads 😢 and my buggy is used/.enjoyed every weekend.
 Am so over crashing and banging through potholes and want something more forgiving.

 Currently I have a lowered balljoint front beam (no idea how much as it's been cut and turned), apparently leaf springs have been taken out but not sure how many or from where, it has some sort of coil over shocks and have 185/60/15 tyres.

Have sourced a rust free front beam and am going to weld in swayaways too and bottom.

 Can someone please tell me what a decent starting point for leaf removal would be?
  Am probably going to fit 205/60 for a bit more side wall and aesthetics.  Have also read in numerous places that the best shocks to use are the cheapest oil filled shocks you can find or even used ones due to the weight on the front.

Any ideas gratefully received.

On the right track with taller tyres, worth going for a softer compound.

Let's face it the roads have never been fabulous but I have more problems with speed bumps than potholes.

Standard ride height but softened with all of the thin leaves removed, cheap Copap oil shocks and 185/65 15 budget tyres and it rides and handles great.

Really depends on your budget, to be honest.

A set of adjustable dampers so you can turn things down to suit are always nice... (the gas/oil thing is a misunderstanding by many people. It's how stiff the valving is that matters)

Let's face it the roads have never been fabulous but I have more problems with speed bumps than potholes.

Standard ride height but softened with all of the thin leaves removed, cheap Copap oil shocks and 185/65 15 budget tyres and it rides and handles great.

Cheers chap. Thing is you ask a hundred people and you get 101 opinions.
  I'm liking your way forward though 

Really depends on your budget, to be honest.

A set of adjustable dampers so you can turn things down to suit are always nice... (the gas/oil thing is a misunderstanding by many people. It's how stiff the valving is that matters)

I'm fortunate enough to not really have a budget to consider although my grown up kids do their best 

 Which brand have you used/recommend?

You will find some gas ones are fully extended when disconnected, came across a buggy with bay window shocks on the suspension was solid and the gas pressure had deformed the end eye rubbers trying to lift the buggy up on the mounting bolts.you need a pair that push in and pull out with little force and stay where they are wherever you release the piston.

Shouldn't make any difference at all, the gas pressure force is absolutely miniscule compared to the forces generated by the valving over a bump

The deformation will have been from already tired rubbers.

 Not these you can hardly move the piston pushing down on them but relax at all they were on full stroke, took them off and the buggy and it sat lower niw it has el cheapo shocks and moving suspension.

You can generate 500-1000kg of compresssion force over a pothole, 10-20kg pushing against you trying to overcome the gas is still miniscule in terms of operating forces.

It will be the valving being too hard that was the issue for moving suspension, not 20kg of spring preload.

[The bottom line was this....]

Can I just repeat something once again for the newer members to the forum.
I spent 6 years, yes that`s correct six, building my buggy to IVA standard. Manx body on shortened floorpan.
Now then learn from my experience because I have never had the nerve to add up the invoices to see how much I spent. (6 years because most of it was done as a pensioner and believe me a state pension "goes nowhere" financially).
I have never been interested in modern suspension/steering geometry. My heart and head is firmly stuck in the "old school" past. My point is VW got everything right back in 1936 when Hitler demanded a chassis setup for the coming war that could be used as a platform for  numerous bodies/uses. So I make no apology when I say, to me, K & L front end and swing axle rear were genius. For a beach buggy I can see no better setup for ¬all round use", both on and off road.
On my journey towards IVA examination I spent countless hours adjusting/checking both front end and rear end set ups. I could write a book on all I tried. (That`s if I could afford to after all the time and money I got through).
The bottom line was this....
You don`t need "coil over shockers. You don`t need to remove any leaves from the beam. You don`t need adjustable spring plates. You do need standard bump stops front and back. You do need differing offside and nearside positioning of spring plate.
I ended up with standard beam. All leaves within. Standard shock absorbers all round. Standard steering damper. Fitted adjustable spring plates and had them on/off more times than I had hot dinners. (Well almost  ) ; Spent days on camber settings and again ended up with VW`s original setting. (Yes I know my buggy weighs a lot less than the donor Beetle but that`s was the setting it wanted so it got it).
I have just given very brief details here but I think two things prove that things were as they should be for on and off road use. One the buggy is very drivable, centre steers as it should and so on. Second is that all the steering, braking and suspension checks that it went through at IVA passed with flying colours.
As for ride quality.... You will get bangs and thumps over modern day potholes as the metal hits the bump stops. The most notable change in handling and ride came from a simple change to soft walled rain tyres. Search for ones with minimal Silica & Polyester content.
Driving.... If your buggy has differing wheel diameters front and back don`t expect to go round a roundabout at 40mph without rolling over. General driving is old school. Upon approaching a corner/ bend only slow down with gentle braking and only by as little as necessary. Upon entering the corner/bend immediately apply throttle to pull/drag you out of the corner. Old school suspension swaps from understeer  to oversteer  and vice versa in an instant and it is this change you are controlling. Back when I was a youngster that`s how driving was taught.
Happy motoring.   

They weren't genius from a suspension standpoint. They were cheap, easy to make, and more importantly, easy to fix/durable in all sorts of conditions. Most importantly they would still go up and down and 'work' after a fashion even with massive amounts of wear and play.

A buggy is absolutely better with more camber on modern tyres  - however you can't easily add camber to a link pin front end without binding the suspension.
 Which as many quickly find out, has very adverse affects on the ride and handling vs the miniscule amount of camber you can gain from shimming.
  Add the camber at the upright and it's fine.

Incidentally, why would you avoid Silicia for rain tyres? Silicia additives make tyres better in cold wet conditions, it was one of the best material advances we made for doping tyres. In fact you'd have to absolutely go out of your way to find tyres without it these days. You'd have to buy ultra-soft trackday tyres and even then they still contain trace amounts for the most part until you get up to slicks.
 Same for polyester sidewalls - they're lighter, and flex with less friction and hysterisis than steel sidewall plies - that's exactly what you want on the front of the buggy, what's the reasoning for avoiding polyester?

I can understand steel and kevlar for race use like mine, because I require the large sidewalls but I still need them to be pretty rigid laterally and take a lot of impact, but for a roadgoing buggy 1/2 ply polyester up front is ideal.

Disagree 100%    They were genius from a 1936 point of view. In excess of 21 million Beetles plus many more millions of Type 2 went on to be produced. These vehicles traversed every type of terrain across the globe. Mountains, jungles, desert and so on. The majority were K & L and Swing Axle.

There is a true fact that relates to the French farmers and Citroen.....  French farmers found old Beetles a cheap alternative to tractors in their fields. Skinny wheels and VW suspension worked a treat regardless of how the field surface was. The French government threw a dicky fit and instructed Citroen to come up with a French built alternative for the farmers. Hence the Citroen 2CV.  (If any of you have driven a 2CV in earnest across fields etc you will, like me, be amazed at this vehicles ability.
So that`s my last word on why I believe all you need is what DR Porsche designed, probably knowing one day Bruce would introduce us to another body style.

Someone asked me ... what about camber angle ? Well that`s fixed on a K & L front end. Looking sideways on at the stub axle and carriers imagine a line passing thro` the centre of the top link pin down at an angle thro` the bottom link pin, (they are offset), and that`s the castor angle.

It's only fixed if you don't consider modifying the uprights or the K+L bushes.

I also absolutely disagree they were 'genius from a 1936' point of view. Trailing arm suspension had been around for decades by then, and VW themselves obviously thought they got it wrong given the switched from a swing axle to trailing arm.
 You mention Citroen trying to catch up but they used trailing arm suspension before VW ever did.

The trick for the 2CV was interlinking the suspension, that was genius at the time, not a trailing arm that's basically been the basis of suspension since they put cart springs on horse drawn boxes.

Front suspension ideas -  Have a read of my build thread as tried a few on there

Then ignore everything I have written