narrow beams and turning

[rip]

I want to get my street bug to handle a bit better, so figured the best place to start is the first thing that touches the road, the tires. I want to get some traction and have a good foot print. So I read a bit, and found that with a little work I could fit 7 inch rims on the bug. It's a 1970 std. Figured also should reduce the tire side wall a little to. So I want either 16 or 17's.

But looking over some of the posts about turning, wider tires, and narrowed beams, people have said that a benefit with using a narrowed beam is that with:

-wider tires + stock beam decrease turning

while

-wider tires + narrowed beam increase/stock like turning

This info was in a post about narrowing beam versus wider fenders. Anyways do I got this right? I figured that narrow beams decrease turning and wider tires also decrease turning. Or is it because with the narrowed beam you are now able to fit spacers between the hub and the rim

-to increase/regain track
-to add clearance between lower trailing arm

Thus no longer having to change the steering stops because of clearance issuses? And decreasing the turning radius?

So my main question is this right? That simply using a narrowed beam will not make turning better with wider tires but rather the spacers you can now fit help retain a stock like turning radius and still run wider tires? That you need some sort of combo of rims offset, beam, and spacers?

If I got this right please let me know.

thanks for the help.
Rip