Front and rear wheel track

356 Porsche-related discussions and questions.
Post Reply
Message
Author
Edwin Ek
356 Fan
Posts: 1898
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:16 am
Location: Santa Monica, CA

Front and rear wheel track

#1 Post by Edwin Ek »

Why did the 356 have different wheel tracks, front to rear: 1306 mm and 1272 mm. What are the considerations related to this?

Edit: The difference is 34 mm, or 1.34 inches. Seems fairly significant to me.
Last edited by Edwin Ek on Thu Oct 19, 2017 6:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#6386

User avatar
Martin Benade
356 Fan
Posts: 12177
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 10:52 am
Location: Cleveland, Ohio

Re: Front and rear wheel track

#2 Post by Martin Benade »

I imagine one consideration was that the rear was set by the width of the VW transaxle/axles. The front was not locked in so much by VW dimensions, the front to rear difference is a little different between the two cars.
Cleveland Ohio
62 Cabriolet
56 VW
02 IS 300
04 Sienna

User avatar
Vic Skirmants
Registry Hall of Fame
Posts: 9276
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 5:02 pm
Location: SE Michigan
Contact:

Re: Front and rear wheel track

#3 Post by Vic Skirmants »

"The front was not locked in so much by VW dimensions, the front to rear difference is a little different between the two cars"

Really?? How? The trailing arms are VW, as were the early spindles. To the best of my knowledge The later spindles gave the same track.
Maybe later VWs had different front track, but not the early ones; or am I assuming something incorrect?

User avatar
David Jones
Classifieds Moderator
Posts: 7323
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:32 pm
Tag: I wish I knew as much as I think I know.
Location: Kentucky

Re: Front and rear wheel track

#4 Post by David Jones »

The 1964 VW bug had a slightly different wheel track at the rear. It was actually 0.7" wider than the 356 while there was only a 0.1" difference in the front with the VW being the wider. I read somewhere that this was designed in to give better handling because of the rear engine configuration and the swing axle. Cannot remember were I read it though. The later VW beetle after 65 with the ball joint front suspension went with a very slight increase in front track. When they went to the IRS transaxle they increased the rear track to 53" which must have been because of the different suspension characteristics. One wonders what that would do for the 356 handling.
If I had known I would live this long I would have pushed the envelope a little harder.
Cymru am byth
David Jones #9715

User avatar
Martin Benade
356 Fan
Posts: 12177
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 10:52 am
Location: Cleveland, Ohio

Re: Front and rear wheel track

#5 Post by Martin Benade »

The width of the front track was set by the torsion bar length (and tubes) which may not have been stock VW parts on the early Porsche. I agree that all the other parts would give the same dimensions. According to track widths I looked up, the VW and Porsche did not have exactly the same front-to-rear track differences, although that could have been all a function of the brake drums as well. Will the front torsion bars interchange? Also it was 1967 and newer VW that had longer rear axles at the rear.
Cleveland Ohio
62 Cabriolet
56 VW
02 IS 300
04 Sienna

Post Reply