tpao

Looking at the specs in owner manual for 968's front and rear track width, it appears Porsche designed the 968 with the front wider than the rear. Here are the specs:

rims 7Jx16 front 1472mm 7.5Jx17 1457mm
rims 8Jx16 rear 1450mm 9Jx17 1445

So, the 16-inch wheel setup has the front wider than the rear by 0.9 inch and 17-inch wheels setup has the front wider than the rear by 0.5 inch.

I know this doesn't mean the car handles bad, but doesn't most sport cars will have wider rear track width than the front? Why did Porsche designed it this way? It would seems like this would encourage oversteer condition? If you get the 17-inch wheel setup, it will reduce the differences between the front and the rear, but the actual track width of the car also decreases. That's not real good for a sports car, right? Is this right, or am I just lost out in la la land?

hot-J

Actually, it is the opposite... it would create understeer. Which it does so slightly

tpao

I don't agree with that. A wider rear end will counter the oversteer tendency of a car. 911's are well known for being easily oversteer car and that's why Porsche fitted wider wheels and wider track width to counter this. I'm only speaking of rear wheel drive cars in this discussion.

stolarzj

The 911's also have a heavy weight (engine) in the rear end to push out that rear end, ie: the oversteer. The 968's do have a little understeer by design. This is easily fixable by going with wider tires in the front, which would bring all four tires to either the same width or close. What you need to look at is the size of the rubber, the factory calls for 205 in the front and 225 in the rear, which makes the front end have a narrower rubber contact to the pavement to versus the rear.

whakiewes

The track is wider in the front than in the back. If you are ever present when the car is in the alignment shop its noticable. When I went to 18X10's in the back it was much better.

Whether or not it was for understeer/oversteer, the car is still phenominal. The car definantly understeers in stock form, and it takes a lot to get the car to a true oversteer status. If you also notice the stock 16's sit in quite a bit; i.e. they aren't very aggressive at all.

Wes

Damian in NJ

I don't question Porsche's design in this regard; after all, they created what is considered by the worlds auto press to be one of the finest handling front engine/rear drive cars ever, especially in CS form.

tpao

Wes,

You are right about more being more noticeable on the alignment rack. As matter of fact, it was the alignment guy telling me my wheels have the wrong offset in the rear because it was more narrow in the back. He is telling me I need to put spacer on the rear to bring the wheels out more. As far as I know, my offset should be correct or pretty close to factory specs. So do I mess with factory design or push my rear out as suggest by the alignment guy? It would look better, but my priority is for handling.

As far as sticking on spacers, that's another subject I need to research on.

SoloRacer

I was told that on my 914 race car I should should have the front track slightly wider than the rear for improved handling. I was told that most tube frame cars are this way and that it causes a slight oversteer condition which is preferred for the track in that it's easier to control with throttle input.

I would curious to know more since on my 914 it's got a really wide rear track and narrow front.