Distance between tire and wheelwell

[Germain]

Yep, that's it.

I'm wondering what the distance from the drivers side tire to the wheelweel is in relationship to the passager side tire and wheelwell.

for instance, my 914 measurements are

drivers - width of 2 of my fingers
passangers - width of 3 of my fingers

I'm wondering if my car is way off, or DD brought up that there is an offset on all cars from the factory.

So if you have time, can you run out and measure? thanks.

[BenI]

I dont have any numbers, but I know that there is a visible difference in spacing between the sides on my car. If I were to guess Id say I have 1/2" and 1 1/2" spaces, Im running 205s.

I built my 914 out of 4 parts cars, and as soon as I started switching body pieces (doors, hoods...) I found nothing fit as well as it did on its doner car. Now this is pure speculation, but it seemed that there had to be some custom fitting going on at the factory due to the degree of difference between body parts from different cars.

[John Rogers]

On our stock 914 the front clearances are the same but the rear is the opposite of what you have. On my race car they are the same, but I think it was because the fenders were cut and stretched? I have seem others with what looks like mismatched bodies on one side or the other and some that look like the rear wheels are way off in the negative camber settings but when they are put on the alignment rack, they are righ on! If alignment is fine and the car handles good, I wouldn't worry about it. Good luck.

[Special K]

This is a truely ironic post. I back my '73 (more like rolled it out, no engine in it yet) to knock the dust off. When I pushed it back into the garage to dry it, I noticed the exact same thing. It concerned me so much that I measured the difference and proceeded to the Pelican BBS to post my findings. Looks like you beat me to the post, but I'm relieved to find out my car's not a "freak".

By the way, my passenger tire sticks out 3/4" farther than the drivers side.

[Special K]

Wow! Sorry about the GIGANTIC picture in the last post, I really must take some classes on how to operate these damn computers. Anyway, that's my '73.

[Germain]

Hmmm, I'll have to look into it more. I always thought that the passanger side of my car was in a smash and they did a bad job aligning it, but a good job makeing it look no crashed.

cool. I measured mine out by the way, my finger thing was pretty bad.

It's 1/2" on the drivers side, 1 1/2" on the passangers side. Looks like BenI and I are running the same car. btw mines a 73 2.0L

[HMeeder]

On my '72 I too have less clearance on the driver's side. So much so that when I put on my crappy VW spec Rivieras, they rub on my side but have plenty of clearance on the passenger side. For comparison purposes with my steel wheels and my track tires I have about 1 finger on the driver's side and 2 fingers on the other (be aware that those are metric finger widths not standard.)

BTW I have heard so many differences in clearance between cars and years that the only advice it seems anyone can ever give on the subject are 'your experience may vary.'

[Stuart Lehr]

I've had my '71 914-4 since new in late '70 and yes it is asymmetric as well. We used to laugh about it at PCA events because all the 914's were that way. Otto had a few too many beers the day he was putting together the body at Karmann. My 914-6 (original '71 as well) owned since '76 is also slightly asymmetric. If I remember correctly, the driver's side is real tight with 205's in the back and I can get nearly a whole little finger thru on the pass side... nothing unusual.

[danpavlik]

i have the same problem with my 76 the pass side has less then the driver side is there any way to correct it? I have 16x7 in the rear with 205 on them and the pass side rubs. If anyone can give me any help. Thanks

[Stuart Lehr]

About all you can do is roll the fender lips. The car was made asymmetric and will stay that way unless you really screw something up!