Andretti

I have some Elbach Pro springs sitting on the floor in my kitchen along with two of the four Koni 'yellows' (the fronts are backorded).

I am looking for suggestions on a panhard bar (I know nothing about them and am not completely sure I need one since I'm not lowering much). I wont be dragging nor rally racing so I am really only looking for the best 'ride' though I don't believe the panhard bar has anything to do with that. Is there one that is better/easier to install than others (Do I need a singe or dual adjustable, adjustable while on car, with or without polyurethane bushings)? I dont want to spend a fortune on one, but I do want to get the best bang for the buck. What about some sort of camber adjustment kit for alignment post lowering? Would I be hurting myself in the long run without adding those while I have the shocks being replaced?

Suggestions welcome.

Finally, is there anything else that I need that I might not be anticipating? In other words I dont want to get the car on the lift and realize there are some "one use' types of bolts or something that I will need to have replacement ones to get everyting back together and running down the road.

Any help or past experiences would be appreciated.

Andretti

Philostang

Others will chime in to fill in the details, but here are a few points to get you started.

1. You probably don't "need" a panhard for a short drop. If you did need it, it would be because your axle has shifted to one side of the car an unacceptable amount (an adjustable panhard allows you to correct this shift). Keep in mind, some cars come from the factory with the axle offset to one side, so this isn't a super serious functional issue for a street driven car. The advice many give is to drop the thing and wait to see if you really feel you need to correct the car's stance.

2. Replacing the panhard isn't hard, so it's not something you would kick yourself over if you didn't do it now.

3. You don't need a "double adjustable" bar, you just need an adjustable one. Having one that can adjust "on the car" is better and vastly easier to use...ask me how I know . For a street car, poly bushings are the way to go (rod ends will transmit more noise to the chassis).

4. Even if you don't "need" a panhard for your drop, you might want to consider one anyway. I found that when I replaced mine with stiffer bushings (poly), the rear of the car felt much better over bumps in the road (regular street/highway driving). "Ride" is an elusive term, but if you're talking about the basic "feel" of the car as you drive, then you will probably like what a new panhard can do for you. The stiffer bushings enable greater control over the axle's movements (i.e. you get closer to enabling it to move the way it was designed to move). The result is that the rear of the car feels more stable (less flopping around, that "jerk" on a road irregularity is greatly diminished); in my terms, you get a better ride.

5. Camber kits are often helpful to get you back within spec after lowering. Keep in mind that the spec is wide to begin with, so you might be fine as is, but here if you have to do this after-the-fact, then you will be kicking yourself in the rear. The best are the plates that have the upper mounts as well. This corrects other ills that plague some folks (popping sounds, etc.).

6. Finally, there's a whole slew of officially designated "one-time use" bolts in the suspension. There seem to be two ways to address this, the legal and the practical. The legal is that Ford needed to cover their ****, so they put this clause into their tech manuals. The practical is that I have yet to find one shop (Ford dealership or otherwise) that actually abides by this. I've even talked with a shop manager at a Ford dealership in California about the matter, he too chuckled. Another manager in IL laughed it off, saying "If I replaced every bolt they say to replace every time we did a job, my whole parts warehouse would be stocked with nothing but bolts." Both agreed that they thought Ford's real concern was with the thread locker that comes on the new bolts. After the first use, that stuff is gone, so if you reuse the bolt, you don't have the same vibration protection you had from the factory. From me, you'll get the same two answers: officially I say replace whatever bolt you feel should be replaced and strongly advise you to do so (esp. in the event of a law suit). In my own car, however, I haven't considered replacement until I've torqued them three times (which means most of my bolts have been reused), and I always clean them and use blue loctite. I will say I'm more concerned with how the bolts are torqued than if they replaced them. Some shops will just whip an impact wrench on them and be done with it (and you can forget about loctite). I don't like that. I track my car, so I insist every bolt be torqued with a torque wrench to spec. I double check any shop's work that has touched my car, and not surprisingly, I've found loose bolts. Consequently, I do most of my own work.

I hope that helps get you started.

Best,
-j

Andretti

Thanks! Thats a really great and easily understandable explaination. Much appreciated.

Can I ask which panhard bar you ended up using and any camber kit as well? You've definately got me sold on the poly bushings....I dont need any additional clunks or sounds from the rear and if it helps the 'feel' even a little bit, I'm all for it.

Thanks for the great info!!

Andretti

Ken04

I bought an edelbrock adj bar with poly bushings delvd from autoanything. $115 delvd, best price I could find anywhere.