Mustang 101: Suspension: Pan Hard Bar
 

MODS, IF POSSIBLE I WOULD LIKE THESE TO REMAIN IN THIS SECTION, OR MAYBE HAVE A SUB FORUM FOR MUSTANG 101. i KNOW THESE WILL BE MORE APPROPRIATE IN SOME OTHER AREAS, BUT IT WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE THEM ALL IN A SINGLE AREA, A SORT OF "ONE STOP SHOP".


FIRST POST.

MUSTANG 101: Suspension: Pan Hard Bar.

1) What is this for?
2) What applications would this be best suited for?
3) What applications would this un-beneficial?
4) How will this effect performance?
5) Driving impressions of Before and After.
6) Scale of 1-10, how difficult is installation?

Nope. i just have no clue what a Panhard bar is for. Thought this might be a good idea.

ill post up a new Topic in a few days and keep it going.

a panhard bar decreases the lateral movement of the rear axle assembly. keeps the rear end where it needs to be during cornering.

I have the MM PHB sitting in a box...never installed it. I need better seats before I put that thing on.

Thanks ZIG!

Can Anybody else expand on this? When it is needed? anythign you will sacrifice with installation as far as ride comfort or launching? etc?

Why would you need better seats? To keep you from sliding side to side in your seat while cornering? But if thats the case, you'd need better seats regardless. Don't totally understand.

my car can take corners pretty damn fast...i fly out of my seat. in other words, I feel like my car already out handles my seats...im not gonna make it handle better when my seats already dont cut it.

yup. need 'em.

Yeah i see what you mean. With the leather seats they make you slide side to side even on smallest turns.

and stock seats provide about zero side and kidney area support. put some stiff suspension under your car...youll see what i mean.

Sounds good Jack. I dont see why that would be a problem. But Im going to ask that no one posts unless it has something to do with the original question. If this is going to be useful, then there shouldnt be a bunch of BS posts in the thread.

With some PHB's you will have to make adjustments to the exhaust to allow clearence. Also, some are not compatable with aftermarket diff. covers. I beleive the Maximum Motorsports PHB is designed to not have these issues. A PHB is complimented nicely with a Torque arm (good for another Mustang 101 thread). With these two suspensions mods along with LCAs you can get rid of the quadra-bind rear suspension (upper control arms) our stangs have. Like Ziggy stated before, it helps locate the rear axle under the car. This trifecta of LCA, PHB, and Tq. Arm is planned to be my next major mod for towards the end of the summer possibly.

That would be great!!!!! I would preffer if you le this thread run AS IS for a day so everyone knows that the BS posts will be deleted.

GOT THAT EVERYONE? SOON THE MODS WILL BE DELETING ANY NON RELATED POSTS TO KEEP THESE TO THE POINT!

THANKS!

PHB's are strictly a lateral brace. One side is fixed to the frame, the other side is fixed to the axle on the opposite side (typically). The stock mustang suspension benefits greatly from the increased lateral rigidity and is much less unpredictable with one than without. Stock suspension cars will tend to see some binding at the more extreme articulations due to the dual triangulated control arms trying to move in directions they can't. Stiff bushings exacerbate this problem and lead to things like snap oversteer.

With a PHB the wheels of the rear end will move in an arc up and down. This causes variable traction as the suspension articulates and is considered by some to be a serious downfall of PHB's. I like mine but you must understand that you'll turn better in one direction than the other with a PHB setup.

Watts links are similar but due to their design the wheels move straight up and down during suspension articulation and that leads to a much more predictable car at the limit of tire adhesion and less binding. Watts are few and far between because they tend to be significantly noisier than most people are willing to accept.

If you want to see full benefit from PHB/Watts you need to address the triangulation of the upper arms at a minimum. Steeda's 5-link does a fair job (but I still hate that design) of putting a PHB and re-angling the upper arms and performs quite well for most. I prefer the torque arm design made by Griggs or Maximum Motorsports. MM would be my choice for street cars, Griggs for race only cars.