 
The MM Panhard Bar eliminates the
Mustang's unstable and unpredictable behavior while
cornering near its limit. This feeling is caused by the
rear of the car steering itself without any input from
the driver. Rear end steering is caused by the sideways
movement of the rear axle.
In the Mustang's 4-link suspension design the
lateral location of the rear axle is done by the upper
control arms. The axle, however, is not precisely
located. It shifts around because of the deflection of
the rubber bushings in the control arms. We built a
device to measure sideways movement of the axle, and
actually recorded up to 2" of sideways movement of the
rear axle while cornering.
In addition, the upper arms are at about a 45 degree
angle from the direction of the cornering load. Some
binding in these arms is induced during cornering as one
arm enters into compression and the other enters into
tension.
Do NOT use urethane in the upper arms to improve the
side to side motion of the axle. Because of the three
dimensional movement of the upper arms, severe binding
will be induced as the suspension moves--with or without
a Panhard bar. This effect may not be evident in a
drag-only car, but if you plan to drive the car on the
street at all, we do not recommend urethane in the upper
arms (see the Rear Lower Control Arm section for more
information).
The Panhard bar is a lateral suspension link between
the rear axle and the chassis, and is the best method to
control the side to side location of the axle relative
to the chassis. The Panhard bar is in a direct line with
the cornering load, and acts through spherical rod ends,
therefore no bind is induced during cornering. By nature
of its design, a Panhard bar does a better job of
locating the axle than the Mustang's four-link
suspension. |
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Maximum Motorsports'
unique Panhard Bar:
MM's Panhard rod is the longest possible
at 38" between pivot points. This minimizes the amount
of rear axle movement associated with the arc of the
rod's movement. The longer the rod, the larger the
radius. The larger the radius, the smaller the sideways
movement.
Slots on the MM chassis
mount allow for vertical height adjustment to keep the
Panhard rod level at different vehicle ride heights. A
level bar reduces the effect of the rod's movement arc.
Beefy 3/4" rod-ends are
mounted in double shear at both ends. If a rod-end
mounted in single shear fails when the rod-end’s ball
separates from its body, that end of the Panhard Bar
will become completely disconnected from the mount. The
result could be catastrophic as the Panhard rod will no
longer provide any lateral control of the rear axle and
may even drop to the roadway. If the same failure occurs
to a rod-end mounted in double shear, the rod-end body
will still be contained within the mounting brackets by
the bolt and the two plates of the bracket. Some lateral
control of the axle will still be maintained.
Both the unique design
and quality materials used make the MM mounting brackets
strong enough to not break and stiff enough to not flex
under cornering loads of over
1 G.
The boxed axle bracket
virtually encloses the rod-end for a rigid, non-flexing
mount.
The MM chassis bracket
mounts to the rear subframe of the car (not the flimsy
trunk floor or spare tire well)- using the exclusive MM
frame inserts to prevent collapse of the subframe.
The MM Panhard Bar is
designed to clear the factory tailpipe routing.
The Panhard rod is
mounted as low as possible to lower the rear roll center
height (typically at the same height as the rod).
The Panhard rod is
available in lightweight aluminum (either natural finish
or polished). The identical item is used on NASCAR
Winston Cup stock cars.
Compatible with T/A
rear differential cover
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