Norm Peterson
corner barstool sitter
It damn well better be an improvement over stock in these respects else it'd clearly be a step in the wrong direction for those who choose to fit really wide rear wheels and tires.This thread sure did bloom –
An aftermarket watts link will be a vast improvement over the stock panhard bar – less compliant bushings / stiffer...
For a semi-WAG at OE PHB bushing compliance, let's say there's 0.1" compliance per bushing up around 1g lateral. Once you've eliminated 70% of that - which you might even be able to accomplish with a modification to those OE rubber bushings - anything further is going to be a diminishing returns kind of thing (certainly would be for most of us). I'm not saying zero compliance isn't a good thing, only that it isn't as much better (geometrically) than a smaller-than-OE amount of compliance as it may sound. 0" vs 1/16"?
Differences in subjective feel are probably the bigger improvement here. I don't discount the value of that.
So let's look at this for a moment
And determines (in part) at least one other parameter as well, which may not improve as the geometric roll center is dropped. Don't be looking at a geo roll center determined by either a Watts or a PHB as being isolated from everything else.lower roll center dependent upon setup
A properly set up panhard bar needs to be located lower than the original / stock setup, long as possible and parallel to the ground at ride height.
This is crucial - Determines the roll center and the length determines lateral movement.
Are you conveniently forgetting that the football on the Watts link hangs down two or three inches below the main pivot (two or three inches below a level PHB set to the same geo-RC height)?A Panhard will loose ground clearance for the entire length of the axle as opposed to the watts 1/2 axle.
Norm