Broken Panhard bar

Hey, has anyone else broken a panhard bar ? I had a adjustabld one and the treads on the bar broke off from what I was told was taking corners very fast.

Never heard of that happening before.
What brand was it?

You're just bragging...

JK, also curious on brand and...if there was a point of stress/weakness, I'd guess threaded junction would be the right place.

Pictures speak a thousand words, post some up of the offending PHB and close-up of broken bits.

Here is one



Not sure of the brand though

Maybe quit parking it in salt water to start with.

The inner rod is no longer holding tight. Also some of the bolt thread has broken off. Nut is useless .

RED09GT said:

Maybe quit parking it in salt water to start with.

Click to expand...

Sadly northern DC area weather and road salt

Btw, I believe it's a Steeda adjustable one

Before the picture I was gonna guess Whiteline, but it doesn't seem to be their silver.
If you're on Facebook I'd post it in one of the large Mustang groups and see if using the power of social media pressure you can get a replacement or repair

I don't think it's a Steeda, unless they've relocated their adjustment mechanism from a few inches away from one end to at the end.

That bushing looks kind of beat-up, so I'm wondering what sort of life it's led. Curb strikes? Incredibly poor selection of a jacking point (laugh if you will, but I've seen at least one person try this).


Norm

buy a bmr and have it aligned

Don't mess with a replacement.... you will just get a repeat performance.

This is what you require. https://www.bmrsuspension.com/?page=products&productid=172&superpro=0
Made from 1.25" OD DOM steel. The adjustable portion is made from 4130 chromolly steel. Note the adjustable portion is inboard a bit..which makes it real easy to adjust..without having to jack up the car. Slither underneath and tweak it, with a helper letting you know when car is exactly centered over the rear axle.

Get the mating BMR panhard bar brace..made from rectangular DOM tubing. The oem sheet metal version is pure junk.
https://www.bmrsuspension.com/?page=products&productid=173&superpro=0


The whiteline PHB is made from chromolly steel.

I had both the BMR adjustable PHB + mating PHB brace on my 2010 for quite a while. It worked very good, easy to adjust dead on. Then replaced it with a whiteline watts link. The chromolly watts link also comes with a chromolly tubing brace... and that brace installs in the same place as the oem PHB brace.

There are a lot of junk brand adjustable PHB's out there. I forget what goop I put on the BMR CM threads, but once adjusted, they don't budge. The poly bushings require synthetic grease. I grease em every time I change the oil. The synthetic grease gets it's own grease gun.... so you don't cross contaminate the standard grease + synthetic grease.

Second opinion on the PHB brace - unless you're going to very seriously track this car, don't bother. The OE brace is perfectly strong enough in the one direction it needs to be strong in, and its flexibility in other directions barely matters at all. For this piece, I'm going to trust Ford's finite element analysis over all the advertising words about how "it looks weak/flimsy" that have been endlessly repeated.

My '08 is still on its OE PHB brace, and during road course driving has seen cornering g's in excess of 1.3 with no signs of distress (and I have the datalogs to prove it). On the street, you'll rarely or maybe never get above half that . . .


Norm

Norm Peterson said:

Second opinion on the PHB brace - unless you're going to very seriously track this car, don't bother. The OE brace is perfectly strong enough in the one direction it needs to be strong in, and its flexibility in other directions barely matters at all. For this piece, I'm going to trust Ford's finite element analysis over all the advertising words about how "it looks weak/flimsy" that have been endlessly repeated.

My '08 is still on its OE PHB brace, and during road course driving has seen cornering g's in excess of 1.3 with no signs of distress (and I have the datalogs to prove it). On the street, you'll rarely or maybe never get above half that . . .


Norm

Click to expand...

IF his car is lowered any amount... his axle will be way outa whack. Mine was outa wack, before it was lowered. I checked a lot of stangs at one car show..and they were ALL outa wack, at least on 08-12 cars. At the time, a local buddy had just bought a new 2012, it too had the axle sticking out on driver's side. Real obvious with wider rear tires.

BTW... the adjustable portion on the BMR PHB goes on the pass side. It's not a big ticket item,(BMR + mating brace.) Since his is trashed, he will have to replace it with something..and pointless to buy a new oem PHB. The non adjustable PHB from BMR is also DOM.... but is only $60.00 less than the hd adjustable version.

I have no problem with replacing the PHB itself, especially in cases where there is a need for rear axle re-centering.

It's the PHB brace that for most people there isn't any need for.


Norm

I just took 2 oem panhard bars to the recyclers today along with several sets of springs and a k-member.

Norm Peterson said:

I have no problem with replacing the PHB itself, especially in cases where there is a need for rear axle re-centering.

It's the PHB brace that for most people there isn't any need for.


Norm

Click to expand...

Point noted. The PHB BRACE made by BMR is a low cost item. The oem one looked so cheap to me, it's just 3 x sided sheet metal, I was not about to take a chance on not replacing it. So to err on the side of caution, I found it prudent just to toss the oem phb + oem brace..and replace em both..and be done with it.

Pentalab said:

Point noted. The PHB BRACE made by BMR is a low cost item. The oem one looked so cheap to me, it's just 3 x sided sheet metal,

Click to expand...

That's exactly what the sellers of PHB braces are counting on . . . that the OE brace looks cheap/flimsy/weak, and people with little or no structural engineering expertise (meaning the vast majority of said buyers) will swallow it hook, line, and sinker. It's a low cost item that really doesn't buy most people any structural benefit whatsoever. I guess what they're really buying is an imaginary amount of "peace of mind".

Now if your OE brace is damaged in some way, or if it is showing a significant amount of corrosion, that's a different story because the strength of the open-section OE piece is more sensitive to damage or deterioration than a closed section brace would be.


If I ever felt a need for a stiffer/stronger brace, the DIY'er in me would probably box in the OE PHB brace for about $10 worth of steel strip, a half hour's time with the MIG-welder, and a little spray paint. And a little design time to avoid creating any moisture/crud traps.


Norm

I thought the mustang heritage was similar to a pats defence, bend but not break. Okay okay, realistically, bend and occasionally break.

LikeabossTM said:

I thought the mustang heritage was similar to a pats defence, bend but not break. Okay okay, realistically, bend and occasionally break.

Click to expand...

Not sure where you're taking this - but if anybody is doing anything to actually bend the PHB brace on their car they should stop doing whatever it is . . . like yesterday.


Norm

Norm Peterson said:

Not sure where you're taking this - but if anybody is doing anything to actually bend the PHB brace on their car they should stop doing whatever it is . . . like yesterday.


Norm

Click to expand...

It was a joke (sort of), general commentary on the flex associated with much of the platform since fox days. It's normal!

Agreed that the brace shouldn't break (or even flex really) and that I wouldn't pay to replace it just because it appears flimsy.