Panhard bar questions

Hello all,
My grandson has purchased a 2005 Mustang GT and together we are trying to sort out the issues. Yesterday while the muffler guy had the car up on a lift, he noticed a significant bend to the panhard bar. Is the bend indicative of a past accident? I once worked on another vehicle that had a bent bar. It had been struck on the driver's side rear wheel to bend the bar. That vehicle had the unfortunate characteristic of changing lanes while rounding a corner but only when it rained. (Get real- I live in Washington State) Since it is bent, I am assuming this bar should be replaced. Do you have suggestions for a replacement? Should it be a stock Ford bar or an adjustable bar? Should I expect difficulty in removing and replacing this part? What other areas should I closely inspect for possible related damage? I realize my questions are quite simple but we are just beginning to learn about this vehicle.

It's not a high tech item. First of all, is the axle centered in the body as it sits now? If it's within 1/2" of being centered then there's nothing wrong with leaving it be. If the axle is not centered, or if you plan on doing more suspension upgrades in the future, then a basic adjustable bar from somebody like BMR or Steeda may be preferable.

The car has 20" rims and low-profile tires installed. It seems to have a busy, noisy ride. Is that typical for these cars? We have been advised to downsize the rims and tires to improve the handling and ride. So, in your opinion the bent panhard is not a major issue?

The only function of the panhard is to keep the axle centered. Nothing else.
It has no influence on the ride or handling.

If it’s factory suspension and it’s going to stay that way I’d go find a panhard at a junkyard. If it’s lowered or going to be lowered at some point buy an adjustable one. I’d inspect the rest of the rear suspension but if it doesn’t have any harsh sounds or rattles it’s probably fine, as for the ride, what do you mean by busy? They’re definitely not super refined but if it’s too lively or unpredictable just cruising around it may be a symptom of something.

I am with the "adjustable" crowd. The axle is not exactly centered stock. And it bothed me. lol

When I say, "busy" I mean it is noisy...clunks and clanks from both sides of the rear end. It doesn't sound like it's coming apart. It just rides stiff and noisy over rough pavement. (patched potholes and rough surfaces)

It’s probably a safe bet to assume every rubber bushing is worn out. I’m going through this with my 08 & so far everything I’ve addressed has needed it. Rear control arms, front control arms, sway bar links, motor mounts. All were shot. Took care of some of my noise & rides better but my strut mounts are still shot & clunk. If he’s going to keep it I’d suggest to just start replacing things.

It’s easy to check all of the suspension parts. Jack up and secure the vehicle and start wiggling stuff. Have someone inspect all the bushings and wear parts. front and rear while the other person wiggles tires and wheels top to bottom left to right. If somethings wore out you’ll be able to spot it with the exception of struts and strut mounts.
As far as the panhard bar I would definitely replace it. The stock ones are a hollow tube filled with some type of media to absorb vibration. It’s a good design but I have seen them snap especially if weekend. Stock will have the softest bushings and most vibration resistance. aftermarket generally has stiffer options for bushings. I would try to determine if the car has been lowered. If so some people recommend an adjustable Panhard bar to realign axle with car but not a requirement if not lowered very much.
Either way very easy repair if brackets are not damaged. Overall these cars are pretty easy to work on.


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I replaced mine with the FRPP adjustable bar and have no regrets. Initially I bought the BMR adj. bar, but the sent me the wrong one. Then I ordered the Ford Racing product. The FRPP costs a lot more, but I like the design, and had no issues during the install.

Easy answer is if its bent, change it. If the car is lowered or you plan on lowering it in the future, get an adjustable one.

Sounds like he has a "Hackjob adjustable" Panhard.
If the car has been lowered , they put a bend in the Panhard to center the rear-end.[shortening it from Eye-to-Eye]

If the wheels are centered ,leave it alone [or blow some $$$ on an adjustable Panhard]

I know its like fighting against mask mandates
But, the Panhard is 104 cm long and horizontal at a non-lowered car. If you lower the car 3 cm, you rise one end of the bar 3 cm. The additional offset is around 1 mm, not more. Thats geometry.

Bottom line - several adjustable panhard bars out there. Most around $100 - $150. Get one of the on-car adjustable versions. Really easy to replace though you might want to have a come-along handy to line up the bolt holes (just in case). Other wise once it's bolted up and car on the ground measure from the rear fender edge to the top of the rim (couple of ways to do this) and adjust the panhard bar until you have it within 1/8" or better side to side. I'd also recommend having it checked on an alignment rack just to be sure nothing else is out of wack since the panhard bar was bent.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=2005+-++2009+Mustang+panhard+bar&_sacat=0&_sop=15

GriffX said:

I know its like fighting against mask mandates
But, the Panhard is 104 cm long and horizontal at a non-lowered car. If you lower the car 3 cm, you rise one end of the bar 3 cm. The additional offset is around 1 mm, not more. That's geometry.

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It's not horizontal on a non lowered car. Pass side is elevated, and the driver's side attaches to the axle.
Lower the car 1.25", and the PHB is now more horizontal. 3rd side of the triangle is now too long, and rear body of car shifts towards the pass side. Rear driver's side wheel now sticks out. The PHB is now too long, and has to be shortened, hence the adjustable PHB.

GriffX said:

I know its like fighting against mask mandates
But, the Panhard is 104 cm long and horizontal at a non-lowered car. If you lower the car 3 cm, you rise one end of the bar 3 cm. The additional offset is around 1 mm, not more. Thats geometry.

Click to expand...

It's closer to horizontal on a lowered car but your point remains valid. The axle shift is nowhere near as much as hundreds of forum posts would have you believe. I tried to give the same lesson in trigonometry on another forum and got a bunch of push back from guys insisting that their axle moved over by some ridiculous amount when they installed lowering springs.

AHaze said:

It's closer to horizontal on a lowered car but your point remains valid. The axle shift is nowhere near as much as hundreds of forum posts would have you believe. I tried to give the same lesson in trigonometry on another forum and got a bunch of push back from guys insisting that their axle moved over by some ridiculous amount when they installed lowering springs.

Click to expand...

Aaron,

Just out of curiosity, what is the ridiculous amount (for instance) that people are claiming?

Dkevin said:

Hello all,
My grandson has purchased a 2005 Mustang GT and together we are trying to sort out the issues. Yesterday while the muffler guy had the car up on a lift, he noticed a significant bend to the panhard bar. Is the bend indicative of a past accident? I once worked on another vehicle that had a bent bar. It had been struck on the driver's side rear wheel to bend the bar. That vehicle had the unfortunate characteristic of changing lanes while rounding a corner but only when it rained. (Get real- I live in Washington State) Since it is bent, I am assuming this bar should be replaced. Do you have suggestions for a replacement? Should it be a stock Ford bar or an adjustable bar? Should I expect difficulty in removing and replacing this part? What other areas should I closely inspect for possible related damage? I realize my questions are quite simple but we are just beginning to learn about this vehicle.

Click to expand...

A bent panhard bar is almost certainly due to a previous accident (either the car was hit at the rear quarter or one of the rear wheels hit the curb in a skid). If the rear wheels look offset to one side, you definitely need to replace it.
If the car isn't lowered, a fixed length OEM unit would suffice. However a used junkyard unit will probably have worn bushings and since replacing those is another expense, you might as well buy a brand new adjustable unit since that'll already have new poly bushings. Then you can adjust the length accordingly to center the axle.
You might want to check the upper control arm and its bushings 'cause there's a fair chance it could be damaged and the bushings distorted by the previous impact. Also check the lower control arms & bushings, the mounting brackets, and the brackets holding the handbrake cables for any damage.

Dkevin said:

When I say, "busy" I mean it is noisy...clunks and clanks from both sides of the rear end. It doesn't sound like it's coming apart. It just rides stiff and noisy over rough pavement. (patched potholes and rough surfaces)

Click to expand...

20" wheel rims with tires that are as thin as a rubber band will inevitably transmit more road noise and produce a harsher ride. My car has 18" wheels with 255/45R18 tires and the ride is firm but there's enough compliance to make it comfortable without being too soft.
You might want to check the rear sway bar bushings and end links as it's highly likely the rubber has perished.after 17 years if they're original. I've replaced all of mine with poly bushings.

crjackson2134 said:

Aaron,

Just out of curiosity, what is the ridiculous amount (for instance) that people are claiming?

Click to expand...

3/8". ( measured accurately). Funny thing is, at a couple of mustang car shows I attended, almost 95% of the mustangs were out by at least 1/4" to 3/8". A lot of em were not lowered either. Mine was outa whack (3/8") before I lowered it. (2010 GT). It didn't get any worse, maybe 1-2mm after lowering by 1.25". I highly suspect your trigonometry is correct. The real issue is, the rear axle is not centered on an oem PHB.

My car is at original height and with original rims 18 inches (235x50 r18) and when you look at the car you can not see that the rear axle is offset
but it looks straight and nice, but if you actually measure, you see that the shaft is offset by about 8-10 mm, but you can not see that.
The distance between the wheels and the rear fenders is too large to see this difference.
If you were to lower the car say 30 mm and at the same time put on wider tires, you would suddenly see this difference and consequently think that
the panhard stay had offset the rear axle accordingly.

If you instead use, for example, "Pythagoras' theorem" and calculate the actual displacement, it will be about 0.5 mm, which is negligible.

So any alleged displacement greater than 1 mm is just ridiculous.