Panhard bar questions

[Pentalab]

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.

Ur correct. With my fall / winter 235-50-18 tires, they are well tucked into the wheel wells. In spring time, they get swapped with 305-35-19's..( 48mm et). Before that I used 285-40-18 (45mm et).... and before that, I used 275-40-18 (45mm et). With any of those wider tires, the rear axle offset is blatantly obvious. IE: they come with the axle offset by 8-10mm... before any lowering.

On a side note, if you cut the end off the oem PHB, sand will pour out of it. On some oem PHB's, lead shot will pour out. Before cutting, you can hear the sand/shot moving, when u orient it vertical, then flip it 180 degs. The added weight gives the illusion it's HD. It's not, it's thin walled. The BMR is bigger OD, and also thicker walled..and no sand/lead shot. .

 

[AHaze]

Aaron,

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

3/4" difference in rear wheel inset (axle 3/8" off center) is the biggest number I remember seeing claimed but as others have pointed out, many of these cars had the axle off center when new (mine was out by 1/4"). It just isn't as obvious with the stock fender to tire gap.
I'm guessing a bunch of people finally noticed their axle wasn't centered after they lowered their cars and assumed the two were directly related. Then they started perpetuating the myth that you need an adjustable panhard to compensate for the massive axle offset caused by lowering springs when reality is you need it to compensate for sloppy QC tolerances.

 

[redfirepearlgt]

Well the Originator of this thread sure got his money's worth.