The rear of my 2008 GT feels like its going to come around on me while I'm going down the highway. I have recently changed out my shocks and struts with "new takeoff's" lowered it with SR springs and replaced the pan hard bar with a double adjustable SR bar. My tires are new with less than 10k on them. It seems like this started after I replace my pan hard bar. I'm wondering if I did something wrong? I set the bar up with the suspension loaded (had the axle jacked up so the suspension was loaded). The rear end was ALWAYS out of wack. Stock from the factory it was off center so this is the first time it has been centered. help...

 

Did you need to loosen the control arms (both front and rear) to get the springs in? If so, was it sitting loaded also before torquing the bolts- if not the rubber bushings can act like a torsion spring making the spring heavy on one side or the other. I made this mistake on the front of my mark vii when replacing bushings and changing from air to coils, it sat only a little crooked, but rode wacky as all get out until i cracked and retorqued the bolts...upon loosening 3 of the four up front it sounded like a hammer hit...left all 4 loose, bounced the car a couple times, retightened, all was great.

Might also have someone bounce the car sideways, and watch the panhard ends, make sure you dont see any movement- just in case they sent you oversized ends for the bolts or something... and verify both front and rear sway bar links/bushings arent loose- a loose front swaybar really makes a scary feeling ride- my old mark broke links a couple times from the airsprings leaking down...perhaps lowering stuff to swap springs mighta broke a link?

 

The tires on my Genesis Coupe were almost worn down by 10k..but that's because of how I drive and w/ one track day.. Haha

 

Speaking of control arms, are they the original set, or did you replace with aftermarket? If they're original, how many miles are on them? Bushings do wear out after time, I would inspect them for cracking/tearing/splitting. Don't forget your upper control arm too.

 

thanks for the responses. Ford4, I didn't need to loosen the control arms, I checked the links and bushings all around. Cavero, the front control arm had been replaced by Ford WAYYY back in 2010. Haven't had a problem with them. I did swap the tires from front to back... Maybe the tires are doing it? They are newer tires but I know the are a little scalloped on the inside edge. I'm talking A LITTLE, but its worth a try to swap them diagonal. like i said, the cars rear axle has always been off center. Maybe centering it caused other things like bushings to warp and cause the car to handle oddly.

 

I forgot to mention that the car tracks dead straight.

 

Check the bolts for the panhard bar at both ends, check thjose on the LCAs as well and I'ld check the top link too.

Check for broken or cracked mounting points for PHB too, and also ..... double check those tire pressures all around.

You mention some tires being newer .... if there is a great deal of tread wear on the fronts and the rears are near new .... try running the front tires about 4-5 psi lower and see where that takes you. I have done it on police cars when I just had new rubber in back, I split the difference and ran rear 2 over max and fronts 2 under max and that 4 psi spread was enough to take some squirm out of new rears as added some to worn frts (worn tires are more stable than new tires)

 

With the stock control arms my 06 vert also felt loose and if I hit a bump in a turn the rear would swing out. I replaced the lower control arms, panhard bar, panhard bar brace, rear springs and shocks. I also replaced the rear sway bar along with replacing components on the front suspension. Now my Stang feels like a roller coaster ride, lots of thrills in every mile. It feels like its on rails, when I make a sharp 90 deg turn and power on the accelerator I do get a bit of over steer which makes it even more fun to drive.

 

Figured it out... duh!!! rod end...

 

Tie rod? I take it you saw some play in it. Was the boot shredded like that on the car or did that just happen while you were busting it loose?

I find it weird that a front suspension problem would make the back end lose, but then again the front suspension controls so much of the feel of the car.

 

It was ripped. It was a floating feeling so I was compensating little bits as I was driving. I think that's what was making it feel loose. It never actually came around on me under "normal" driving, and now that I changed out the part it feel's SOOOO much better. This all happened right after I lowered it and added the Pan hard bar. All this at the same time kinda changed the way the felt to me, and I guess I was over sensitive. When I got the tie rod off and moved it around it was WAY F'ed up. It was really tight in one direction then really loose in another.

 

https://themustangsource.com/f739/ch...-boots-507556/

the rubber on some of these boots deteriorates in just a year... i changed my boots when they started to seep grease