sts767

After reading numerous threads concerning lowering and the need for camber adjustment, adjustable panard bars and new struts I decided to get the Eibach kit and lower it.

After I lowered it I looked at the rear end and felt it was off center and decided to get the adjustable panhard bar. I then took it to the shop to see where I stood with the front end camber to decide if I needed camber bolts or plates.

Here is what I found. After lowering the front left and right wheels were at -1.3 degrees camber. That is within Ford specs, actually comfortably within so no camber add on parts were needed. A nice surpise as I was expecting further costs. However the toe was out of tolerance on both sides, so that was adjusted. After I got the car lowered but prior to alignment I had a front end shimmy above 60mph. This is now corrected and I attribute that to the toe being out of tolerance. The front caster was also well within tolerance.

Now for the rear end. As I mentioned visually it looked slightly off, I mean real slight, you really had to stare hard to see it, with the drivers side tire seeming further out than the passenger side. On the alignment rack it showed a thrust angle of 0.10degree. Using the adjustment on the bar we set it to 0.0degree. After doing it I visually could not tell a difference but I am confident it is now true and the computers don't lie.

In summary, adjustable panhard bar was installed probably could have lived without it because the adjustment we made was slight. However I should say that we did not make a measurement before changing from the stock bar to the adjustable one, so it could have been further out and the adjustable just happened to be close to the proper length when we installed it. Of course now I have a fancy red bar under my car.

Hope this info is helpfull to some because for me personally figuring out what was and was not needed got confusing at times. Of course everyones experience with the cambe rthing seems to vary.

My recommendation is not to buy any parts until you are sure you need them. I fully intended to buy camber bolts because after all I read I thought I needed them for sure. Luckily a nice trustworthy mechanic was willing to work with me and save me the money.

Stoenr

We did an alignment for a fellow members 05 with the same set up and found nearly the exact same results as you did. Basically was adjust toe and go.

wjones14

thanks for the detailed write-up Scott! The whole panhard bar thing has been bugging me since someone posted that if you lower the car, the chances are like 95% that you will need the adjustable bar to correct an off-center rear. One theory was that the other 5% didn't need the bar because their factory setup was a bit off-center to start with, and the lowering actually corrected it.

I would personally get the adjustable panhard if I was lowering the car, since it really doesn't add much to the cost, and it would bug me if I knew it was off. OTOH, the adjustment is likely very small anyway, so it probably wouldn't hurt anything if you didn't use the bar.

tom281

Good job Scott, great info.

R Model 07

What I want to know is if Shelby GT-H's and Shelby GT's have the off-center rear problem, seeing as they essentially come stock with Eibach Pro springs.

sts767

funny thing is, if I had not read about adjustable panhard bars on here there is no way I would have ever noticed it. I still am unsure if it is needed, but I am glad to have it.