Since lowering,my rear end is off center a bit.I know,sounds like a job for a Hollywood plastic surgeon

I haven't measured it yet,but just from eyeballing it,I'd say it's about 3/8" left of center.Is this enough to worry about?

I know adjustable panhard bars don't cost a whole lot,but I'd still rather not spend the money if it's not necessary,at least not for a while.I've been doing a ton of extra spending since getting this car,and I don't want to push my luck with the boss

 

it probably won't matter, if you aren't doing anything demanding like road track where the slight mis-alignment might affect handling at the limit . . . you could have the alignment checked to see how far off is the "thrust angle"

 

Alignment might be the fun part. That move to the left will cause so much fun for the alignment machine... your thrust angle will be messed up at the very least, worst case they can't really get it quite right.. And driving may or may not have this... oddity... to it as the axle is shifted out of line with the centerline of the body and the front 'axle'.

You might can mitigate any alignment issues by having as light a car as possible so the axle shifts over towards the passenger side when alignment happens. Nothing in the trunk, no gas in the tank... and I'm still not sure it'll help much.

Plus, it looks wonky. I can see it for sure and I only lowered 1". It bothered me quite a bit.

TL,DR: I'd get the panhard bar myself. Reasons(tm). But you do you, it won't actually hurt anything.

 

If everything is not lined up properly you will destory your gears. How do I know? It JUST happened to me.
I lowered my car over the summer, all new suspension parts except for the lower control arm relocation brackets.
Pinion angle was off but I still drove the car. Found out that I actually needed the reclocation brackets.
Finally fixed the pinion angle. Information out there is so hard to find to get a def answer.
After all that my car whines and clunks in the back. My gears are not good anymore. Need to replace the axel now.

So yes do it properly or dont do it at all. Dont skimp out. There is a reason why these things are made for lowered Mustangs.

 

Ok,so it sounds like I probably should go ahead and get the adjustable bar before getting it aligned then.

Funny thing is,I asked my mechanic the other day if it'd affect the alignment,and he said no.I was planning to take it back to him for the alignment,but maybe he's not the best person for that job.I couldn't think of any way it could affect the front alignment,but you guys are talking about thrust angle being affected,and confusing the alignment machine,so maybe I should leave it to an actual alignment shop,after installing an adjustable bar and getting it centered of course

I never would've even thought of something like messing up the gears from it being off center.As for pinion angle,that's one of the things I was concerned with before lowering,but since I didn't detect any issues other than the off center rear,and the severe negative camber,I guess I just started assuming it was ok

 

Having the rear axle off center by 1/2" will not affect rear gear health.

When I lowered our '08 GT by an inch some 8 years or so ago, and before lowering even, the rear passenger side tire was a little more out that the driver side. Not by much, and then I lowered the rear only 1-1/8". My intention was to drop it an inch. I got lucky with my cut choice. I cut exactly one full coil off the top plus the 1" width of my rule. I cut them on the top end in my shop with a cut off wheel in my angle grinderl tool, then I smoothed the cut edge and re-installed them. A few days later I found some old top spring rubbers off a '92 Thunderbird, the coils are bigger round but these spring rubbers had a built in ramp for that first coil that I liked. I installed them after trimming the ends for the smaller OD Mustang coils. I zip tied them to the coils for easy install. In use, they made no difference in height.

The day I cut the coils, In just eyeballed the rear for centering, it looked great. The day I added the rubbers, I placed a 4 foot long level across the spoiler top and found it was also level, I checked my carport floor and it was level under the rear bumper, so thjen I hung a short string with weight from each fender top at center and measured from the string to tire sidewall .... driver's side just a hair under 3/8" but over 5/16" (about 11/32"), passenger side right on 3/8" mark (12/32") and that's "pretty darn close" to being the same. I had decided if within 1/4",(requiring a 1/8" shift), I'd leave it alone. 1/32" is nearly perfect.

The panhard bar anchors to the frame on the right rear and to the axle on the left, it is at a slight angle stock. In lowering our GT that inch plus, it swung in a arc and actually put the axle dead center at rest.

I also did saw near an inch off the bump stops too.

My '77 4x4 F-150 has for years had the front axle situated so the right side front tire was out 3/4" more than the left. One day at a part time job, a buddy commented on it. it's panhard bar anchored on the frame on the left and the axle on the right. I made a 3/8" spacer that night and spaced the panhard bar mount 3/8" away from the frame (pulled that rfight front in 3/8", moved left front out 3/8" ... for perfect correction) , I had the right bolts, now the front axle is dead center on that truck ... and it centered my steering wheel in the bargain.

 

The rear "thrust angle" is checked as part of a "4 wheel alignment" but it does not affect the front, though it might make the set-up a little trickier. And it's actually a measure of the angle of the rear end, not the centering of it; but it's the only measurement in an alignment that would show the off center axle.

I think the pinion angle would need to be WAY off to cause a failure in the rear end; probably in combination with a one-piece driveshaft which is more critical than the original two-piece (which is why the original is two-piece).

As far as I can tell, most alignment shops would not bother to adjust the panhard bar, they'd just tell you "it's a little out of spec" so if you are expecting them to do the adjustment, talk with them about it before you pick a shop, and ask them how much they had to move it (to confirm they actually did it). If they don't seem to know what you are talking about, go elsewhere or do it yourself. A regular mechanic should be able to get it pretty close without an alignment machine.

Adjustable rear lower control arms are needed to fine-tune the thrust angle, but it should be pretty close with the axle centered side-to-side.

 

All y'all 'don't matters' runnin' around with your angled body Mustangs rollin' like crabs...

 

I figure doing the adjustment on the bar will be easy enough to do myself.Just gotta do the plumb bob and measure both sides routine,which I plan to do anyway to see how far off it really is,other than my eyeballing method

I always thought anything on the rear wouldn't affect the front alignment except on a car with independent rear suspension.Seems like some of the info is confirming that,and other info seems to be contradicting that

That's why I always go back and forth for months on every little decision.Too much info

I do appreciate all the input

Think I'll go ahead and get the adjustable bar to be on the safe side.I don't like the idea of it being off center,even if it's not enough to do any harm.Don't like the idea of it doing the crab walk.Everybody around here always called that dog walking,but I never understood that.I don't recall ever seeing a dog walk sideways,cats sometimes,yeah.Plus,it's a good excuse to justify the additional mod

 

Just measured,remeasured,and so on several more times,and it's only 3/16" off.So now I'm back to thinking it can't possibly make any difference

Seems to me it could be off that much just from normal tolerances from the factory

What to do,what to do...

 

yeah, there really isn't any clear answer or right or wrong here . . . it's just a question of whether it bothers you or not . . . if you didn't measure, you'd probably never notice

since I am super-critical OCD, it bothers me if it is off center, so I did the adjustable panhard bar and centered it . . . but I am not going to go look right now, because I'd probably find that it is off a little, and I don't want to do it again!

 

Thing is it'll shift about left and right as you have full tank vs empty, or have junk in the trunk. Not that kind... well, yeah, maybe that kind too, IDK, weight's weight after all, Mustang don't care.

Anyway, for those who don't know or need to have it reiterated or just wanna read my sentences because mellifluousness is ensuing or to be quite frank I kinda like typing things 'cause I'm pretty good at it or so I hear myself in my own head...

Since the panhard causes the axle to move left-right/up-down in an arc, car squishies make the axle pooch out left, car hoppies make the axle pooch right. Therefore, the correct procedure to properly measure the car's axle 'center point' is to have 1/2 tank of gas, and *nothing else* in it. Bounce it a couple of times on the front two corners, bounce the rear, then take the measurement. That's the 'normal' resting spot. Anything in the car, or less or more gas will cause the measurement to be outta whack from 'normal'.

...if you have brand new springs that is. The older they gets, the springs will sag, and there ain't no brassiers that'll fix that. Axle's gonna be kicked left after a while no matter what. And that's when you get an adjustable panhard bar or new springs or a Watts link or convert the car to 4 link or maybe even leaf springs or go so far as to get an IRS figured out... IDK, but it's getting too OCD in here at that point, ejectin'.

/Otto Titzling, inventor and Kraut...

 

good lord, I wish I hadn't read that . . . now my OCD brain is conjuring up a test procedure to check it with a full tank, check it with an empty tank, compute the hypotenuse and the angle of the dangle, use a chi-squared analysis to find the mean . . . and then turn the nut half a turn to the left and it'll be perfect "on average" . . . I wonder what I'll get for a Sigma level . . . LOL

 

 

I think my brain's gonna explode now .Oh well,it never worked right anyway