So sue me. I'm used to 4-wheel MacPherson strut suspension on a front-drive Mazda. This rear-drive, live axle stuff is new to me. I've been looking to do some minor suspension upgrades on my 98 WS6.

One thing I'm still kinda lost on. The Panhard Bar. I know it locates the diff laterally relative to the chassis. But I have yet to jack up the rear of the car and take a look. Anyone have a decent picture of the rear underside of a 4th gen? And what's the benefit of an upgraded bar? The nearest thing I can think about from reading is like this:

Suppose i'm driving on the highway or something. I turn the steering wheel back and forth just enough to get some lateral stress on the suspension. The whole car feels like it's rotating on an axis when i do this. More accurately, it feels like the rear of the car is sliding left and right over the rear axle. From what i've researched and such, an aftermarket, stiffer panhard bar with poly bushings would help this? I mean, it's not like i roll down the highway doing slaloms in my lane or anything, but it would help with the slightly "floaty" feeling in the rear of the car, right?

If it's what i think it is, that'll probably be my first upgrade. I'd like to stay away from lower or stiffer springs, as i value ride comfort. What other types of mods will improve the handling and stability of the car without sacrificing much in the way of comfort or streetability?

If it were my old MX-6, it would get front and rear strut bars, adjustable struts all around, and a thicker rear sway bar. My new F-body? I'm lost!

 

First should be SFC's and if handling is what your looking for New Front and rear sway bars. Stay away from strut tower braces not much of a bennifit. Then I would go with LCA's and panhard rod. Later down the road a new torque arm. Depending on how old your shocks and springs are I would replace them at about 50 to 60,000 they will be mush by then. So start off with SFC's, sway bars, LCA's and a PHR and you will be handling 20 times better.

 

In this pic, the panhard rod is the diagonal (not quite horizontal) black rod, running from the mount on the drivers side of the axle assembly, to the body mount on the passenger side. The stock rod is a stamped u-shaped channel, similar to the mount brace located immediately above the panhard rod.



If you have a general feeling that there is excessive side-to-side movement when the panhard rod is under lateral loads, its worth taking a look at the rod and the bushings, to make sure they aren't damaged.

If you are satisfied with the rest of the handling, focus on the panhard rod. But, as suggested above, don't overlook the other areas.

 

Thats a nice setup you got there Injuneer What kinda springs do you have on there and what kinda exhaust are you running

 

Rear springs are the Eibach Drag Launch, fronts are QA1/HAL.

In that picture, the exhaust consisted of a pair of 3" Borla XR1 shorties bolted directly to AS&M mid-lengths with modified collectors. I have since added 3" pipes and turndowns, because the local track now requires that all cars be muffled, and go past the rear edge of the door.