Are most folks putting Panhard rods onto leaf spring cars? I was under the impression that leafs have enough lateral rigidity to obviate the need for the Panhard. I don’t doubt people notice a difference but maybe they need better leafs?
Next year for me is rear suspension time. I’ll tear that down, fix leafs, get my Armstrong levers rebuilt. Had thought about the Panhard or a Watts linkage (some really cool animation videos on line explaining them, almost mesmerizing to watch) but will keep it stock. I just want to fix my sag.
Depends on how hard you drive the car, I suspect. When I went from 85bhp (knackered CVH) to 165bhp(tuned Ecotec) I really noticed a lack of rear axle control even with newish 5-leaf rear springs, under hard cornering and acceleration it was pretty bad, on very tight bumpy corners you could feel the back end hopping sideways, it was quite unnerving. New 4-leaf springs, Panhard rod, ant-tramp bars, AVO shocks and a rebuilt axle with Quaife ATB diff sorted everything out beautifully.
A cheaper alternative is to put rubbing blocks between the chassis and the springs, much closer to OE. But for a touring car I'd probably agree, a Panhard rod isn't a necessity.
