I'm getting an adjustable panhard bar, probably from founders. I noticed there are different ends. Do I get poly/poly, rod/poly, or rod/rod. They also have two different poly/poly options. I'm confused and am having trouble finding the answer.

 

Many will tel you to have at least 1 poly end for a street car if not poly/poly for a street/daily driver car.

I have rod/rod on both the LCAs & PHB & I don't regret it. But I also do my best to stay on smooth roads roads. On rough/pothole filled roads I do know the rod ends are there though. Still not bad TO ME, but do hear/feel them. If you travel rough roads regularly,. then I would suggest poly on one end if not both, depending on just how rough the roads are that you travel on & how much you travel on them.

 

so if this car will be just an occasional street driver I should maybe just go poly/poly? If so they have 2 different ones. I think one adjusts on the ends and the other has an adjustment inward about 8".

 

I'd suggest a rod/poly to allow flexibility along with having the benefit of having a poly end. It's probably more important for the LCA's, but the original pieces were designed to flex and that helps the suspension act as it did originally IMO.

 

How soft is your ***? Mine is boney as hell, no cushioning, and even as my Daily Driver/ONLY car I have rod/rod & 17" wheels w/35 series tires. So......Do you like a soft cushy, Cadillac ride? Or what? My rod/rod doesn't bother me even with my boney ***, but maybe it is a mental aspect too? My girl hasn't complained about the ride any so either it isn't bad at all or she knows better than to say anything!

In the end really.....It is all about perspective & what feels comfortable to you.

 

I was getting lower control arms also... I have the poly/poly lca's in my shopping cart. Are you saying it is important that I get a set that has a swivel in it? I'm lowering my car with the Sportlines and was going to get Founders LCA brackets, adjustable bar, and LCA's... I was also going to throw in a strut tower. It is an 87 IROC that will mostly be used to drive on the weekends and such. The motor is redone so it has quite a bit more power, but nothing insane.

 

Rod ends, Roto joints or stock rubber gives better swivel than poly does. Poly binds when the movement becomes non-lateral. And poly does not like to be bound. You won't notice it for just a driver and if it is just a Daily Driver then you won't notice any binding.

 

It's up to you what you get. I've read a few times how poly/poly can bind when cornering. That's especially where the LCA's come into play. They were originally designed to give a little when the car leans from one side to the other. If you look at how they move when the car leans you can see that there needs to be some give in the LCA's.

GM produced LCA's later on with harder rubber inserts but added little cuts in the rubber to allow the twist I'm talking about.

Edit: I'd also try to get poly ends with a zerc fitting that you can hook a grease gun up to so you can lubricate them over time.

 

Poly is a waste of time and money. You run that on your lca's, you'll be lucky not to crack the mounts on the body.

 

Thank you for the reply's. I took some advise and researched a bunch based on some advise. I ended up going with the single adjustable panhard with poly/rod. Of course I did the relocation brackets. I got the regular poly/poly LCA's with new hardware (I did a lot of reading and the worries mentioned here were mentioned elsewhere too, but I also found that tons of people have this type and I couldn't find any actual incidents or negative reviews... even from those that beat on their car pretty hard). And I discovered that the strut tower was for the wrong years so I didn't get that. I did it all in black. I paid just over $200 for everything. I think this is a great deal considering that some places were charging $200 for just the adjustable pan hard.

I started off just wanting to get my car registered and drive it. It had sat in the garage for 6 years. I have ended up putting a lot of money into it LOL. I think it will be worth it though.

 

Rod ends will outlast a poly bushing.