TTAC Commentator MadHungarian writes:
Hi Sajeev – I am your fellow Town Car-o-phile, and per Panther Appreciation week commentary, I accept your invitation. How do you get that harshness out of the ride of my 2005 Signature Limited? That banging and bottoming in the rear over seemingly minor bumps. Strangely, it seems worse at lower speeds. I miss the authentically Land Yacht-y ride of my ’92. I don’t miss the seriously imprecise steering, but is one a necessary tradeoff to get the other?
A photo of my somewhat blingy ’05 is included for your enjoyment. It’s got only 54K and as far as I know the air suspension and all other suspension components are in proper order.
Sajeev Answers:
Nice Townie, the (aftermarket) landau roof with classy quarter window deletion is a rare find! Most people go for the clumsy mop-on-head design of the full carriage roofs. Your triple black threat proves that TTAC is a diverse group of passionate pistonheads, that the automotive aftermarket makes “non-ricey” cosmetic improvements, and that old school rides get better by going even older.
Here’s my time tested advice, performed in the opposite direction to make my Dad’s Town Car feel more like a Police Interceptor. So you better keep that hood and its ornament nicely polished, you’ll see it bobbing up on down quite nicely after this.
1. Remove rear sway bar, Town Cars don’t need that fancy pants bit of engineering. Try to sell it to the poor souls who want better handling but got stuck with a bar-less Panther. (FYI: many newer Panthers come without a rear bar.) Forums like CrownVic.net, GrandMarq.net and Lincolnsonline.com should be your new stomping grounds.
2. Switch to 16″ wheels from a 1996-2002 Town Car. With this you gain tall 60-series tires that’ll crush any surface imperfection with American swagger. Shouldn’t be hard to make a trade locally with someone, your chrome rolling stock is worth some cash. Sorry, 15” wheels won’t clear your gigantic twin-piston brake calipers and you don’t want to downgrade your stoppers. Plus, 70-ish series tires may not be necessary anyway.
3. Install “softy” front springs from an early 90s Town Car, I believe they drop right in. That’ll give the front end a proper floaty ride when you hit the freeway. Hell, get them from the junkyard; they’ll be well worn and even floatier.
4. You could experiment with front/rear shocks from older models, but steps 1-3 are the big sources of improvement with little effort on your part. The same applies if you converted to rear coil springs using mounts from a 1998+ Crown Vic and springs from an early 90s Town Car. Not worth it.
5. And for the love of all that’s right in this world, install some whitewall tires. Pronto!
Send your queries to mehta@ttac.com. Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry.
5. And for the love of all that’s right in this world, install some whitewall tires. Pronto!
Sajeev, I like how you think! On certain cars, whitewall tires really look good. I hope that comment was not meant to be facetious.
I think the chrome stick-on wheel well arches need to go, though – those look so amateur-night. The padded top looks good. The secret to any car modification is to make it appear that it belongs there. And that top looks much nicer than the one Chrysler used on the old 5th Avenues from the 80’s.
I spoke the truth re: whitewalls. For the same reason why Dad’s Townie got blackwall Kumhos…just in the opposite direction.
Agreed on the fender bling, looks like an afterthought in person. Never much cared for it, unless designed to match chrome trim along the bottom of the body, as expected in yesteryear’s OEM designs.
Great advice from the Panther Master, as usual!
It’s worth noting that the offset changed significantly in 2003. If you don’t want the steering effects of the old-offset wheels, you can find 16″ steelies from a 2003-2006 CVPI. Make sure you get the post-recall part number; the originals tended to lose air.
That’s right and thank you for the correction, Jack. Upon further digging, the offset on the ’03+ is 54 mm and the offset on the ’02- is 9 mm. That’s pretty significant.
I can’t believe I missed that. I see the Reading Cab Co. running their old (old being 2003-2006) retired P71’s around with those mixed old/new style wheels. I just shake my head.
The other thing they do that’s fairly amusing is putting the old style Crown Vic center caps on the new style wheels. They stick out a few inches past the side of the car. And look goofy as hell going down the road.
Hmmm. Not sure I want to switch to cop car wheels. Seems a little out of keeping with the bling theme!
what i want to know is why does a 2005 town car need to be modified in any way to get the smooth as a baby’s ass ride? hell i thought that is what you are paying for in the first place with this kind of car….
Mostly because it can’t hold a candle to a 1995 Town Car in the ride department.
It’s okay to complain about the good old days in Town Car land, just like owners of 993 Porkers.
Reading a post like this on a car enthusiast website makes me think I fell down a rabbit hole.
Which is NOT criticism. In fact, I’m trying to convince my wife that our next car should be a Crown Vic instead of a 4Runner. Wish me luck…
Good lord that thing is hideous.
@jeanpierresarti, enthusiasts are all over the place when it comes to cars. FMCo tried to give the panther platform better handling over the years at the slight expense of ride. (Especially post 1997.) Some of us who are like Sajeev try to put components of the P71 suspension under their cars looking for handling, others like MadHungarian want to go smoooooooooooooottthhhh and don’t care about speeding down a cloverleaf onto the interstate.
I actually feel both ways and know I’d have to buy my Panther before deciding which way I want to go. I do love the idea of a white Grand Marquis with black PI steelies for my snow tires.
@MadHungarian, that’s one bad mo’ fo’. I wonder if they still make “Uniroyal Nail Guard” tires with the gold side wall stripe? That would be classy!
@Dan: I agree my buckeye brother, to each their own. It’s not my cup of meat, but if he loves it, more power to him.
I’ve always liked the original AMG’s from the early 80’s, i.e., no chrome all body color. It would be interesting to see a Townie done that way.
Even when there’s disagreement, no one minds as long as there is some underlying respect. (Lifting a glass to the land of my birth, from far away New Mexico.)
Thanks Dan! I had a Caddy once that had Vogues on it when I bought it, with a similar gold stripe deal, but I HATED those tires; they were hard as rocks. I’m running Goodyear Assurance tires now which did improve the ride over the OEM Michelins which were still on the car when I bought it last year.
@Dan: True Dat.
I had a Panther at one time. I liked it, but it didn’t like me. Not that I wouldn’t like to try again, but I need to get to what I really want at this point in life.
Beautiful automobile. I want one.
why the hell would you put a vestigial vinyl roof on the back like that
it is truly awful
Agreed on all points, Sajeev. My dad asked me just last week why my grandfather’s 2003 Town Car doesn’t ride as buttery smooth as his 1997 Grand Marquis. I placed the blame squarely on the beautiful but absurd 18 inch wheels and low profile tires.
Take out that tire gauge and try 27~28 psi.
Explorer anyone? Not a good idea to just drop the PSI of the tire below recommended pressure.
Maybe just a switch to softer riding T-rated tires is in order.
I just rotated from H-rated Michelin MXMV4+ all-seasons to X-Ice Xi2 winter tires, and improvement in ride quality is noticeable. The ride is lush, sharp impacts no longer come through, and it’s silent to boot. That’s unheard of in a winter tire, pardon the pun.
The Yokohama Avid Touring-S gets great comments on its ride quality in Tire Rack’s recent tire test.