I have noticed that there is too much body roll in car, even driving in city. On motorways i can feel the car being pushed to left or right by air of passing by cars, all four shock absorbers are brand new.
Are the springs bad ? Or pandas are just like this? How can i make it little bit stiffer so it handles well, and body roll is reduced. 117000 km ( k

Being a tall square box it does roll quite a bit, my 4x4 is even worse as it sits even higher, once had it on 3 wheels in a corner a 40mph

you could go down the route of lowering springs
https://www.dcperformance.co.uk/list/lowering-springs/fiat/panda.html

Make sure the rubber bushes at front bottom arms and rear swing axle are not degraded.
You could fit the Fiat 500 rear axle which has an anti roll bar. Handling and ride are considerably improved. The skipping is gone and it rolls less.

You will need the 500 springs and the rubber buffers so you can fit rubbers at spring tops and bottoms. Use Febi bump stops specced for the Fiat Coupe.

A forum search should find my axle swap project. The track is 50mm wider so It works with smaller Panda wheels. It will not fit with wide wheels as used on the 100HP.

Chali said:

I have noticed that there is too much body roll in car, even driving in city. On motorways i can feel the car being pushed to left or right by air of passing by cars, all four shock absorbers are brand new.
Are the springs bad ? Or pandas are just like this? How can i make it little bit stiffer so it handles well, and body roll is reduced. 117000 km ( k

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is a compromise. At least you loose your bottle before the skinny 155s loose there grip.


I believe fords KA had a stiffer front anti roll bar. Not sure if this is true or if it would be a straight swap with its bushes. If it is. It would probably be the cheapest bang for your buck to reduce body roll.


We aren't talking about bump steer ? Where a car goes past the body moves and you have to correct it on the steering wheel ???

koalar said:

We aren't talking about bump steer ? Where a car goes past the body moves and you have to correct it on the steering wheel ???

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Bump steer is where the impacted wheel pulls the car toward's its side. Another symptom is following while lines or overbands then skipping over the ridge. This is cause by work bottom arm rear bushes. On mine the bush did not look too bad but the new arm solved the problem

koalar said:

I believe fords KA had a stiffer front anti roll bar.

Click to expand...

From launch, the Ka had the stiffer rear beam fitted to the 500 for the 2010 model year, which improves the ride quite a bit.

It was never fitted to the Panda, but as Dave says, you can retrofit the stiffer 500 beam (you need the springs & dampers as well) if you don't mind widening the rear track by 50mm.

Can I ask, would the rear axle from the Fiat 500 work on a Panda Eleganza that has the 14" alloys with 165/65 tyres? Or are they going to be too wide?

onecleanfinger said:

Can I ask, would the rear axle from the Fiat 500 work on a Panda Eleganza that has the 14" alloys with 165/65 tyres? Or are they going to be too wide?

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The 500 axle is 25mm wider at each side (50mm over all). Measure the gap between outside of tyre and inside of wheel arch.

There's ample space for 155 tyres on 13" wheels so 165-14 wheels should be ok. 165 tyres are just 10mm wider than 155 tyres = 5mm each side.

The 500 axle hub carrier brackets could be cut and welded.
You would need to weld jig brackets to each side of the axle, cut out metal from the wheel spindle brackets and use the welded on jigs to maintain alignment for re-welding. It need not be uber high tech, but would clearly need good welding and fabrication skills. Very minor errors could be shimmed under the stub axle mounts. However, the job risks a scrapped 500 axle.

I've considered doing one for the 100HP but there are always other things to do.

jrkitching said:

From launch, the Ka had the stiffer rear beam fitted to the 500 for the 2010 model year, which improves the ride quite a bit.

It was never fitted to the Panda, but as Dave says, you can retrofit the stiffer 500 beam (you need the springs & dampers as well) if you don't mind widening the rear track by 50mm.

Click to expand...

isn't the pandas font bar 19.5mm dia and the fords 21.5mm not sure if specs ever changed


I don't know if its a straight swap.


But its common practice for race car running in unmodified class to swap front bars out for ones from a diesel.

DaveMcT said:

The 500 axle is 25mm wider at each side (50mm over all). Measure the gap between outside of tyre and inside of wheel arch.

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Thanks DaveMcT. On my Eleganza with 165/65/14 tyres there's 24mm between the edge of the tyre and the inside of the wheel arch. I measured that by placing a straight edge vertically across the tyre and tucked up inside the wheel arch. Do you think that will be enough?

Fiat rear beam is too much of work, any shortcut to overcome body roll

DaveMcT said:

Bump steer is where the impacted wheel pulls the car toward's its side. Another symptom is following while lines or overbands then skipping over the ridge. This is cause by work bottom arm rear bushes. On mine the bush did not look too bad but the new arm solved the problem

Click to expand...

Yes bump steer, both control arms are new too

You will get certainly by taking off the rear springs and sitting the car down on the bump stops with the shocks connected. That will simulate full bump under load and push the wheels as high as they can ever go into the arches. You can then accurately measure the worst case tyre to wheel arch clearance.

However, check out the tyre image below -
F is the side wall - widest part of tyre
E is the shoulder - widest part of the tread
On my cars F (side wall) overhangs E (shoulder) between 15mm and 25mm at each side.

The Dynamic with 155x13 wheels and 500 axle shows a clear 5mm clearance to the side walls The tyre shoulder is 25mm inboard of sidewall so loads of clearance. The 165 reduces tyre clearance by 5mm. My guess is you'll be ok.

Obviously you'll have to measure up and decide but I think you'll be ok.

The 500 axle with 169 Panda springs rides like there are no springs on the car. The 500 springs feel great but do lower the ride height. I used the spring top rubber bush at both ends to lift the back end just enough. I believe the 500 and Panda rear shocks are the same, but logic dictates 500 are the best opton.

Chali said:

Yes bump steer, both control arms are new too

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Panda don't suffer from bump steer.


Either the geometry out

or something is worn or loose


Normally its the bush nearest the centre of the car on the control Arms. But you say they are new.



have you got someone to help you. Something like a loose rack or worn inner track rod ends are easer to spot if someone else rocks the steering wheel.

they don't track as well as some car I have driven. But you can drive down the motorway steering one handed at 50mph with trucks passing and very little input

My 100HP had all sorts of white line and over-banding following problems. The front bottom arms looked ok and I could not get any movement. Then I noticed dust around the driver's side rear bush so replaced the pair and the steering was sorted. 100HP has different rear bushes to other Panda models.

Wife's 1.2 with 500 rear axle had done 55,000 on original bottom arms. It does feel less precise than mine but it is running 155 tyres and original bottom arm bushes. On motorways, there is no problem with side winds or slipstream.

Make sure you get the correct 500 axle. This advert clearly shows the wider stub axle brackets.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heavy-Duty-Rear-Axle-to-Fit-Fiat-500-Drum-Brakes-07-15-Thicker-Metal-Upgrade/123990326111?hash=item1cde663b5f:g:41wAAOSwhBpex-L-

This one has hanger brackets, brakes and shocks though looking at the drums they may be well worn.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAT-500-FORD-KA-REAR-AXLE-BEAM-2008-2016/143634108738?hash=item2171429142:g:3R4AAOSwepNe6iKm