Fully rodlike poly(p-phenylene pyromellitimide) (PMDA-PDA) exhibits a high modulus but is considered a useless polymer because of its high brittleness. In this study, the high brittleness was successfully healed with only a minor effect on the high modulus by incorporating short side groups, such as methyl, methoxy and trifluoromethyl, into the PDA unit of the polymer backbone. Furthermore, refractive indices, dielectric constants, and their anisotropies were all reduced by the incorporation of side groups. However, both in-plane thermal expansivity and thermal stability were relatively degraded by the incorporation of side groups. The polyimides exhibited relatively low packing coefficients because of the limited bulkiness of the side groups. They exhibited glass transition temperatures which are not expected for PMDA-PDA polyimide, indicating that the chain mobility was improved by incorporating side groups. With the improved chain mobility, molecular ordering was slightly improved, showing a bundle-like ordering without regular packing.