Well the Volvo is still marching on, now showing 153k.
I've not been totally enamoured with how the Volvo handles in the twisties. I've owned various cars based on the same platform that were renown for good handling, and that had been my experience. Truthfully, the suspension was woolly at best and often didn't inspire confidence. On some bumpy back roads you had to put the suspension in 'Advanced' mode or the thing felt like a wallowy mess. I assumed the wibbly wobbly back end was tired shocks, but the adaptive dampers for this car cost well over £1000 for a set.
In March we took the car up to North Wales for a short holiday and the rear end started knocking far worse than it had been which prompted me to take a much closer look at it than I otherwise had done. A few minutes with a suitable lever and the car jacked up made it clear that nearly all the bushes up back were far past their best. I was kind of glad to find this out considering the price of the dampers. Interestingly, the knocking only existed when the car was heavily loaded, as it was when we travelled up to North Wales.
I purchased all new arms for the back end, and there they've sat, since March, just collecting dust in the garage while my life did it's thing and took me on various impromptu trips, unwanted adventures and unkindly made plans for me. Like having my Mothers clutch to change earlier last month.
The cars annual inspection was due to expire this coming Monday and I quickly realised that time was up. I had to man-up and book the car into a garage. I decided to play it safe and book it into a highly recommended local Volvo specialists. She may be an old girl, but she's a complicated beast and there's a few things make even the most modern car look simple.
I supplied Delphi branded radius arms and link arms, Lemforder fixings and Febi Bilstein lower arms (as Delphi wasn't available) for the back end. I also gave them the refurbished front N/S hub, wishbone and droplink to replace also. And I told them to do the annual inspection while they were at it, which the car passed with flying colours.
Unfortunately, when I got home I looked at the car and noticed it's rear end was sitting rather low.
The garage were friendly, got me and the car in quick and efficiently and the price was reasonable. But when investigating this new found stance, I came to realise the lower arms ordered from Autodoc, despite being listed against the OEM part number, were Volvo V70 items. Now, while I admit I supplied the parts, I'm disappointed the garage just fitted them and didn't notice the difference. Or if they did notice, why didn't they say anything? They're the specialists after all? Am I being unreasonable? The correct arms are totally flat, where the V70 arms have a distinct curve to them. Pretty obvious when you look at them side by side.
I found out the original arms aren't available on the aftermarket and only through Volvo. However, bushes are available for them. So I quickly phoned the garage up to ask if they still had the old arms, but their skip had just been collected. Que, £310 from our local dealer for new arms. And annoyingly, where the old arms were cast aluminium (including the wrong replacements from Autodoc), the revised items from Volvo are now stamped steel and don't look anywhere near as cool.
The new 'wrong' arms...
One side swapped...
Two things to note, no grease used on the part of the bolt that goes through the bush. I always assumed a light application of something like copper grease on the part of the bolt that usually seizes into the bush was good practice? I used some Lanogaurd grease, well... a lot of it...
And the second thing to note, on the O/S inner bush, despite having all new fixing hardware, they've used an old washer. Minor, I know. But seemed a little sloppy as they've obviously lost one. Pretty obvious in the next photo too.
Anyway, new arms fitted...
V70 arms vs XC70 arms...
And back at the correct height...
And this is why I work on my cars myself. Gahhhhh!
I've not been totally enamoured with how the Volvo handles in the twisties. I've owned various cars based on the same platform that were renown for good handling, and that had been my experience. Truthfully, the suspension was woolly at best and often didn't inspire confidence. On some bumpy back roads you had to put the suspension in 'Advanced' mode or the thing felt like a wallowy mess. I assumed the wibbly wobbly back end was tired shocks, but the adaptive dampers for this car cost well over £1000 for a set.
In March we took the car up to North Wales for a short holiday and the rear end started knocking far worse than it had been which prompted me to take a much closer look at it than I otherwise had done. A few minutes with a suitable lever and the car jacked up made it clear that nearly all the bushes up back were far past their best. I was kind of glad to find this out considering the price of the dampers. Interestingly, the knocking only existed when the car was heavily loaded, as it was when we travelled up to North Wales.
I purchased all new arms for the back end, and there they've sat, since March, just collecting dust in the garage while my life did it's thing and took me on various impromptu trips, unwanted adventures and unkindly made plans for me. Like having my Mothers clutch to change earlier last month.
The cars annual inspection was due to expire this coming Monday and I quickly realised that time was up. I had to man-up and book the car into a garage. I decided to play it safe and book it into a highly recommended local Volvo specialists. She may be an old girl, but she's a complicated beast and there's a few things make even the most modern car look simple.
I supplied Delphi branded radius arms and link arms, Lemforder fixings and Febi Bilstein lower arms (as Delphi wasn't available) for the back end. I also gave them the refurbished front N/S hub, wishbone and droplink to replace also. And I told them to do the annual inspection while they were at it, which the car passed with flying colours.
Unfortunately, when I got home I looked at the car and noticed it's rear end was sitting rather low.
The garage were friendly, got me and the car in quick and efficiently and the price was reasonable. But when investigating this new found stance, I came to realise the lower arms ordered from Autodoc, despite being listed against the OEM part number, were Volvo V70 items. Now, while I admit I supplied the parts, I'm disappointed the garage just fitted them and didn't notice the difference. Or if they did notice, why didn't they say anything? They're the specialists after all? Am I being unreasonable? The correct arms are totally flat, where the V70 arms have a distinct curve to them. Pretty obvious when you look at them side by side.
I found out the original arms aren't available on the aftermarket and only through Volvo. However, bushes are available for them. So I quickly phoned the garage up to ask if they still had the old arms, but their skip had just been collected. Que, £310 from our local dealer for new arms. And annoyingly, where the old arms were cast aluminium (including the wrong replacements from Autodoc), the revised items from Volvo are now stamped steel and don't look anywhere near as cool.
The new 'wrong' arms...
One side swapped...
Two things to note, no grease used on the part of the bolt that goes through the bush. I always assumed a light application of something like copper grease on the part of the bolt that usually seizes into the bush was good practice? I used some Lanogaurd grease, well... a lot of it...
And the second thing to note, on the O/S inner bush, despite having all new fixing hardware, they've used an old washer. Minor, I know. But seemed a little sloppy as they've obviously lost one. Pretty obvious in the next photo too.
Anyway, new arms fitted...
V70 arms vs XC70 arms...
And back at the correct height...
And this is why I work on my cars myself. Gahhhhh!
