2007 XC 90 Front Strut & Spring Assembly

nyc1836 · Post by **nyc1836** » Sun Nov 18, 2018 2:03 pm

2007 Volvo XC 90 3.2 need advice for decent after market complete pair of Front Strut & Spring Assembly does it come with the mounts?
also for just the strut mount and spring seats saw some by URO parts are these any good? might have to only change the mounts and seats

YouTube · Post by **oragex** » Sun Nov 18, 2018 2:26 pm

How many miles?

Run away from Uro and Sweden Proparts. Even Febi is not great

Cheaper are the Quick Struts but not sure how long lasting and perhaps not a sweet ride either. Better replace the spring seats (Sachs) and the struts with either Sachs Super Touring (blue sticker) or Boge. Reuse the springs and strut mount bearing.

nyc1836 · Post by **nyc1836** » Sun Nov 18, 2018 2:57 pm

115,000 miles i don't think the struts are bad i have to have it double checked

nyc1836 · Post by **nyc1836** » Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:38 pm

Reuse the springs and strut mount bearing? is this the black part
https://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/2007/ ... mount.html

YouTube · Post by **oragex** » Sun Nov 18, 2018 5:01 pm

The springs are the coil springs, there is no need to replace them.

Almost all brands on the page in the link are garbage, except the Sachs, Rein and perhaps Kyb

You may have better choices here https://www.ipdusa.com/prodtype.asp?CAT ... s=987,1058

Or here https://www.fcpeuro.com/Volvo-parts/XC9 ... 593&e=2332

Don't forget to replace the thermostat if is the original one. The 3.2 engine had a fragile one that breaks all of a sudden and causes overheating (a weird design with plastic parts).

The first picture is the rubber spring seat and will need replaced. The second picture is the metal strut bearing and the original should still be fine

Post by **SuperHerman** » Sun Nov 18, 2018 8:41 pm

I replaced the front struts on my 2004 XC90 with Gabriel struts at about 141k if I recall correctly. Originals were showing age at about 80-90k, and the OEM replacements at about 141k. I think the second set had some more life in them, but the spring seats were shot so I just did them all together. I picked Gabriel because of price and they make a solid product. If they give me 30-40k I will be happy, so far about 12k on them. No issues with the Gabriels and changing the seats and struts made a huge difference in the ride. Now the ride is very controlled and smooth. It took about 5k for them to settle as they started out pretty firm.

I would put in OEM spring seats and stay away from most aftermarkets. The XC90 likes to eat suspension parts and spring seats are a higher wear suspension component on the XC90. On the last go around I used Rein spring seats, and visually they were inferior. As the parts were ordered I just went with what I had ordered. So far they are holding up. Were I to do it again, I would have ordered OEM seats for the price difference.

For the rear, I replaced the shocks shortly after the fronts the last go around. Rear shocks are easy to change, maybe a couple hours max taking it slowly, with a floor jack. I put some Ebay specials on there, knowing the risk. So far they have been great, over 10k miles on them.

At 14 years old and over 150k miles may maintenance style has changed on the XC90. It is no longer a primary driver, but still used semi-regularly. I am maintaining it to give me another 2-3 years of service - and after 10 plus years and 120k miles of ownership I pretty much know where to not use OEM to save money and what part should be OEM. Anything labor intensive on the suspension, stick with OEM. The spring seat is labor intensive relative to any cost saving on a non-oem part.

YouTube · Post by **oragex** » Sun Nov 18, 2018 11:22 pm

I think to remember of a member who was satisfied with Gabriel products, then he came back 1-2 years later to say he had to replace them. Monroe on the other side have two qualities (qt least for the S60), the more expensive ones were more durable but the ride quality had nothing to do with OEM or even Supur Touring Sachs especially on less good road surfaces.

Here's a few reviews on Gabriels viewtopic.php?t=78416

ngarover · Post by **ngarover** » Tue Nov 20, 2018 4:59 pm

What about a spring compressor if your wanting to reuse the springs? Can anyone point a reasonable one? I'll be doing a full front end replacement soon. I was just thinking of going with one of the kits form FCP. My truck has 175k on it, pretty sure everything is original.... maybe even the timing belt!! (thats my next job).

YouTube · Post by **oragex** » Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:37 am

Good question. I've used a compressor many times on my S60, but I wonder how these go on the much stiffer springs of the XC90. I would be a little scared to use an inexpensive compressor on a SUV spring.

Post by **ggleavitt** » Wed Nov 21, 2018 8:00 am

There is another post by the same author on Swedespeed- https://forums.swedespeed.com/showthrea ... g-Assembly

XC90 has 3 springs and 3 struts called out, suspension code label (back side of passenger B-pillar) is key to determining correct fitment if this is a direct replacement.

I've done both my cars a couple times now, using slightly modified spring compressors (4- INA TWC1018, 2- INA TC1018)- https://goo.gl/photos/qJK3EtG8nc2VZzpz9, used it last weekend for compressing my rear springs to get bottom insulators on with a nivomat replacement, can see- https://forums.swedespeed.com/showthrea ... ear-shocks, post #16 for photos.

What I can suggest from personal experience is that doing a regular 31 spring is pretty straight forward, doing the Sport/RD 33 spring gets a touch scary at the end.

**My other suggestion is to use OE spring seats with the XC90, see photos for what mine looked like before they got replaced (in particular, see how long they did NOT last on my Sport)- https://goo.gl/photos/9nsqr2Xq5YZFpbvp9, https://photos.app.goo.gl/dQpZLeQMsyEMXXzz2

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