Alignment issues

Blacklab467 · Post by **Blacklab467** » Sat Oct 17, 2020 12:55 pm

My 03 XC 70 is having some annoying steering/ alignment issues that I'm having a hard time isolating. To best describe the problem: when parking or driving at slow speeds where the steering approaches full lock left or right, the wheels "oversteer" such that they continue to steer into the turn on their own with no driver input until they hit the steering stop. The problem with this is that the tires will then scrub on the road surface rather than follow the arc of the turn, particularly on the inner tire. I had changed the lower control arms and the inner and outer tie rod ends in the spring, my stock Volvo control arms did not have the steering stops and nor did my aftermarket replacement ones. My struts are good OEM ones.
The car drives fine on the highway and around the city, my alignment specs are about 2mm toe in each side and 1/2 degree negative camber in the front by my measurement.
Could the geometry be incorrect on the LCA's or the tie rods and cause this problem? Or is this fairly normal for Volvo's to steer this way in tight situations? Also when the steering is at full lock, the inner tire appears to be angled sharper into the turn and end up positive camber.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

YouTube · Post by **oragex** » Sat Oct 17, 2020 2:22 pm

How many kms? At high miles the subframe bushings may start get soft and may allow some subframe movement
I think the inner wheel does indeed change the camber more as it's turns out, but it shouldn't start dragging
How are the spring seats ? May pop the hood and have someone turn the steering fast l-r see how the top of the strut washer is moving - it should be obvious if it has failed (use only crp/rein or sachs)

Blacklab467 · Post by **Blacklab467** » Sat Oct 17, 2020 3:44 pm

I'll check the spring seats this evening, the car has 276,000 kms on the original subframe bushings so that may also be the cause. I put some good used OEM struts in this summer after a bad experience with aftermarket Chinese quick struts.

Post by **SuperHerman** » Sat Oct 17, 2020 7:49 pm

More important question is whether this is a new issue or one you have always had. If it is new - what changed? When did it appear after the last maintenance item (and what was said item).

Post by **chrism** » Sat Oct 17, 2020 9:42 pm

So does the car now have steering bump stops installed or not?

Blacklab467 · Post by **Blacklab467** » Sun Oct 18, 2020 6:14 pm

The problem has slowly gotten worse over the course of the summer, not specific to any particular repair or part replacement. I think the spring seats may be suspect, they look ok from the top but from the videos I've been watching, they almost need to be disassembled to see the cracks.

There is no provision for steering stops. I guess the 2003 XC's didn't have them? There's no bolt holes to accommodate them either.