replacing front struts again

[oragex]

Get these and save up for a pair of struts. At least if you break them you can have them replaced free of charge till you are able to buy new struts.

https://www.1aauto.com/volvo-850-c70-s7 ... 06596/2001

The spring seat should be the same for S70 and S60, but the strut bearing plate is different, S60 has rounded plate, S70/850 has a square plate. However those in the link are very low quality and may not last long enough. Someone bough recently a cheap Lemforder bearing plate, started making noise right from the start and the steering may also be hard to turn because more than half the weight of the car is resting on these two front strut bearings

[erikv11]

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If you buy a set of lifetime warranty seats and bearings a bad strut will break them. When you go to the junk yard you won't know how long the seats and bearing will last. Then there is the DYI labor involved.

Get these and save up for a pair of struts. At least if you break them you can have them replaced free of charge till you are able to buy new struts.

https://www.1aauto.com/volvo-850-c70-s7 ... 06596/2001

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Good advice overall by most people in this thread but ugh don't buy these you will just create work for yourself! The spring seats need to be Sachs brand, that's what Volvo sells and they last the longest.

[MoVolvos]

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If you buy a set of lifetime warranty seats and bearings a bad strut will break them. When you go to the junk yard you won't know how long the seats and bearing will last. Then there is the DYI labor involved.

Get these and save up for a pair of struts. At least if you break them you can have them replaced free of charge till you are able to buy new struts.

https://www.1aauto.com/volvo-850-c70-s7 ... 06596/2001

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Good advice overall by most people in this thread but ugh don't buy these you will just create work for yourself! The spring seats need to be Sachs brand, that's what Volvo sells and they last the longest.

If Sach are OE Volvo then it's FCP.

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[Blacklab467]

I just installed OEM Volvo XC90 seats in my car......the difference is amazing. I'd say get a set of OEM struts from the wreckers, white label, and a new set of OEM seats, they're about 40 bucks, and find some good OEM links. I've learned the hard way not to bother with anything aftermarket in the front end for a variety of reasons.

[ndphotonl]

I disagree, I chose to replace the old struts on my S80 with Bilstein B4 (front & back) and I absolutely love them (and can highly recommend them). But everyone needs to decide for themselves off course. Complementary stuff was either Sachs or OEM (+Vogtland springs)

Volvo S80 2.4T Lowering Preparations Done! by Andy Ramdin, on Flickr

Volvo S80 2.4T Lowering Preparations by Andy Ramdin, on Flickr

[abscate]

A few days ago I received a notification email from my local u-pull-it that they got an '01 xc70 in stock... Great, I needed a drivers side headlight for my son's car, so when I grabbed the headlight assy I noticed it had recently replaced front struts, needed those also. So with a different set of tools I went back yesterday to grabbed those two struts, drivers side was a 10-minute job including removing the wheel, awesome.

On the passenger side 4 wheel studs came off easily but that fifth one caused me to break 1/2" Craftsman AND Matco breaker bars (that I've had for over 20 years) and a factory volvo wheel wrench. With cheater bars, of course. I then enlisted a couple of young bucks nearby to help and they bent their 4-way lug wrench and broke a Craftsman ratchet on it.
Found another yard volunteer and he broke a 19mm socket on it, but with the use of my snap-on impact socket on his breaker bar/pipe combo, we got it to break free and I was able to quickly grab the strut that looked nearly new.

That used strut caused 5 broken tools.

Ugh. That’s an ugly piece of economics for that part

[erikv11]

A couple minutes with a torch may have saved them all from breaking.

[SVO LOU]

A couple minutes with a torch may have saved them all from breaking.

I'm sure but I don't tend to carry one in my toolbag, had it been at home it would've been a different story.
On the plus side Ace hardware carries craftsman and swapped the bar right out for me, will have to find a Matco truck next.
Between lower control arms and struts/bearings these things are pretty time consuming but they drive so well.

[erikv11]

A couple minutes with a torch may have saved them all from breaking.

I'm sure but I don't tend to carry one in my toolbag, had it been at home it would've been a different story.
On the plus side Ace hardware carries craftsman and swapped the bar right out for me, will have to find a Matco truck next.
Between lower control arms and struts/bearings these things are pretty time consuming but they drive so well.

Oh no doubt - actually I expect all yards forbid bringing in torches. As you said, had it been at home it would've been a different story.