Any special tools needed to replace control arms?

Post by **IVIUSTANG** » 02 Sep 2011, 15:10

HLC is more Chinese junk; HLC are not worth putting in a vehicle in my opinion, worse than Meyle and defintely worse than Lemforder and OEM. Just call FCP they will fix the problem. They sent me Scantech parts last week when I ordered OEM Volvo and although I was very cheesed off they took care of it no problems. My last purchase I tried http://www.bimmerspecialist.com/canada/ and their shipping is cheaper than any other American company to Canada plus they carry brands that no one other companies who will ship to Canada have. I bought my $18 Lemforder sway bar endlinks there, got the parts today and I have to say German is much better than Chinese/Taiwan parts in general

- Jesse

Post by **Matty Moo** » 02 Sep 2011, 17:28

I've had a set of URO's from FCP on my car for close to 50k miles.

No problems to speak of. I did mess up the driver's side control arm after drilling a fairly massive pothole, but said pothole also bent the wheel, destroyed the strut and mangled the endlink...so I'm not holding anything against the part itself. It took a major hit and is actually still working, it's just loose.

The passenger side is still tight 50k later. That's driving on shitty Michigan roads on 17's.

I think a lot of people still have the bad taste from the Scan-Tech and Hamburg-Technic junk. Most of what I've heard about the URO's from people that have actually used them has been positive.

Post by **fazool** » 08 Sep 2011, 05:23

Thanks for the advice and warnings. I just found broken rear sway bar links (stabilizer bar links) and needed to order replacements. Those junk brands are everywhere and I'm glad I knew better ahead of time. I looked for Meyle or Lemforder. I had trouble finding the former and the latter was much more expensive (and would have been much much more direct from Volvo).

Anyway, I went with Bilstein (Febi). I was an engineer designing shock absorbers in my early career and have always known Bilstein to be a top notch competitor.

I'll let you know how they hold up. With expedited delivery from bimmerspecialists.com a pair of them cost me $62.

Post by **matthew1** » 08 Sep 2011, 09:28

fazool wrote:I'll let you know how they hold up. With expedited delivery from bimmerspecialists.com a pair of them cost me $62.

Cheap!

v70xc · Post by **v70xc** » 08 Sep 2011, 10:38

Fazool: you have me curious since when I searched for Bilstein struts from Bimmerspecialist.com I found part number BILSTEIN TC - 22-045799 at $151.24 Canadian and the $126.95 from FCP Euro.
I thought I would look up the front since those are what I might be considering in the near future as well, but as for the rear shocks for my 1998 V70 XC AWD Turbo ran in at $278.69 for “Volvo Shock Absorber Rear Nivomat (S70 V70 AWD) - Marked "7," "M," or "4" 8626027” Brand: Genuine Volvo “Sachs”. Both now and back in October of 2010, this was a great price for the rear shocks. I don’t know if I would say they do the “self leveling” they brag about, but they were definitively at a good price compared to the $300, $400 and even $700 quotes I got from other vendors.
Anyhow, back to my original question, what car are you changing the shock absorbers on and what part number are you purchasing? I could not find better pricing on the Bimmerspecialist site than I did at the FCP site. Since I am possibly looking for front strut and hardware, I might as well gather whatever numbers I can since nobody seems to be giving away front struts, mount plates or bushings.
Ps: Fazool: don’t do like me when you are changing the shock absorbers and forget to replace with a new shock mount. “Volvo Shock Mount (S70 V70 AWD) - Genuine Volvo 9157321”. At the time, I did not order shock mounts, so having the shocks off the car before thinking about replacing them, I figured the ones I had on the car looked fine…Since I could not wait for another shipment to come in. I can not purchase anything locally for my Volvo. Now, almost a year later and 30,000KM, I think I might be removing the shock absorbers again just to replace the shock mounts.  Not a smart move on my part. (my two cents)

Post by **erikv11** » 08 Sep 2011, 13:06

Fazool is replacing the sway bar links. This whole thread is about control arms and related suspension pars, not shocks/struts. I am pretty sure he bought Bilsten end links.

lesmith · Post by **lesmith** » 15 Sep 2011, 19:21

anyone know what size the control arm pinch bolts are? I'd like to buy them before I get the car taken apart but I can't find what size they are anywhere

Post by **erikv11** » 16 Sep 2011, 00:25

Do you have another car to drive? Just take one of them out, drive down to hardware store or whatever. Be sure to pre-load when you put it back in.

Or order them from Volvo dealer their prices on nuts and bolts are sometimes less than thievery. Or, finally, just re-use them. Most people do.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 16 Sep 2011, 08:23

The hardware is quite cheap through a dealer and it is Grade 10 which is hard to find at the hardware stores. The nuts are also "ovalated" so as to serve as lock nuts.

...Lee

volvolove · Post by **volvolove** » 26 Feb 2012, 20:10

Just finished changing my control arm on the passenger side. It is the four bolt version, so one bolt I had to reuse as to avoid jacking the engine up to replace it. Not too hard of a task, although the one bolt was also hard to break loose w/ a regular box end wrench. I am looking for the torque specs for the four bolt control arm on a 2000 v70 xc.

Thanks,
Nick

Any special tools needed to replace control arms?

Re: Any special tools needed to replace control arms?