850 Turbo Clunk After Alignment

Post by **Nevada1906** » 11 Feb 2013, 15:35

Can someone help me with this?

I just replaced most of the suspension in my 1995 850 Turbo with the FCP Groton kit - control arms, outer tie rods, struts, shocks, end links, upper strut mounts and strut seats, not to mention a set of Eibach coils, a new lower torque rod, tensioner, belt and four new tires.

I just got back from Firestone after they mounted the tires and aligned the car. The thing is, I completed installing all the suspension parts last Wednesday and have been driving around as normal since. I actually got the alignment pretty close - it tracked straight, but the wheel was off a little. No weirdness to report.

Now, after the alignment, there's a clunk coming from my passenger side front corner when I hit bumps. Just the passenger side, not the driver's side. I've had the car up on jackstands already - all the bolts & nuts are tight and nothing's interfering with anything else.

Oh, and the steering seems livelier than before - the car seems much easier to swerve going down a straight road, and needs more effort than before to hold a straight line. I don't know if this is how it's supposed to be, and the former alignment was bad, or vice-versa.

Any ideas?

Post by **jblackburn** » 11 Feb 2013, 21:31

My Volvo never tracked anything but straight, and you really needed a lot of steering effort to make it move anywhere. It drove about like a tank.

It sounds like their alignment tech screwed up something and the toe is off. The clunk is likely either the spring seat (lets hope not) or the control arm.

I'd take it back and have them re-do the alignment. It shouldn't be driving like that. It took me 3 tries once to get Merchants to get the alignment right on my S70. Sometimes you just get a tech that really has no idea what they're doing.

Mac McMacman · Post by **Mac McMacman** » 15 Feb 2013, 05:43

I bought the Groton suspension kit for my 97 non-turbo 850 and installed it 24 months ago (approx. 12,000 miles), and the ball joints have already worn out. I noticed a clunk about 3 months ago from my passenger side and it turns out that the ball joints on both sides are toast. The passenger side was worse than the drivers side providing for a noticeable clunk. I'm not sure who's control arm they include in the kits, but I think they use the lowest quality that they offer in the kits. I'm surprised that they are including such junk in their kits, as I have always been happy with all of the parts I have purchased from Groton in the past. Check your ball joints and make sure that they aren't defective.