2000 V70 Replacement Suspension Parts advice

Post by **famfeld** » 07 Dec 2014, 08:20

Hi. I am looking into replacing the front struts on my 2000 v70 non-turbo, no awd. On my other vehicle (non-volvo), I bought a complete strut with spring and strut bushing really inexpensively on ebay. What are folks feelings on these inexpensive replacement strut assemblies? I want to put quality replacement parts in this car, but i also am on a tight budget. I also need control arm bushing as they are allowing the control arm to have horizontal movement (I checked with the car on a lift). Any suggestions??

Thanks in advance.

Fel

Post by **j-dawg** » 07 Dec 2014, 08:58

If your car is in good shape and you plan to drive it for a long time, you will probably save money by buying better struts. The pre-assembled units are cheap because they're not really made of great components. Buy a set of Sachs or Bilstein dampers and they will last much longer. Don't forget to replace the spring seats with the newer style version (from the XC90 if I'm not mistaken, now sold by Volvo as the part for the 850/S70 cars) or the IPD HD version, because the original factory version routinely fails in short order.

On the other hand, these cars are not especially valuable and you may not be sure how long you'll keep it. If that's the case, and the budget is tight, the pre-assembled struts are not a bad solution. They are easy to install and will have the car running all right for a while. Even cheap new struts are better than bouncy worn struts of any brand, so it's not money wasted, and it is quite a lot cheaper than buying better components. They won't fail catastrophically, they'll just wear out quickly.

blandis · Post by **blandis** » 07 Dec 2014, 09:11

On my old 98 S70 GLT I put sears Monroe on it. That has been several years ago. It was a Dallas commuter car so was not worried about performance, and just wanted a good ride. I put 50K+ on those prior to selling and did not have any issues. Sold it to one of my employees and never heard a complaint from him. I bought oem strut bushings and had them install. Most here will tell you to not go cheap on any "rubber" type part in regards to suspension.

Reason I went with Sears is they used to run a buy the strut they would install for free sale. Not sure if they still run a similar sale or not. Just remember having them installed for not much more than I could buy the oem or oem quality parts.

Post by **cn90** » 07 Dec 2014, 09:39

Bilstein TC, search forum for strut bearing etc.

Post by **E Showell** » 07 Dec 2014, 10:02

I second the Bilstein tourings if you can afford them.

Post by **famfeld** » 07 Dec 2014, 14:31

Thanks for the responses. The car right now is not really "bouncy" like a classic worn shock situation. I am rather experiencing a loose feeling and clunking and thought it would be time to do the struts since I don't think they have yet been done. So the spring seats wear? I took a quick look in another tab of the browser and saw a spring seat/strut mount kit that looks splined. (not familiar with this type of set up). Its $188 for both sides and it says heavy duty. Is this the one that is being recommended as the newer style or is the dealer the best place to get this?

Thanks again

-Fel