97 850 N/A strut mount? spring seat? or both

[erikv11]

To avoid confusion for people: it is fine to order a standard P80 spring seat from Volvo. You will get the same part as if you order an XC90 one.

At Volvo the spring seat for the XC90 and the standard P80 have been the same part number for several years now. Volvo figured out there was a problem a long time ago and upgraded the replacement P80 spring seat to the XC90 one, and stopped making/selling the old one.

Just make sure you get part number 30683637, as I suppose it is possible there are old P80 spring seats in back rooms at some dealership warehouses.

e.g. https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo- ... p2-8646713

[camjohns]

What is the danger in not replacing these parts? bad sound? strut through hood? something worse?

thanks! the info so far has been very helpful!!

[tryingbe]

What is the danger in not replacing these parts? bad sound? strut through hood? something worse?

thanks! the info so far has been very helpful!!

Annoying sound mostly, steering will be numb and not as responsive, and your alignment might be off as well. Strut won't go through the hood, since the design prevent it from doing that.

First set. Not sure what they were, car came with it.



Second set, made a mistake of buying Raybestos brand, didn't even last a year.







Third set was old style IPD HD seat. Drove the car for 30k, parked it for a couple of years. When it was time to make the car run, I notice crack on the rubber on the seat. Since I needed struts and shocks as well, I went with ksport coilover with camber plate and get ride of both the rubber strut mount and seats. Hopefully they would last me the life of the car.

Too bad they only work with aftermarket coil springs.

Example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MK1-PillowBall- ... zk&vxp=mtr

[Ozark Lee]

I actually have seen a couple of pictures of struts that blew through the seat but that is pretty rare. The cross shaped nut is supposed to prevent it but if you let them go long enough they work their way through the rubber.

...Lee

[camjohns]

ok good to know will keep that in mind!