2001 V70 Front Suspension Questions

[jborchel]

Now that we've spent $800 with the dealer to replace a faulty fuel pump it looks like we need to keep the car. I believe that the ride and it's ability to comfortably absorb the bumps in the road has deteriorated in the past 20K miles to where new shocks in the front are necessary. However, when I talk to our mechanic, a Volvo specialist, he insists that V70s don't need new front suspension until 200K+ miles. We currently have 108K on our 2001 V70. Who's right?

When I last aligned the front end I asked the guy who did it about replacing the shocks. He said it was about $1,000 for the front struts as the Volvo parts were very expensive and complicated/time consuming to replace. A lot of money!

My questions are these:

1. What components make up the front end that would affect ride, handling, etc. Shocks/struts, control arms, etc?

2. Are there cheaper parts than Volvo for this?

Any advice or help will really help.

Jack

[JRL]

Volvo replaced my 01XC's struts at 35K, completely shot. At 105K yours are also gone.
I'm really not sure if anyone makes an XC strut for a P2 XC but even with an OEM strut a new front end rebuild will really be noticed. (by you)!

$1000 bucks huh?
Are they completely nuts?
It's about an hour and a half labor per side TOPS plus an alignment.
I don't know the current price of OEM struts but they can't be all THAT much.
3 hours labor, say $300, alignment another $100.
Two front struts are not $600!

[MadeInJapan]

JRL is 100% correct. They aren't that much. In my opinion, both the dealer and the mechanic you talked to are looking at the $$ they can make off of you or they're just plain uninformed and ignorant. Even you could do these replacements without too much difficulty with the right tools...not much experience necessary. For the actual struts, check out www.shox.com May I suggest the Boge (which come on the car originally) or Bilstien Touring (TC). If you don't see exactly what you see on the website, give them a call...they have others and spring seats, strut stops, etc. as well and may even possibly break up a set of 4 shocks/struts if you only want the fronts.

[jborchel]

Thanks for the info guys. I've been doing a little parts lookup. It appears that I have a few choices:

1. Do just the front or rear also?
2. Replace struts and inserts(Shox.com wants $599 for front and rear Bilsteins)(Other distributors recommended on this forum that use lesser known parts are less than $599) only and also control arm ball joints and bushings? If I also do the control arm parts at the same time as the struts will I save any labor?

Opinions?

Jack

[JRL]

Monroe makes a strut for these, not bad from what I hear.
You would not save any labor money by doing control arms at the same time, a different area, but these too are known to be done at about 100K so they should be carefully looked at too.
A worn ball joint/control arm bushing can result in the wagon going all over the place except straight.......

[MadeInJapan]

To answer your other question, if the fronts are gone, most likely the rears are too, or at lease on their way out. I would do all 4 corners personally, especially if I was going to keep the car. At your miles, replace the spring seats and strut mounts in the front and shock mounts in the rear. Another suspension part you'll want to look at besides the balljoint/control arm you already mentioned is the swaybar endlinks. I know this sounds expensive, but well worth it if you want a decently riding Volvo wagon.

[jborchel]

Thanks for the info guys. I've been doing a little parts lookup. It appears that I have a few choices:

1. Do just the front or rear also?
2. Replace struts and inserts(Shox.com wants $599 for front and rear Bilsteins)(Other distributors recommended on this forum that use lesser known parts are less than $599) only and also control arm ball joints and bushings? If I also do the control arm parts at the same time as the struts will I save any labor?

Opinions?

Jack