‘05 S60 Front End

[537playing]

Bear with me on this post.
So I’m updating all suspension parts over the last two years. Control arms, tie rods, struts, sway bar links, brake pads, rotors, hub, lower ball joint, added subframe bushing inserts, and replaced steering rack.
I still get an occasional clunk from the right side. I had a mechanic shop look at the strut I installed and validate install was correct
The alignment is off and from what I can recall was off once I installed the subframe bushing inserts.
At this point I’m thinking it could be the control arms as I found an additional sound.
If I hit the brakes hard to come to a complete stop I hear a squeak from the front end one second before the car stops. It seems the weight of the car shifts to the front end causing this noise.
Is it the control arms or is it the subframe bushings overall condition?
The strut seats are one week old. The control arms are two years old and made by Uro. I’m reading that Uro quality isn’t that good. End links are also one week old.
All nuts and bolts are torqued correctly.

[oragex]

Uro is about the worst brand out there indeed. What about the brands for the other parts ? End links need be tightened down quite hard at the top nut, but again, a bad brand may start knocking after short. Same for the strut top plate. The squeak may be from the shocks, but hard to say
The other part that can knock at higher miles is the sway bar at the bushings to the subframe

[537playing]

So the end links are a Lemforder set.
As for the shocks there are Bilstein and the seats are Febi. Both items are two weeks old to clarify.

[Blacklab467]

Below is my recent post regarding the same issues. The problems are many with non OEM parts. Any aftermarket bushing will not have the same stiffness or elasticity qualities that the Volvo engineers specifically designed for your vehicle. I had some new "quick struts" in mine and took them out after 2 months in favour of some good used OEM ones from the auto wreckers. I was also suspicious of the geometry of my aftermarket control arms, the alignment changed and the steering was "unusual" to say the least. The aftermarket tie rods both inner and outer were the wrong length and shape such that I couldn't get toe in without hacksawing off a few threads of the outer tie rod end. Add to all these problems the cheap fasteners that would strip when you torqued them or had to remove them, specifically ball joint nuts and end link torx heads and nuts. Fortunately, none of these parts lasted more than 9 months so my car is almost rid of the last aftermarket front end part. You can go in with a pryer and wiggle your control arms and see how much play is in there, as mentioned below, mine were banging on the subframe and not 6 months old yet. If you shop around for a good price you can reduce your cost on the OEM stuff and get a lot of it in good used condition at the auto wreckers. To summarize, you'll be replacing all that new stuff within the year so decide how much you like the car and what your budget will allow.


I had installed some Lower Control Arms this spring from Rock Auto, I think the brand was Mevotech or similar generic Chinese supplier.....they were cheap. For the last few months I have been trying to track down an annoying clunk on the passenger side, present at slow speeds and rough surfaces only like gravel roads or alleys, or when entering parking lots. I've always had the car jacked up when inspecting things and couldn't find any issues.
Today I inspected it with the car on the ground and found the problem! The front part of the control arm had some wear on the very bottom where it had been contacting the subframe. The bushings had softened in less than 6 months such that they are sagging enough that the control arm frame is banging on the subframe.
I just ordered Original Volvo brand lower control arms and balljoints from Volvo Toronto Online this morning. After I change these out there will be no more aftermarket Chinese parts in my front end!
The lesson here is: Don't bother with cheap aftermarket junk parts! It's a tough pill to swallow paying what the OE stuff costs but in the end, the engineering and materials are far superior and worth the money. I'll also add that I've been down this road before with Quick struts, End Links, Ball Joints, and CV shafts.........all failed within 1 year and I had to change parts back to OEM Volvo.

[Blacklab467]

Correction, You should be good with the Bilstien struts, not sure about the Febi's, I think they might be ok. The other parts may show their worth shortly if they're poor quality. I have heard good results from those subframe inserts however they fit into the holes in the bushing 90 degrees from where the original bushings were designed to dampen. I was going to go that route but instead opted for new Volvo brand bushings and don't regret it. I would look at your control arms with the weight of the vehicle on them and see if you can see if they're rubbing or bumping the subframe anywhere.

[537playing]

I’ve decided to swap out the control arms with Erievovo used replacements. When I looked at the control arm I did notice how low the rear bushing was to the frame. I would take a guess that it was the thickness of my screw driver tip. I can imagine that would hit the frame on a few consecutive bounces.

[oragex]

One of the two made in Germany Febi spring seats I installed had a small crack after 1 year. I went with Rein/CRP (genuine for Volvo now). Sachs are also good, they were making the genuine in the past