1998 v70 wagon awd suspension update

[thewhitegorilla]

Hello, I recently bought a very good condition v70 wagon with just over 100k on the clock. I put a timing belt kit on it charged the ac and all that seems just fine. However when going down the road I’m getting a rotation in the direction that Ive made a slight turn in. Like lost motion sort of thing. I checked the stabilizers that go to the sway bars and the strut tower rubber mounts tie rods ect everything under the car Thats given me trouble on past volvos. I’ve had a 96 850, 2 s70 a v50 (pos) and now this. I’m thinking shocks and struts. Anyone have experience with replacement struts and shocks? I’m adding a trailer hitch to tow a small trailer for occasional trips to the dump every now and then to pick up materials, a fridge , or washer from Lowe’s that kind of thing. I’ve read that Bilstein is one of the best but they are pricey and I wanted a little more robustness due to the occasional towing. Anyone have any experience with suspension replacements on these p80s? I have looked at sachs, and was wondering about monroe, I know if I go cheap I’ll be dissatisfied. Is there a set up that I can get for a mid range of 6-700$ for a whole set of shocks and struts? Thank you for reading my post and any experienced answer is appreciated.
Thank you Charles

[scot850]

I would never knowingly fit Munroe shocks to any car. SACHS can be ok, but I have found them soft. Bilstein can be pricey but for the front you can use Bilstein B4 touring struts. The rear however is more challenging. Is you car currently fitted with self-levelling Nivomat struts? They are pricey if you can find them. There are conversion kits for Nivomat to regular struts. If it was a FWD I would suggest fitting IPD HD rear wagon springs, but I do not know what springs are available for AWD at the rear these days.

A lot of the stuff for the rear of AWD cars are becoming scarce.

Good Luck!

Neil.

[thewhitegorilla]

Thanks for tge reply Scott, I kind of knew that the Bilstein were where I would do. I know nothing about self leveling shocks, i m gonna have to do a lot of reading and probably go on the more robust side of things when I do get it worked out. Do you think that my analysis of the shocks,struts is the root cause of the twisting after a correction while riding? I haven’t been this far in on a suspension on a Volvo in 10 years and what I did wasn’t 10% better than it was before I changed about $500 worth of shocks and struts.

[ignatz]

I'll just make a comment referring to your 10% comment. My 2002 V70 2.4t drives nice, but in SE Pennsylvania, its a constant battle avoiding potholes and bad roadwork. The V70 would occasionally bang hard after hitting a pothole, so I decided to replace the original 190K struts, boots and bump stops. I went with Bilstien Touring struts that are more expensive than the Sach brand.
The car seems to drive better, but not a night and day difference. This is where I relate to your 10% improvement. But, the V70 does not bang hard anymore with these crappy roads, proving the wagon really did need new struts.
PS, about 2-3 years ago I replaced the spring top piece and the swivel dingus on both sides to fix a upper knock, I just used these over for my strut repair I did last month.

[thewhitegorilla]

I have to laugh at my self, because my 850 might as well had no suspension at all and after the parts I installed with new after market top mounts might as well have been zero + 10%. At that point it it had near 400 k on it and I was above water barely and realizing the car was nearing the end of life and not worth a huge investment. And I was too cheap to give her what she needed. I’m doing better financially and want to get the best life I can from tge car and that means no substandard cheap parts! My son did drive on for another six months or so. And finally left her stranded and some jackass busted the glass out of it and he gave up

[scot850]

Check if your car is fitted with the Nivomat shocks. It may not have been fitted with them from new.

Neil.

[abscate]

Take a good look at your rear suspension cast structure before you get too much money sunk into this car.

A Tar Heel car should be ok, but if ot has spent time in the rust belt the structure corrodes and crumbles when you go take it off.

It’s uneconomical to replace and dropping that structure is 10 hours labor the first time.

Critical fuel stuff lives on top of the structure so you can be drawn into this procedure like the Sirens of the Odyssey.

See link to Ekaterina Resurrection in my maintenance link below; there is a really good link to scot850 tale of a bad rear carrier which will make your toes curl

[erikv11]

The wandering you describe sounds a lot more like worn front control arms than worn struts/shocks.

[abscate]

The wandering you describe sounds a lot more like worn front control arms than worn struts/shocks.

Oh yeah, the Professor is right on this.

[scot850]

And it can also be worn bushes at the rear of an AWD and the same on a FWD.

Neil.