1998 V70R: tire chirp? oversteer? unintentional drifts???

[BEJinFbk]

Was your "tail out" experience on pavement or gravel?
I've been driving my R for about a decade now, and I've
never had any kind of experience like what you describe.

I run the stock bars and either all seasons or studded Nokians.
The only way the tail comes out for me is when it's very icy or
we have at least 4-5 inches of fresh snow on hardback and I
consciously make a serious effort break it lose and drift .
As others have said, this ride is the queen of understeer...

Have you got another Volvo mechanic around that can take a
look and give you a second opinion about what's happening here?

[abscate]

How many miles are on the ball joints and tie rod ends? If it's more than 25000, replace with OEM.

The rear ends on these cars get loose at 100k, and the delta links are a big nasty job ( not sure of R uses the same config but I'm sure it's not fun)

[JRL]

They don't, no delta link
I've had these cars for over 10 years, we still have one with DWSs and ipd sway bars.
130K miles and it handles great with near worn DWSs
You need to go over your R from stem to stern

[atomicthumbs]

Well, an update: I took my car on a trip. It seemed much more stable with 3 people and the rear loaded with camping equipment, but it seems to be clunking somewhat more now, including during left turns.

I'm thinking it's a ball joint/control arm problem. Is this a likely diagnosis?

[abscate]

How many miles and what brand are the control arms? The cheap ones can die in 10k, less if you drive hard.....

[scot850]

When did you last grease the IPD anti-sway bar bushes? They tell me they need to be grease every 6 months or so. I have this annoying clunking/groaning from my 00 V70R front suspension and I have replaced everything in it. I have replaced the IPD bushes in the front Anti-sway bar and only get a max. of 100km before the problem returns. I have bought a different brand of bushes from Energy Suspension for the fronts. At least theirs have grease nipples so re-greasing should be easier, although I won't know how easy until I get time to fit them.

IPD also say to grease the rear bushes of the inner mounts regularly too. Those bushes don't have a replaceable part. I have also found the end-link IPD bushes are loose on the shafts and from my cars history they have done about 50k miles. I was going to replace these as part of the rear sub-frame replacement, but have a hard time paying $32 to ship $5 worth of parts to Canada! I may try the Energy suspension generic donut for these too, although I do have OE new parts. If this doesn't help then the IPD stuff is coming out and OE going back in!

What I have found with the strip down of the rear suspension, the front most inner bushes for the lower control arm are badly worn so I am will replace those, along with all the lower control arm bushes. The 2 mounting bushes are the same part #, but I had to wait over 2 months to get them as they were on back order. Also check the condition of the stay bar front bush that bolts to the floor in front of the rear jacking points. I have pulled a few, and have found most are seized and the rubber is badly worn and split. Again I am replacing these. Point to note, the bracket and bush is only $4 more expensive from Tasca than the bush alone!

Neil.

[j-dawg]

From the front? You can test the ball joint easily. Lift the car and wiggle the tire with your hand, watching the ball joint while you do so. If you see or hear the control arm moving relative to the steering knuckle, it's time for a new control arm.

[atomicthumbs]

i wonder if this could be causing it

[abscate]

Put some grease on those ASAP

[atomicthumbs]

Put some grease on those ASAP

I bought the sway bar and end links from IPD and had my mechanic install them 1500 miles ago. here is a picture that may enlighten you further.