Strut tower rubber broken '95 850 t5 wagon

[rspi]

I'm sure you'll find a good tutorial here. Most people switch to HD or the XC90 seats. That's if you plan to keep the car for a while.

[erikv11]

Bad strut mount. ...

Oops I missed this: actually the problem is *not* the strut mount!

When the top nut spins, it is because the failed part is the spring seat, what tryingbe posted.

Strut mount, spring seat, who asked you? What difference does it make? It'll all come apart. Just give your info and try not to correct everyone's comments.

The OP asked - what is broken?

Apologies for my nit picking. But it matters here!

If part A is broken, and someone places an order and waits a week for part B instead, does it make a difference?

[kaneelschep]

Yes, I do hope to drive this car for quite some time more, you are right. I will do both sides.
I have air tools and spring compressors.

Springs and shocks still feel quite good. Just gotta see if they leak from rust.
The spring seat itself is actually the cheaper part of this all. So thats good news. I will swap both definetely.
What is the giveaway for strut mount being bad? cause they are the expensive ones.

Do you like the sachs brand replacement parts? I
XC90 seats are tougher/better?
I checked them out at my parts website. Both xc90 and 850 ones have the same prices.

[erikv11]

The XC90 spring seat and the 850 spring seat are exactly the same if you get them from Volvo (or if you get the OEM from FCP). Same part number, same part, same price.

Up until about four years ago they were different, with the XC90 ones being more heavy duty. Because the 850 ones had problems breaking, Volvo stopped making or selling them, and got rid of the old part number. Now the 850 and the XC90 have the same part number. The forum has not really caught up with the change and many people still recommend the XC90 ones. No harm done of course, but it is not necessary and does cause some confusion.

Strut mount problems are harder to judge unless they are falling apart. Visible inspection helps, sometimes they get real creaky, crunchy and groany, because the bearings inside them are shot. Rotate the wheel back and forth with the wheels in the air, that might tell you.

Strut mounts are actually much, much easier to change, you don't have to take the strut tower all apart you just swap them out. Probably no one else does this but I like to wait and see if they are bad when I pull out the strut tower, you can always replace them later with about 1/5 the effort of a spring seat job. Pull the strut, swap the mount, replace the strut, it's not too bad just some heavy fasteners and parts.

[JRL]

Let's continue to be picky, they are NOT called strut mounts, they're called BEARING PLATES.
Most of the time they will last the lifetime of the car, SPRING SEATS do not last at all
A 20 year old car HAS to have over 100K miles so to the OP..... your shocks ARE shot.
Replace as much of the front end as your wallet allows, it will drive almost like a new car again if the rest of the front suspension is new to near new

[rspi]

Oops I missed this: actually the problem is *not* the strut mount!

When the top nut spins, it is because the failed part is the spring seat, what tryingbe posted.

Strut mount, spring seat, who asked you? What difference does it make? It'll all come apart. Just give your info and try not to correct everyone's comments.

The OP asked - what is broken?

Apologies for my nit picking. But it matters here!

If part A is broken, and someone places an order and waits a week for part B instead, does it make a difference?

So reply to his message, not mine. Post your info, it is usually great and right on point. But constantly calling people out on their comments is annoying. Really no need for it.

[MadeInJapan]

Yes, the spring seats get replaced often...that's just part of owning one of these cars. Btw, IPD has their own brand and they do look even better than the ones for the XC's (when I got them), so you might check IPDUSA.com regarding theirs (if you haven't already bought replacements). If I recall, there wasn't a huge price difference between them and the OEM ones either.

[kaneelschep]

I replaced both spring seats yesterday.
Very straight forward job and done in 1,5-2 hours. Too bad it drizzled all the time and the sun came out afterwards..
No carport or garage here..
Luckely I have things like spring compressors and a good compressor with airtools, wich all makes life a lot easier.
Just no size 18 socket I Never had a car before this volvo wich used an 18.. But hey never had to use torx before too.. I will get one now.
Anyway strange that the big bolts through the strut are 17 but the nuts on them are 18.. Doesnt make a lot of sense to me..
Now I think of it.. I guess the wishbone had the same issue. Should have gotten an 18 then allready i guess.
On the passenger side the bolt was in the other way around, wich meant I could not use my 17 with the air ratchet. Since the brake caliper is in the way like that.
Had to use the force for that one.

The driver side spring seat was quite torn apart. Original volvo part from 95.

driver side

driver side

The passenger side was also volvo but from 2001. And only just started to tear a little around the bushing.

passenger side

passenger side

Strangely both strut mounts looked fine. No wear. Original Volvo. Both shocks were clean. No rust, no leak. Both springs were almost not even rusting.
So I guess that has been changed some times. Plus they did not feel old before anyway.
And I sort of know my old shit on cars. I had a lot of them. Lots of lowered stuff. Lot of bad cheap stuff.. So nice to not have anymore

The car drives a lot better now. Much more direct.

Would you reallign it again now?

[kaneelschep]

Getting things here from the usa is a bit expensive
The shipping estimate it gave me on their site was 40-60 dollars for one spring seat of 40 dollars.

This is Holland. They sold a lot of these volvos here. They are literaly everywhere. I guess we even built some of the 80's 90's volvos here.
I can get parts from all typical after market brands at 5 different webshops here tomorrow.
For the original parts I can go to the volvo dealer around the corner wich is mostly expensive, but sometimes quite correct.
And the dealer actually has a lot laying around to bring home immediatley.
Also we have some specialized sites wich sell original volvo parts or its upgraded oems.

I went to the last and paid 20 euro per spring seat. Also got me the new better driver side window wiper arm for 22 euro and a back hatch cover refurbishkit for 12.

Oh and just to add.
What I missed in instruction movies. Or maybe I jsut saw them too fast. Was to put a jack under the hub and pump it up. Because the big iron stabilisor will push the little stabilisor connected to the strut up. And when you undo it from the strut that will mess things up.

[Ozark Lee]

Would you reallign it again now?

It largely depends on how it drives. If it wants to pull to one side or the other (other than under acceleration) then definitely get it aligned but if it tracks straight you generally don't need it. Most alignment shops insist that everything be tight when they do the alignment and that is where they make their real money. It isn't on the US $75.00 alignment, it is on the $600.00 + replacing of things like control arms and tie rod ends before they align it.

If it was aligned before with things in good shape then the alignment should still be close enough that it won't matter. Bad springs seats have their biggest impact on camber and caster, neither of which is really adjustable on an 850.

...Lee