How is your Volvo in snow?

[Rattnalle]

As far as ground clearance goes it's really quite good now since I fitted new springs and shocks all around. Much better than the average non-SUV new car and as good as many smaller SUVs.

How does one determine if new springs or shocks are needed? I’ve never been at figuring that out.

If they've done a 100 k miles or so you can just assume the shocks are worn out. Springs is trickier. I switched to reenforced/caravanning springs out back and did the fronts for good measure when I was at it.

In my case it was a different car especially at 100+ speeds or with heavy loads.

[oragex]

Usually old shocks will get stiff over poor pavement. Gets worse in the cold season to the point of being unbearable, feels like there's no springs. But the shocks still have great damping capacity.

I run on Toyo Observe G-02 plus winter tires, it's their last winter. This is what they look at this moment, at 14:30 into the video (was filming this this spring so the tires have now the same wear on them) www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH-f0Q1K5H8 My 2003 S60 has low ground clearance and that was certainly a problem in deep snow inside the city, when moving in/8out of a parking lot on the side of the street. This is despite winter tires. I think the ground clearance was increased with the 2005 year

One item I sure get to use in winter time is the STC (or DSTC) button. This functionality prevents the tires from slipping, which is not good when moving out of deep snow or climbing a slope - I usually deactivate this functionality inside the city upon starting the engine.

The heated seats are a problem on 2001-2003 because they take long to warm up. The heating element is a 3w, it was upgraded to 5w in 2004 and works much faster.

I had problems past winters with the cabin heat, not toasty enough. This summer I hit it with a Prestone Flush and Cleaner treatment which brought back the toasty heat out of vents. This is the video with this DIY www.youtube.com/watch?v=69ymGTqHxRw

Just a few videos about winter conditions here, this is how I move to keep from getting stuck in snow www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLI9LgXvxSo and this is what I do in the morning before stepping inside the car www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke0dvms80Xw

[Rattnalle]

My experience with old shocks is that they loose all damping properties so that the car only has the springs left. This is after they've leaked enough. So perhaps the stage after what orangex desceibes.

[oragex]

Very possible. At 100k miles the original ones were handling like a go cart and bouncing very well when pushing down on a corner of the car. But the streets in my area are worse that in Tanzania (just a guess) and the suspension was harsh even on the 15in wheels. Then the winter came and it felt like a F40 (I think this Ferrari didn't had suspension bushings at all). Unbearable. Still no leaking and good bouncing. Solved the harshness with new quality struts. The original ones are very durable (in my experience) and can be used for long time for their handling, if the roads around are smooth.

[viper69]

It’s not been 100k for shocks, springs I’m almost positive they are original. I have every service record ever done, always saved them.

I think I need to make a basic list in word or excel to keep track of these things.

I don’t like asking service people “do I need springs or shocks” because I’ll believe whatever they will tell me on those 2 parts.