For about a week now, I have noticed what I can only attempt to describe as a quiet ‘clunking/rattling’ noise from my front left suspension when I go over slight bumps in the road. Sorry I can’t be more descriptive, but the noise is definitely getting louder, especially after a long trip this weekend. It’s getting worse; it sounds like my tire’s going to fall off on rough roads. I’ll be the first to admit that I know nothing about suspension – I think the front struts are probably fine (for now anyway), and the front axles were both replaced about 2 years ago. What could this be? Spring seats? Strut mounts? Control arm?
It really does sound like the spring seats are shot. Replace both front ones at the same time.
I have a metal rattle from the rear end and I have check everything on a ramp and all the bushings are tight. I can only get the rattle when I kick the tire side wall hard towards the rear and when the tire is off the ground.
This was my first attempt at suspension work on one of my cars, and I’ll say it went pretty smoothly for having no idea what I was doing. I’m no longer intimidated by removing the whole strut assembly, although some other parts of the suspension down there can be a royal pain in the rear. I was done with it in under two hours – the worst part was the old, rusty bolts and trying to find a way to keep the broken spring seat still while I cracked the top nut loose; I used the XC90 spring seat over a year ago and it’s been just fine. I didn’t change the other at the time (it was really cold and I was working in my driveway), and as far as I know it is still original.
C@lvin »
My experience with the spring seat on my 98 S70 NA 203K was that it made more of what I would call a squeak or creak when going over bumps. I would not have characterized the noise as a rattle. It sounded more to me like a creaky stair or floor sound. Interestingly, I also noticed that the colder it got outside, the louder it got. On warm days the noise might go away all together.
The PO gave me 99% of the receipts since 20K in 1999 and as best I could tell the car was still running on all original suspension components when I bought the car. I replaced the right front spring seat in 11/07 at 161K and the left front spring seat 30K later in 03/10 at 191K.
I used Febi-Bilstein spring seats from Eeuroparts.com that are $23. At 42K on the first one and 12K on the second one there have been no problems.
My 00 V70 NA 120K is still running on all original suspension (except for a TRW left outer steering end link/tie rod) with no current symptoms of component failure(s).
Last Updated on August 19, 2020
