Replacing the struts and...

[Forkster]

...trying to decide exactly what I need to order and the brand and where from. I'm in Canada so if you guys could help me decide on this factors it would be appreciated.

Parts to order:
- Sach's OEM struts
- Strut mount plate. Any brand in particular? ebi? Nordic? Lemfoder? IPD HD? FEBI Blistein?
- XC90 Upper spring seat
- anything else?

[hoonk]

Dont forget new dust boots and bump stops if needed

[JRL]

Yes, get new strut bellows
You need bearing plates?
Have you looked at them yet, may not be necessary.
I don't know who makes them for Volvo but be very careful with any other manufacturer. Normally these can be good for the life of the car or at least over 125K in almost every circumstance, unless they got damaged
ALL Volvo spring seats are now XC90 HD spring seats

[sjonnie]

Strut mount plate. Any brand in particular? ebi? Nordic? Lemfoder? IPD HD? FEBI Blistein?
The cheapo URO ones suck, had to replace them after less than a year, now have the Febi Bilstein ones from IPD.

[RockitShip]

I would replace springs with oe as we'll. the only thing not oe volvo in my new front end are the ball joints (easy to replace and fail often anyway) and the myle hd end links and I think I also have myle inner & outer tre's. Everything else OE volvo and happy.

[Forkster]

Thanks for the info guys - JRL - my front end sounds noisy (like a metal clanking/scrunching sound) when I go over bumps and I'm just guessing that the rubber spring seats are toast and they may be hurting the plates. And I won't find out until I'm ready to do the job...might be a moot point anyways as I can always run over to my local indie volvo shop and get some used plates.

I've ordered a sach's OEM XC90 coil seats, new bellows and bumper from Autopartsway.ca (canadian). I think I'll use TASCAPARTS for the struts and shocks - best prices and they're SACH's as well.

[JRL]

If you know for a fact your spring seats are broken, you're playing with fire in this absurdly cold winter.
One day and one bad bump the strut will pop right through the spring seat.
Get this done ASAP.
Anything else busted or bad will be known once it's all apart

[Jorge-789995]

I would replace springs with oe as we'll.

I second this advice. I didn't replace mine and about a year later, one broke. I wish I'd done mine when I had everything apart. It is minimal extra work once everything is apart. There are lots of reports of broken front springs on these cars.

Keith

[Forkster]

If you know for a fact your spring seats are broken, you're playing with fire in this absurdly cold winter.
One day and one bad bump the strut will pop right through the spring seat.
Get this done ASAP.
Anything else busted or bad will be known once it's all apartYep, ordering them now as I speak. Thank god my car is kept in a warm environment 99% of the time and washed weekly. Also means my springs are in good shape though when I take them apart, I'll give them a good looking over.

JRL - do I need to do a front-end alignment after replacing my struts/shocks?

[youropeen]

do I need to do a front-end alignment after replacing my struts/shocks?

Yes.

[JRL]

Yes 99% of the time
My guy just replaced spring seats and one strut AND an inner tie rod on the Ocean Race and I'll be damned, the steering wheel is as straight as it was when we started.
But...he is the greatest!
I will align it but I'll bet it won't be more than a mm off in any direction!

[Forkster]

Anyone know what the part numbers would be for my front struts and rear shocks? Tasca parts are having a bit of a time trying to figure that out. I have normal suspension, not the fancy 4C stuff.

[men2be]

Did you try Rockauto? Might save you some money..they carry Sach's brand

[hoonk]

My Worldpac catalog says a 30645640 fits the front, 30760055 fits the rear for a non nivomat car.

I always get the code from the product plate and have the dealer hopefully determine the correct replacement part number for both front and rear shocks and springs. I can do it with my Vida subcription but some parts of the catalog are not clear. (there are 7 part number choices depending on product plate code in my copy of vida for front struts). So to avoid installing the wrong part I let someone who stares at a Volvo parts catalog all day long determine what the correct parts are.

.

[Ars Gladius]

Front - OEM: SACHS - xref: 31200413, 30645640, 8624786, 8646941, 8667254

http://www.ipdusa.com/products/5338/113147-sachs-front-strut-2001-2007-xc70-models
http://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-strut-assembly-front-xc70-v70-xc-30645640

Rear - OEM: SACHS - xref: 8671713, 30760056, 8634098, 8646140

http://www.ipdusa.com/products/7889/115622-sachs-rear-shock-p2-s60-v70-xc70
http://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-shock-absorber-xc70-311-753



Also remember to order all the little parts as well (bellows, bump stop, etc) they are not that much and it's nice to have all new parts in there (probably just my mild OCD speaking).

[Forkster]

Thanks Ars and hoonk. I ordered my struts today from RockAuto - got 5% off order too to pay for the GST. Bits and pieces came in the mail today from autopartsway in Canada. I think that by agressively shopping around, I saved over $200. Tasca - man, those guys had me running back and forth to my car for this part number, VIN, data from the plate in my engine. Gebus H nice. Forget it I ended up telling them - and then I saw Ars postings but decided to shop around again. IPD was $100 more than Tasca, and Rockauto, $150 cheaper than them. FCP - well, their front-end replacement kit replaces a lot of stuff unneccessarily - and being environmentally and cost aware, i replace what is worn, not a 'may be' and they used cheaper parts - I plan on holding onto it until it dies so most of what I replace I'm using OEM.

Will let you know the results when done! Thanks for your help everyone. :)

[billr99]

Thanks Ars and hoonk. I ordered my struts today from RockAuto - got 5% off order too to pay for the GST. Bits and pieces came in the mail today from autopartsway in Canada. I think that by agressively shopping around, I saved over $200. Tasca - man, those guys had me running back and forth to my car for this part number, VIN, data from the plate in my engine. Gebus H nice. Forget it I ended up telling them - and then I saw Ars postings but decided to shop around again. IPD was $100 more than Tasca, and Rockauto, $150 cheaper than them. FCP - well, their front-end replacement kit replaces a lot of stuff unneccessarily - and being environmentally and cost aware, i replace what is worn, not a 'may be' and they used cheaper parts - I plan on holding onto it until it dies so most of what I replace I'm using OEM.

Will let you know the results when done! Thanks for your help everyone. :)

So how bad did Rock Auto get you for shipping? They are nearly always cheaper for a given part but the shipping gets crazy, especially if you need multiple bits. They obviously drop-ship but I've had shipping quotes for over $100 for less than $100 worth of parts with those parts all coming from someplace different. That is when places like Autopartsway or Eeuroparts start coming on with their free or near free shipping. And of course here in the Great White North, we get to pay tax on the shipping so that just makes a bad situation worse (but we do get free healthcare as a result ;)).

Cheers,

Bill

[Forkster]

So how bad did Rock Auto get you for shipping? They are nearly always cheaper for a given part but the shipping gets crazy, especially if you need multiple bits. They obviously drop-ship but I've had shipping quotes for over $100 for less than $100 worth of parts with those parts all coming from someplace different. That is when places like Autopartsway or Eeuroparts start coming on with their free or near free shipping. And of course here in the Great White North, we get to pay tax on the shipping so that just makes a bad situation worse (but we do get free healthcare as a result ;)).

Cheers,

BillShipping on the two struts were $78 out of the US. WIth RockAuto - they'll also ship from the UK - that's where it gets super stupid expensive.

Bill -I also just checked eEuroparts and I could of saved ANOTHER $100 with their prices. http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/furious.gif (sigh). Will definitely add them to my shopping list.

:)

[billr99]

Bill -I also just checked eEuroparts and I could of saved ANOTHER $100 with their prices. http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/furious.gif (sigh). Will definitely add them to my shopping list.

:)

Yes, they are definitely worth checking. Best of both worlds, cheap US part pricing and decent shipping costs to Canada. Only downside is that they only ship to Canada once a week. That is, they gather up all the shipments bound for up here and put them on one pallet, process that all the way thru Customs then split it out. So if you hit them wrong like I did last time it took over 2 weeks to get my bits. Good thing was I wasn't in a rush; but if I had been, I'd been screwed. In any case, for us Canadians it pays to check as many options as possible to get the best deal because they are out there.

Cheers,

Bill

[JRL]

Your customs suck!

[billr99]

Your customs suck!

Actually, that is typically not the case I've found. With NAFTA, I have never been hit with duties for bits coming up from the States nor have I ever had anything held up by Customs. Only time I've had duty applied were bits for my Land Rovers coming over from the UK and those amounts were so small that it was unbelievable that anyone would bother. The problem is that Canadians are used to paying more than Yanks and as such Canadian vendors generally charge 20-25% over what is charged in the States. They use BS like smaller market, import tariffs, shipping distances, all kinds of things that usually aren't supported by real facts. Not at least to a 25% level. Then we have the government hitting us with a sales tax that is at least 50% higher than most US customers would pay and we get nailed even if its mail order (but that's OK because that pays for our healthcare). If anything is a pain its that USPS is really slow getting goods into Canada and then Canada Post is equally slow getting stuff to folks like me that live in a rural area.

So overall, and as I suggested, us Canadians just need to shop wisely, sometimes using US vendors. We won't get free shipping, we aren't close enough to get stuff delivered in 2 to 3 days and we will get hit by a sales tax; but other than that we aren't all that disadvantaged compared to someone living in an equally distant area of the States. Now going to our local dealer............that's a whole different story!

Cheers,

Bill

[MacNoob]

And never, ever ship across an international border with UPS Ground - unless you really like paying additional unannounced "brokerage" charges on top of the inflated rate for international shipping.

I live close enough to the border to ship to a U.S. parcel drop then go pick it up myself - can cut shipping charges up to 90%.

Or, because this is a UPS "Port of Entry" I can ship UPS but clear the shipment through Customs myself (takes 15 minutes), saving the UPS brokerage charge that can run $40+.

High taxes pay for our pensions too, as well as the best politicians money can buy.

[billr99]

High taxes pay for our pensions too, as well as the best politicians money can buy.

And since I just got my very first CPP payment this week, I thank you for that! [thumbup]

Cheers,

Bill

[Forkster]

Why is that every time you start a simple job it gets worse and worse and worse. Trying to replace my struts this afternoon I found one of the coils had broken so now I'm going to replace both front springs. Then I noticed my control arm bushing on the backside lower control arm and the bushing is completely torn and shot even though it is only two years old. I wonder what other things I'm going to find when I start replacing all the other components this afternoon. I hope it isn't the engine :D

[RockitShip]

I would replace springs...
Sorry just had to say it lol! ;)

[billr99]

Why is that every time you start a simple job it gets worse and worse and worse. Trying to replace my struts this afternoon I found one of the coils had broken so now I'm going to replace both front springs. Then I noticed my control arm bushing on the backside lower control arm and the bushing is completely torn and shot even though it is only two years old. I wonder what other things I'm going to find when I start replacing all the other components this afternoon. I hope it isn't the engine :D

It's all part of having a car in the Great White North and getting to work on it when its -20C. Guess I'm just bitter as I spent my afternoon freezing in my barn working on mine.

Good luck on your "beast"

Cheers,

Bill

[tikka270]

Hey Ed (Forkster),

I am a fellow Calgarian with an '06 XC70 which has about 175k on it now with an all original front end. My feeling is that with this mileage that the front end likely needs a full replacement (ie. ball joints/control arm bushings/endlinks/shocks etc...).

I have the same "clunking" sound in my front end and its the spring seats/bearing combined with the sway bar endlinks.

I had a suspicion a while ago that this was coming on so I was fortunate enough to catch FCP on one of their sales. I was able to get their complete frontend package ( Volvo Front Suspension (XC70 V70XC) Sachs - VFSK5-XCFullFront - now priced at $928 - not incl. springs) for I believe $568. My cost to my door was about $720Cdn all-in. I shopped around for all the different parts through all the places you did and could not come up with that price. Sure there may be a few parts that I may not have to replace immediately but I will do it now and not have to worry about messing with tearing down the front suspension again later and for a price that is less than the seperate pricing.

Having said that, I don't generally replace parts that are not needed but I prefer to do that if it means I don't have to tear down the suspension again and for a price that is either the same or marginally more than the cost for less parts. I now (or will have once I do it :)) have the peace of mind that the front end is good for the rest of the cars life or at least my ownership of same. Of course, if the cost of the kit was its now $928 I would not be doing it!

I will probably also replace the springs at the same time given our environment and the seeming propensity for spring failure in this car...ordering from somewhere not including the dealer!

Cheers,

Trevor

[Antherzoll]

When was the sale? I guess it flew over my head... Oh well.

[tikka270]

Antherzoll,

Sorry for the late reply....away on holidays.

The sale would have been late Oct. or early November going by my rapidly failing memory. I recall at they parts arrived around the beginning of hunting season (November 1 in these parts). I know that it was advertised on their website and when I tried to order on the site it came up with a price much higher than advertised...so I called the FCP guys and they put the order through for the $5XX price.

Now if I could get through mine and my kids hockey season and have a free weekend I could tear it down and change it all out! :).

[Thames]

I had a clunking metal noise that I tolerated for too long, we recently found the culprit : control arm bushings (the front/horizontal one with 2 tabs).

I thought it was my spring seats but they appear firm and solid. Moreover, a spring seat will not resonate thru the frame as a worn control arm bushing will do.

[lifehub]

I have an '04 with about 130k mi and already replaced the control arm bushing twice. IPD has this poly insert that is supposed to provide support for the bushing due to its hollow design. Has anybody tried it?

http://www.ipdusa.com/products/8969/120168-ipd-poly-subframe-bushing-insert-kit


I had a clunking metal noise that I tolerated for too long, we recently found the culprit : control arm bushings (the front/horizontal one with 2 tabs).

I thought it was my spring seats but they appear firm and solid. Moreover, a spring seat will not resonate thru the frame as a worn control arm bushing will do.