All,

My '98 S70 has about 82K on it and the FRH spring seat is shot--the rubber on has separated at the strut bearing.

I upgraded the end-links to the IPD heavy duty and now the noise is even worse.

The struts are still good. Should I take the time and trouble to replace the spring seat or wait until the struts need to be replaced?

Thanks,
Bryan

I would not wait. I had a bad spring seat (front strut mount) on my 850. I let it go a few months or so. The bearing plate turned out to be bad on that side, too - lots of play. Possibly the bad seat eventually took the plate with it due to lots of bouncing around (city driver). I did not replace any other parts - saw no reason to - and have not seen any further problems in about a year. For budgetary reasons I would not personally replace a strut unless I saw clear evidence it was bad (though I do check all suspension parts a couple of times a year). I don't know if by end-links you mean the links to the stabilizer (sway bar). In 135K of driving I have replaced each of these twice (using factory parts).

I replaced the spring seats and struts at the same time. If your car has over 100k it's a virtual certainty that at least one of the struts is shot.

If it's not shot if you don't replace the seat it will probably get shot shortly.

What I didn't do is replace replace the rear shock mounts and (TA-TA!) I had a shock come through to the rear floor about a year later.

I'd replace everything, and the Bilstein HDs have been just great!

-BTC

'98 V70 T5 5-speed, 167k mi, front IPD stabilizer bar, rear factory HD bar, Bilstein HD, Volvo strut tower brace and skidplate, e-codes, V-1, Mobil-1 since new

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." -- Douglas Noel Adams (1952-2001)

BtC,

Yea, that's what I thought.

It's just that with struts, spring seats, shock mounts, brakes and rotors I'm llooking at 1500+ for the parts alone!

Time to make more money.

Bryan

Sinking $1500 into the ol' barge is an exceptionally frugal decision:

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c'm on! Gotta get that 200,000 badge to use as a refrigerator magnet!

-BTC

'98 V70 T5 5-speed, 167k mi, front IPD stabilizer bar, rear factory HD bar, Bilstein HD, Volvo strut tower brace and skidplate, e-codes, V-1, Mobil-1 since new

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." -- Douglas Noel Adams (1952-2001)

Not that much....go to www.shox.com
I prefer the Bilst. Touring (TC). Even if not on their site, they sell all the strut and shock parts...give them a call.
--
1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic, 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red, Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon. My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.

"I'm llooking at 1500+ for the parts alone!"

Holly Cow! Are you buying the gold plated parts or what? I have never replaced a set of upper bearing plates on the 850's while doing spring seats so it is probably not really necessary to change them and if you pay full Volvo retail for pads, rotors, spring seats, and shocks you are still only looking at about $750.00 in parts.

Mark

Mark,

You're right, although with the endlinks and parking brake shoes it probably will come close to 1K.

Will driving with the spring seat shot cause other suspension components to wear out faster? The noise is annoying but I could live with it for a while longer if I don't have to worry about it taking out other parts.

Thanks,
Bryan

Yes, it will accelerate the wear on the other front end components. Having the spring seats blown out like that just about removes the struts from the whole equation in the front end and allows it to slam up and down big time. Granted you are aware of this and I am sure drive the vehicle accordingly but it is still a less than optimum situation.

Mark

Mark,

I picked up the spring seats and new nuts and bolts for each side from the local dealer.

The parts man told me that the techs always replace the bearing plate and the spring itself in accordance with Volvo's recommendation.

Based on your experience and advice this seems more like the dealer's recommendation on how to improve its bottom line.

Anyway, I'll see what I find when I dismantle the strut.

Thanks,
Bryan

Mark,

I really don't understand the physics involved, although I figured that the engineers had specified that part for a reason.

The handling is poor on certain roads and I believe that the only other suspension component failure is the LF track-rod end.

Thanks a lot for the info.

Bryan