Wow! Spent the day putting Bilstein HD's on my '95 850 and just got back from the first test drive. Car sits about an inch higher, my butt told me that when I scooted in the first time. Much less body roll and a firmer but more controlled ride. The ride is not objectional, I was afraid that it would turn the car into more of a gocart than it already is. Not a problem. It feels like a new rig. Really worth every penney.
I replaced the spring seats on the front with IPD parts and the rear mounts with FCP Groton replacements, strictly a money decision, I like both dealers and have always been treated fairly and well at each. Kept the stock springs, just replaced the struts and shocks. Notes on doing the job:
1. Just jam a 17MM open end wrench over the boot on the sway bar link bolts, there are two flats on the bolt on the back side, you can't see them but I figured they must be the same as the lower bolts which you can see. I found no info on this on this site by the way. The manual just says to remove it, duh! I didn't have a thin wrench and after looking at the problem (the nut would just spin in place without a wrench to hold the bolt and I didn't want to tear the boot) decided I had nothing to lose. I did displace the boot on one link, but popped it back into place.
2. Recommend loosening the nuts on the strut knuckle while the thing is bolted in place, as well as the upper nut on the top of the strut. I was a little leary about reefing on the knuckle bolts while the whole rotor/suspension mechanism was dangling free. I propped a jack stand under the rotor to avoid any strain on the CV joints.
3. I removed the star bolt on the top of the strut with a punch and a hammer, and tightened it the same way. I did'nt have the inevidable weirdass special volvo tool. It is not coming loose.
4. ON the rear shocks, they are a snap, the biggest problem is tearing up all the carpet to gain access, I suggest buying some additional carpet buttons, I'm off to the dealer on monday to replace a couple that separated while being removed.
5. The Haynes manual was pretty useful other than info on the link. I even subscribed to alldata for $15 just to see how to remove the link and they were even less helpful. Some stuff is really just "do it anyway you can."

I'll get it aligned on Monday. Glad to have this little project done, it was really much less of a hassle than a lot of other things I've attempted.
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Professionals have thumbs too.

I’ll try to respond to all. I agree that the shocks should not have much of an effect as far as making the car sit higher. I’m just saying that the first thing my butt noticed was that it didn’t have to fall as far in to the drivers seat. The new spring seats were not as fully seated as the old ones after 114K miles so that may be what I’m noticing. The settling in after a week or so may just be psychological. Still, when enough people mention it…
No problem with the spring compression, I purchased a cheapo Chinese unit from Harbor Freight for $10 and have changed four springs with it now. If I was a professional I would pop for a more user friendly pair. I did have to use a bench vise to hold the knuckle end of the strut steady while I worked on the compressor, but that was the only real hassle. I was careful to make sure the spring seated against the stops on the spring seat and the strut base when I put it back together. I put HD’s on my ’96 Suburban and they made a world of difference. My 850 rides a bit like a go-cart anyway so I didn’t think I have much to loose as far as ride quality. I’m probably getting too long in the tooth for this sporty stuff, I like the way the S80 rides but really like the way my 850 looks and handles. Never satisfied. As far as engineering I think that Volvo is losing it’s mechanic friendly basis. I have worked on 240’s quite a bit and although they are an old design, they definitely lend themselves more to the home mechanic. The new cars are not only packaged much more tightly, but they do seem to go out of there way to make things more difficult. On my 850 the wheel bearing hubs are held on by 4 torx head bolts, requiring me to have a torx socket set to work on it. Why bother? Torque is Torque and a grade 8 bolt is still required.
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Professionals have thumbs too.

> Car sits about an inch higher

That is/can not be due to the dampers, which oppose motion but do/can not exert
any significant (any gas charge is insignificant) force.

So I'm wondering about those "spring seats".

Car should not sit an inch higher after changing dampers.

- Dave; '95 854T, 139K mi

That's not the first time that I've heard people saying that Bilsteins make the car sit higher. I usually hear follow up reports that "they seem to settle after a few days or a week or so."

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Jim Rothe, '99 S70 T5M,
http://www.jimrothe.com/volvo/index.html

Hi ya,

Firstly great job on doing it yourself :-)

Did you have any problems compressing the front springs ?

What makes things worse the the anti-roll/swarbar links is they have changed the design now, the centre bolt is a torx head and its a pain the the £$% to do up.

Are you noticing more due to you old shocks were really bad. I replaced mine in the end with Boge/OEM and it felt generally better. I wanted to put Bilsteins on but was worried about the ride being to hard for my bad back. Are these HD designs slight softer than the fully-monty set ?

Well done again,

Mark

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Mark in the UK.

Mark,

What is the torque on the sway bar end links bolts ? I just replaced my sway bar end links with new ones, but I hear a very small "pop" noise when the car is moving on slightly rough road or when I shake the car side way (standing in front of the driver side front wheel, Left side in US) up and down. I think I didn't tighten the sway bar end link bolts enough.

Thanks,

Ching-Ho Cheng
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1995 855 NA, Bilstein Shocks, K&N Filter, E-Code Lens

Hi Ching-ho,

I see this question on volvospeed also so ill answer here too:- The required torque is 50nm. When you replaced them did you ensure that the hole bolt within the rubber gromit went though ?

Its a pain now since they have changed the design as your could use a spanner to hold the link while tightening up the nut. I have the feeling that yours his not seated correctly and therefore not tightened and you have play.

You can check with the wheel on if you put full lock on but it is hard to do. I would rejack the car up, take wheel offand have a secondly jack up the control arm so that the strut doesn't fully extend allow you to work freely.

Mark with bruised knuckes <_<
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Mark in the UK.