Dylan,
Do you know if Bilstein touring rear shocks still have the oversize mounting hole knocking problem?

Boge bought Sachs of Mexico some years ago. yet I only ever dealt with Made in Germany Boge when I was a (primarily) Volvo mechanic at repair facilities in St. Louis and the SF Bay Area.

The shear heft of the Made in Germany Boge "Turbo Gas" models versus the Sachs "Advantage" models. The stiff gas charge of the Made in Germany Boge "Turbo Gas" models versus the flaccid Sachs "Advantage" that iPd sells as Boge.

Lemförder, like Boge, is owned by ZF Friedrichshafen AG.

At least you can buy Lemförder in the U.S. Lemförder has not been a primary vendor to Volvo. Yet they do well in quality, yet they may be cheap, want to raise shareholder value before customer satisfaction on a fair revenue stream, well .... they may build someplace in the Western Pacific.

Bilstein Touring rear shocks should include rubber bushes that are either sleeves that slid over the top rear shock mount stud, or are rubber bushing in the form of disc that you place on the top rear shock mount stud, then slide the shock top mounts, and then another of these rubber bushings in the form of disc. Apply torque, and off you go, so I understand. Please research. Look at the Bilstein site or down load their PDF catalogues.

How do the Lemförder strut mounts for Volvo 240 compare with (if they still are) Made by Boge of Germany as OEM for your Volvo 240, well, I have no idea.

I dunno whether Lemförder makes struts and shocks. Not seen Lemförder damapeners before.

144$ a pair or each for Volvo OEM PN 1272455? (The Volvo 240 struts mounts - called SHOCK MOUNT in the Volvo Vadis as you see how Tasca displays it.) Tasca prices these at 74$ a piece as of today.

As pictured on the Tasca parts site:


Other than made by Boge OEM for Volvo, the only other alternative strut mounts may be Made in Europe SKF, maybe. The primary tell-tale of a quality strut mount for Volvo 240 is the use of an open roller bearing race. Though that may not reveal bushing material quality of the process by which the vulcanized or synthetic rubber bonds to the inside of the bushing shell and the outside of the center bearing in them strut mounts.

Boge actually pioneered and perfect this process.

Avoid any strut mount for Volvo 240 that uses a sealed bearing, like URO, APA, Febi, and of course, Meyle. Volvo used to use Meyle with sealed bearings in the 1980s at some point, returning to the open bearing race we still have, thankfully.

Though I hear Meyle may be improving from a part manager at a primarily German auto independent service facility. He gets these parts and the mechanics stick them on VW, Audi, and BMWs, so he says.

The open bearing race allow you to both lube the race, occasionally, and using the dust cap, keep the bearing sealed from weather. You use a SuperLube brand silicon synthetic grease so it is not as damaging to the rubber bushing material. (Keep the grease away from the rubber bits!)

I do recall reading positive experience with Lemförder ball joints and, for the steering rack, inner and outer tie rods. I have Lemförder inner and outer tie rods for one of the Volvo 240 steering racks.

Hope that helps.

Salad Seasonings.

Lemforder is OEM on all a lot of Volvo front end and suspension parts. Quality German company. It is very likely that they are the strut mounts OEM. Personally, I'd buy the Lemforder and save some money.

On another note, I can't believe that those strut mounts cost so much. When I did my 850's struts and strut mounts about 3 years ago, the mounts were about $25 apiece for OEM.

--
Current - 95 855 GLT Sportwagon 255k, Formerly - 90 244 DL 300k