Greetings,

I replaced my ball joints and sway bar links Sunday, in an attempt to tighten up my front end and eliminate an occasional "scrunching" sound that has been annoying me. It was after I got the control arm separated from the strut tube that I could see that my rear control arm bushings are cracked. I need to replace them.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice as far as who offers a quality replacement, or should I go to the Volvo dealer for bushings?

I see FCPGroton offers a replacement control arm with the rear bushings pressed in.....sounds like a real time-saver. My local indie quoted me $70 to press new bushings into the control arms if I do the rest myself. $210 labor plus parts to do the whole shebang. And he warned me about alot of inferior quality parts on the market. We didn't get into what he wants to charge for parts yet.

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks,
Karl

Yeh, you probably wasted your money unless you "for sure" know the parts you replaced were bad. At 125K miles my car has only replaced the rubber bushings and one of the links. The links creat a horrible rattle when they get loose. The front inner rubber bushing creates "crunching" noises when it goes bad. The rear bushing lets the caster and toe go out of spec and the camber a little.

I bought the Volvo press adapter tools since I will probably do the job again. I already have a small arbor press that was up to the job. I found the rear bushings to be rusted in place and just knocked them out using a chisel since they are only plastic on the outside. Tapping the control arm around the outside with a hammer made most of the rust scale peal off the ID. The rear must be properly oriented when being installed. It took me about 2 hours per side at home. I bought Volvo bushings from my dealer.
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'96 965, 16' wheels, rear 18mm bar & Koni + 204HP cams at 124K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

Yes, probably wasted my money and the parts I installed were most likely not as good quality as the ones I was removing. Darn it.

Did you buy your Volvo press adapter tools form a Volvo dealer? And what might one expect this to cost?

I got them through the dealer. As I remember the cost was between $150 and $200 for the whole set, about 3 tools per bushing. The press out tool for the big rear bushing was unnecessary though. They were rusted in place and a chisel worked well.
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'96 965, 16' wheels, rear 18mm bar & Koni + 204HP cams at 125K. Had '85 745 Turbo Diesel for 200K.

You'll find that the cheap control arms for the late 960 suspension are just that-stamped metal rather than the factory cast alloy.Will increase unsprung weight,degrade performance.I have already replaced our V90 (same as a 97 960) bushings at least once-the material or design of the bushing should be improved-maybe IPD or someone else will take this on.Not that many of these cars out there,though-maybe just not enough demand for them to go to the trouble.$70 to press in bushings sounds good-I'd get it done.Still love our V90! sredwine V90 has 93K,94 940T has 158K

I hear that IPD offers a number of polyeurethane bushing upgrades. supposed to be really nice and durable. I haven;t tried yet, but I'm thinking about it next time i need bushings.

I looked at IPD's website, but I didn't see any suspension parts for 960's beyond 1994.

outside of that try FCP Groton VLVWorld or maybe just your local parts store.
IPD is a recommended for this sort of thing, try e-mailing them and asking about compatability, I'm told they are very responsive and knowledgable.