V70 play in front wheel

[kkenny]

Hello all,

I've got a 2001 plate,2.4 petrol V70.

There is slight play in the front nearside wheel but only when the weight of the car is on it. when I jack it up and do the standard bearing check you can't feel any play at all.

What is this likely to be.

Thanks in advance.

Kenny

[Rover Saloon]

Wheel bearing? The fact that it's a 2001 and it's nearside makes me suspicious. The 'standard wheel bearing test' doesn't usually show up play when you try to waggle the wheel.

I am intrigued to know how you have detected play when the load is on.

If it is the bearing then its a new hub as they don't sell them separately. Not a difficult job - bags of posts about it - a common Volvo fault.

Just make sure you undo the drive shaft bolt before jacking the wheel up and take care not to pull too hard on the driveshaft otherwise you can damage the cv joints.

[kkenny]

Hi

Thanks for this. Interesting to know about the bearing check not always showing when a bearing on the way out.

Sorry probably being thick but why does the nearside make you suspicious?

Basically I've been trying to get to the bottom of a vibration that can be felt through the car (as opposed to the steering) so I have been checking track rod ends, lower ball joints,wish bone bushes. During this with the car on the ground I grabbed the top of the nearside wheel and rocked it in and out and felt the play then. I did the same thing on the offside to compare it and there is definitely no play on that one.

As I say thanks for the advice. I'll price up the hub.

Kenny

[Rover Saloon]

I suppose it rang a bell when you said "nearside" as that was the one that went on mime at approx 120k. Interestingly, the offside is still good with now 175k on the clock. I suppose, bearing in mind the camber of the road and the inevitable potholes/rough road that the nearside goes over, it's no surprise that it gets more wear. I found the same for the lower wishbone bushes and the upper strut mounts - always the nearside to go first.

One other source of vibration could be the top mounts - also might give you top/bottom movement when jacked up.

If you can afford to have the car off the road for a bit, then my advice would be to strip out the entire show before buying any new parts.

By this I mean removal of strut/shock to have a good look at the top mount. You virtually have to remove it when you do the hub anyway.
None of this work is too tricky - just some big ring spanners (up to around 24mm from memory) and a vernier gauge to measure the position of the lower shock/hub joint. This will keep the vertical tracking the same when you re-assemble. For once (surprisingly) the Haynes manual is pretty good for this job - it looks as if they may have even done it before witing up the task for a change.