V90 suspension upper arm dust covers
 

My local dealer has advised me and sent photos of perished dust covers on both front suspension upper arms which they say have nearly split.They have quoted £750 for the two, I’m assuming this is to replace the suspension units in their entirety rather than just replace the dust covers. Any thoughts?

These covers will be for the ball joints, normally all that holds them on is a securing clip or wire ring. However volvo won’t sell them on there own hence the massive cost for new arms. You would need to disconnect the arm to gain access to the ball joint to enable replacement of the covers if you can find them anywhere….. the likes of eBay might help but it’s getting the correct size and quality materiel. Quickest and easiest is full replacement………

Volvo suspension components used to last well over 100,000 miles and 10 years and I don’t recall them to be at such prices!

If there's no play or movement in the upper joint, there's no need for them to replace the whole arm, but Volvo don't sell the rubber boots alone... so in theory, with them, you have to replace the whole suspension arm.

If the car went for an MOT and you had a split rubber on a ball joint, but there was no excessive play or movement, they shouldn't fail you on that... they'd advise the perished rubber and say something alone the lines of "Ball joint rubber perished, but no excessive movement".

Its a very expensive repair for some small rubber boots. You may find a garage that's willing to just replace the perished rubber boots, but more chances than not, they'll just say replace the whole arm because they have to take the old one off to access the joint to fit a new boot. By the time you pay the labour costs to do that, it may be as dear as whole new arms anyway.

If you're looking to save cash, maybe get an independent or trusted garage (not dealer) to fit arms for you. Unless you can source the exact rubber boots to replaced the perished ones, I think you have no option only replace the whole arms. Volvo must be at least £120+ per hour nowadays. There's plenty of garages cheaper than that. Let's face it, replacing arms for a mechanic isn't rocket science, it doesn't have to be Volvo. Just make sure you fit good branded ones and not cheap junk.