740/940 handing comparisons?
 

I had a B280E - quite firm on the road, felt controlled - but ultimately lots of roll and limited adhesion.

I have a 760T (F plate) - feels more insulated from the road, fairly directional (nice and stable over bumpy backroads after new front and rear shocks).

I have a 740 B234F - feels much more "on the road".

All of them weave or judder a bit under heavy braking at speed - and yes, all have had new discs and pads and either new or recon calipers.

My 940 however (with of course slightly different front suspension to create that fantastic lock) also appears to have more servo assistance on the steering, to float a bit more at the front end in a straight line and to feel quite floaty and dithery (and pull slightly) under heavy braking at speed, and about halfway to full lock (if pressing on) the steering goes light and there is even less feel. Yes it has had new struts and new discs and pads and recon calipers.

Is this the nature of the beast, or do I need to start going through ALL the steering and braking parts to find a cure?

Track control arm bushes and decent tyres, the 940 estate I had was a far better handling car then my 740, strut braces make a difference to them as well, the 2 940's I had both had a brace across the track control arm mountings where as the 740 doesn't (yet!!)

Got a 940 2.3 lpt which used to drive like that. Felt as though the front end was floating about the road. Just changed front suspension bottom ball joints and track rod ends on mine. Feels a solid now. Steering seems to have stiffened up a good bit too. It is prone to going straight on at corners a bit if the road is a bit slippy. Probably me going a bit fast though and not the cars fault?
Next job will be changing suspension bushes. Hope you sort it out.

Alasdair.

You might find that the later cars actually had softer springs than the older ones. Anti roll bars gradually got bigger to cut down the roll but to retain ride comfort the springs rates were probably reduced slightly.
A lot of the weave and judder is down to the saucer shaped bushes on the front suspension. I've got polyurethane ones on mine which make quite a difference but the do transmit more vibration from the tyres whilst driving.
Caster will affect the steerings ability to hold straight and there are a few different length arms available to adjust this. One reason was becase of brake judder and Volvo reduced the caster to help stop this. Toe settings will also affect things. If the suspension has been apart things might be a bit out now.

I'm not sure if the cars you list all have the same suspension setup, even things like the ride hight difference between the front and rear will affect things.

I improved my cars handling by fitting a thicker front anti roll bar and slightly stiffer front springs off a diesel model. Normally a thicker front bar would increase understeer but I think the amount of body roll is so excessive on the 940 the tyres just can't cope. A slightly thicker one might help but I think things would stsrt getting worse again if you took it too far.