Lowered suspension/handling
 

Recently fitted a lowered suspension kit from PFS to my V70, since then I've not been impressed with the handling, very harsh at the rear, especially over bumps.
So, switched back to standard springs but have kept the shocks as my originals were u/s
Still feels harsh though, so my question is, are the shocks that came with the lowering kit harder/stiffer than standard ones? Would it be beneficial to fit standard shocks?

Thanks guys

Hi,

PFS don't seem to list a lowering kit for a 1998 V70 - only listed for V70II 2001 onwards. I just mention this as I'm wondering what you have actually bought and fitted?

Putting this aside, When fitting a lowering kit, almost inevitably the spring rates will have been increased to prevent the suspension bottoming out and issues with wheels fouling the bodywork on full downwards deflection. The stiffer springs would certainly give a harsher, choppy ride. Unfortunately It's the price you pay for lowering. Personally I've only known 2 people of my acquaintance who have lowered their cars (one a Peugeot 205 Gti, the other a Ford Focus ST) and both ditched their kits in fairly short order because the ride was so poor.
I can't comment on the dampers as I have no idea what kit you have actually fitted (see above) and what make of damper was supplied. Sorry if this all sounds a bit depressing.

Regards
John

Funny that... I've noticed that PFS no longer have the kit listed, was for the 850/V70, it was only purchased last November...back to standard methinks.

Yes, best option really. Lowering might be fine for the "turbo nutter" car cruise brigade but for those of us like you and me that actually use cars in the real world. Lowering kits are (in my opinion) not the best way to improve handling as they also tend to mess up the very carefully set suspension geometries that the manufacturers spent millions on getting right. Every very minor deviations from factory standard can hugely affect ride and handling for the worse.

Regards
John

,
what are you going about the "turbo nutter" car cruise brigade?

I am neither of those groups and have sorted the suspension on my 855R. Its on BC coilovers and the set up is far far superior than the OEM set up.

i use my car daily and its no issue at all.

Volvo produced lowering kits and even an adjustible ohlins kit... all originally available via your local volvo dealer. There is some really cool stuff in the accessories catalogue (viewable online). A fair bit of it will be NLA now unfortunately.

Ah, those were the days. Yes, most stuff is sadly NLA. All properly engineered for the car though and, as a consequence, sadly frightening expensive for the most part. The last time I saw one available was quite a few years ago, and if my memory serves me well, it was well over £1500 for the adjustable kit.

No offence intended. A bit of light sarcasm is necessary when posting at the same time as undertaking self-assembly of 4 IKEA units which the good lady persuaded me to buy. It's the only thing keeping me sane - 2 down 2 to go.

John

No offence taken - people expect miracles when they stick a set of lowering springs or a cheap set of coilovers on an 850/V70, I find that these are the same people who run ditch finder tyres and expect track day handling.

Yet they fail to invest in any of the other suspension upgrades, I was meticulous in my set up and the 850 is the perfect fast road car. Was also far cheaper with the BCs than it would have been to swap for the OE nivomats alone.

It’s no longer a wafty old barge, yes it’s a little firmer than standard but it’s not crashy. Confidence inspiring turn in, helped by solid sub frame inserts too

Actually the weird and wonderful stuff from volvo tended to be reasonable on price. E.G. I got quoted £888 for the full dynaudio kit (8 speakers + crossovers and bits). To get the equivalent dynaudio speakers and bits from an audio specialist would have been considerably more. The strut brace is another, I paid about £65 for mine from volvo, aftermarket ones were £100.

It's the stuff you NEED that they hit you with the markups... Possibly the sporty stuff was made in certain batch amounts in order to comply with homologation rules for the touring cars so they were produced with that in mind and they just wanted to get their money back?