Dom, like me is running Bilstein B14's and they come in at a great price point compared to what I'd refer to as the 'premier' options.
So to iterate again - they will make the biggest dynamic transformation to your car's handling above all other modification options, even when you understeer, you can cut in to rescue it with precision...
Perhaps the precision you should have used when projecting the entry of the bend!
Downsides are a generally unforgiving ride on horrid road surfaces, but perfectly fine for tottering down the motorway with family and bags on board, possible other downsides with the B14's is that top mounts can wear out quite quickly on them - characterised by a knocking and graunching noise that presents when the car has been driven for a while, the reason why this may be an issue is because these coilovers do not do not have adjustable camber plates (aftermarkets do exist but I do not know of anyone using them on B14's which use the stock sized bearing), your car will still be within in Volvo's tolerance for 'R-Design' alignment specs with the stock top mounts, so your tyres will be okay. I also suspect why one of mine has failed may be due to when I was changing a driveshaft and but the strut at some pretty extreme angles because I had trouble getting access.
I would also highly suggest getting camber adjustable rear upper control arms, as you may have seen on pre-facelift S40/V50s - the rear tyre wear is daft due to the stock angle and Volvo revised this part as a result. Depends on how low you decided to have the car, I have already removed the locking collar and am considering doing away with the remaining adjustment one so to have a level rake.
Also, it's may sound weird but my average MPG also dropped as well...
Nonetheless, I am HAPPY with how my car is driving!
A full polybush of the car is in my opinion overkill and will add a greater degree of NVH, for day to day pottering and functional steering response, ONLY polybushing the big wishbone bush is the way to go (if time and money are precious commodities) - the front bush is on a pivot bolt which is simply not subject to the amount of torsional forces as the rear one (hence the common premature retirement rate of them), and in my opinion is not really worth replacing as I found when inspecting the condition of some from a car that was 13 years old - they were in great nick with negligible flex if any.
They're also a bit harder to remove as you need to eff about with obtaining the right size bolt thread, nuts, washers, and a suitable sized bit of pipe.
If some of the car's rear end bushes have deteriorated, say the lower control arms then just replace as a whole - they'll last another 10 years and are cheap.
However the upper rear trailing arm bush is the exception - I polybushed mine and it was a stressful in the sense that I nearly knackered the special tool I bought for the job, you can inspect their condition by removing the plastic cowling near the hub - unless they have completely disconnected to the body of the vehicle or are easy moved by hand, leave them alone.
TRUST ME
Also big thumbs up for Michelin Pilot Sport 4s they are the dogs danglers, but we will see how long they last.
