XC70: General Sagging from passenger side rear

[jamesbilluk]

Hi all

I was giving the car a clean today, and noticed the passenger side rear looks lower then the drivers side rear (the front looks fine on each side), and the camber doesn’t look right, the car does have the ‘four c’ suspension. the ride seems fine, I did wonder if it was where it’s parked, but the drive way is completely flat.

Does the XC70 have a to levelling on the rear, or would the be related to the Four C?

[Thommykent]

Your pics are kind of useless. There`s no way to compare to the other side. Take one directly from behind and one from each corner down the length of the car from the same position on each side

[Tannaton]

Firstly, it's most unlikely to be related to the 4C system which alters shock absorber characteristics, not the ride height or spring rates.

From the pics not only is the n/s/r lower you can see a difference in the camber of the wheel - I would bet 90% you've got a broken coil spring, 10% some other structural failure (bush, link etc).

i.e. get it checked... have a look underneath with a bright torch - even if you are not a mechanic you should notice if the rear suspension is not a mirror image of the other side. Broken coils sometimes have no symptoms and whilst many people are driving round on broken coils without noticing it, there's always a [good] chance it will dislodge and take your tyre out with a sharp edge.

Not the best video but shows what can happen : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A-eB7tg5s0

[jamesbilluk]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

Firstly, it's most unlikely to be related to the 4C system which alters shock absorber characteristics, not the ride height or spring rates.

From the pics not only is the n/s/r lower you can see a difference in the camber of the wheel - I would bet 90% you've got a broken coil spring, 10% some other structural failure (bush, link etc).

i.e. get it checked... have a look underneath with a bright torch - even if you are not a mechanic you should notice if the rear suspension is not a mirror image of the other side. Broken coils sometimes have no symptoms and whilst many people are driving round on broken coils without noticing it, there's always a [good] chance it will dislodge and take your tyre out with a sharp edge.

Not the best video but shows what can happen : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A-eB7tg5s0

Many thanks for the reply, Ive just been to have al look under the car, the left side coil spring doesn't seem to look right compared to the right one -

Passenger side


Drivers side -


Both together -


Looking though the MOT history, I did see a message - "Nearside Rear Tie bar/rod rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement" This was in 2017, in the recent Mot in 2018, there are no advisories listed which is odd.

[green van man]

Don't panic yet. I had the same problem, under car with veneers measuring the gap between spring coils, 20mm one side 25 the other. Jacked car up to check for broken spring, found nothing amiss. Then moved car out onto road so that it was facing down hill rather than across Hill as my drive is. Result no problem, under it measuring with the veneers and less than a mm difference side to side, gaps between wheel and arch now equal.

Unless you are very sure your drive IS level not just looks level ish try moving the car around and see, for instance turn it around and see if the problem has transfered to the other side.

Paul.

[jamesbilluk]

Good to know that I’ll check again on a different surface, it’s got to go in to the local garage for a slow puncture tomorrow,

[XC70Virgin]

Looks to me like the spring is broken at the lowermost coil.

[jamesbilluk]

The cars been to my local independent tyre garage yesterday for a slow puncture , and alignment, they have the Hunter system so was good to see the results printed, the fronts were way out, and the passenger side rear is off the scale, which was worrying, they were unable to change the toe in as the bolt had seized.

My local listers Volvo are collecting it tomorrow to do the cam belt and aux belt, I’ve asked them to check the rear / a general health check. Could be an expensive day..

[jamesbilluk]

Hi all,

Thought I would update this, the main culprit (amongst come other suspension components) were the rear stay arms, the rubber had perished, so there as a lot of movement, they’ve been replaced, the rear trailing arm bushes had de bonded them selves from the casing they’re attached too.... They all been replaced, the car sits much better now, and drives like the back of the car is now connected to the front!!

James