Considering fitting lowering springs. Seeking advice.

[Volvophile]

For some time I have been considering eliminating some of the excess body roll in my 940 saloon. What I am wondering is whether fitting shorter springs would show much of an improvement and if so, how much lowering do people usually go for? I don't wish for the car to be rubbing off speed bumps or anything and want to be certain of that before I order any parts.

I have seen -40mm lowering springs commonly advertised. Is this the amount that 740/940 owners usually take off the ride height? What I am looking for mainly is better handling and do not want to compromise the car.

Would appreciate any feedback.

[Laird Scooby]

A lot will depend how bad the speed humps are round your neck of the woods. The most common drop is 40mm and i believe most people fit Bilstein B4 shock absorbers to go with it - this seems to be the best combination.

However, what year is your 940 and does it have a rear anti roll bar? If you're worried about losing suspenion travel and decapitating speed humps, it might be better to start by fitting a rear anti-roll bar if it doesn't already have one. If it does, fit an extra one and an extra front one as well.

This gives you the nice compliant ride you currently have with a lot more roll stiffness through corners so it doesn't feel like you're piloting a pregnant elephant on roller skates. There doesn't seem to be any uprated ARBs for the 7/9xx range which is a shame. I fitted the uprated ARBs from another model in the range with my other car and transformed the handling, it now goes through corners near flat, grips better but still rides nice and smoothly as it was designed to.

If your speed humps aren't too bad, it might be just as easy to go for the 40mm lower and uprated springs and shocks, fitting a rear ARB later if yours doesn't already have one (i think it was 1993/4 when they became standard on 940s) and see how things go with that.

[MiniNinjaRob]

Laird - we have HORRIFIC speed bumps and potholed road here in West Yorks and the 40mm drop I did didn’t make any difference in the ability to navigate them safely.
There isn’t a negative for a 40mm drop IMHO. Looks better (as it should have been from the factory IMHO), handling is a touch better too.
You can double up the ARBS on the back end (I have brackets to do this but never used them) to make it a lot stiffer but you should do the same to the front end with an underbody brace at the same time as it can make a 940 a bit tail happy with only the rear done.

Personally I’d love to drop mine another 40mm as it doesn’t look lowered but I can’t trust my wife to be suitably careful over the speed bumps so I don’t have my stainless exhaust ripped off from under the car - or worse. 😂

[classicswede]

40mm lowering springs and some decent dampers will improve things a fair bit.

If you still find body roll too much after that then you could consider thicker anti roll bars or doubling up

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by MiniNinjaRob

Laird - we have HORRIFIC speed bumps and potholed road here in West Yorks and the 40mm drop I did didn’t make any difference in the ability to navigate them safely.

I'm glad to hear that Rob - i managed to rip the exhuast off mine on a speed hump due to worn rear springs (giving a 35-40mm drop because they were weak) and knackered Nivos.
I wasn't being silly, in fact i was being careful because i knew the springs were shot.

That's why i'm reluctant to say "you'll be fine" to anyone asking this question. Also round here, there are many seriously uneven roads that can cause cars to bottom out in general. They resurface them every couple of years but within months they are uneven again with large potholes appearing from nowhere - all part of life in the fens sadly!

[TonyS9]

I fitted 40mm lowering / sports springs over 10 years ago. The difference was pretty dramatic, very sporty and tight and no problems with ramps, but you do need to go slower for them. I have rear mud flaps and these scrape on the road a little occassionally (sudden upwards curve in the road say into car parks or something).

The other problems not mentioned are the propshaft angle. With my extra boost and whatnot I may have made things worse, but I get vibrations when accelerating hard with the car loaded up. It has gotten worse over the years, but doesn't normally bother me.

Bushes should be retighten at the new height, or ideally replaced if you want that tight feeling., and of course decent sports shocks like Bilstein Sports.

Originally I got Cobra springs (progressive at the back), but these were very harsh. Dia does a good set with a better compromise, I used these after the cobra ones corroded and broke.

[TomSaintJames]

There was a set of coilovers fitted to my hearse 740 2.0 when I got it, the ride was very bouncy (but otherwise good, surprisingly so on speed bumps at the front) but when the coilovers came off and standard suspension replaced it transpired that the coilovers were just very badly adjusted, and could have been professionally adjusted for a fraction of the cost of replacing all the suspension! Benefits for coilovers is that they are completely adjustable, downsides is that they can be a fiddle to adjust and are best done so professionally (so I've read).

So I have a full set that I really must get around to selling, not sure if any parts would need replacing but I do have a box of bits that the mechanic took off that was coilover specific. FYI The front coilovers are welded (quite tidily) onto a chopped Volvo strut with the bottom of the coilover welded onto the chopped bit of the strut, looks quite tidy. I can get some pictures if you're interested.

With coilovers it handled surprisingly well for a heavy, extra long bodied vehicle

[Volvophile]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

However, what year is your 940 and does it have a rear anti roll bar?

It is a 1997, so a late model. It would probably be on an R reg in the UK.

I was planing to keep the spend as low as possible, but if uprated shock absorbers are necessary I will look into them.

[MiniNinjaRob]

Originally Posted by TonyS9

I fitted 40mm lowering / sports springs over 10 years ago. The difference was pretty dramatic, very sporty and tight

I driven a few cars in my years of driving, trust me you'd have to do radical surgery to a 940 to make it feel sporty and tight!!

[MiniNinjaRob]

Originally Posted by Volvophile

It is a 1997, so a late model. It would probably be on an R reg in the UK.

I was planing to keep the spend as low as possible, but if uprated shock absorbers are necessary I will look into them.

If your car has done a few miles (mine had done 180000) then the current shocks will probably be knackered anyway.

I paid about £88 for my Kileen springs and £135 for my Bilstein B4's FWIW. £180 to have them fitted.