Further suspension problems - help needed please!

[mutley66]

Just collected my V70 from the dealer (with a 12 month Selekt warranty) who promptly replaced the bushes on the rear trailing arms that had been 'omitted' from the original mot report.
Drove on motorway with no problem but on side roads there is a very random loud 'clunking' noise when I drive over a ramp or dip in the road. I'm not driving at any great speed.
Would this simply be the new bushes 'bedding in'? If there is such a thing?? Or do I have a further problem with the suspension that the dealer hasn't picked up??? (There is also a Volvo / alko towbar that appears to have been on since new?)
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I don't want to appear as a paranoid customer to the dealer but I also don't want to end up paying out for costly suspension repairs a month or two down the road.

[Simon Jones]

New bushes won't need any time to bed-in: they should just be fine. If it were me, I'd contact the garage and ask if you can book a time to get one of their technician to sit in the car while you take them for a spin on a section of road where the problem is apparent. However, beforehand, get someone to sit in the passenger seat to ensure it still happens with the extra weight. Having an extra person in the car can completely change the handling characteristics.

[Splodger]

When I bought my car I took a mate with me who sat in the back when we test drove it with dealer. Under normal speeds nothing was apparent but when it was driven hard at speed and breaking my friend noticed a noise and rumble behind him as he was sitting in the back. Me and the dealer didn't notice it till my friend mentioned it. More hard driving and it became apparent there was a problem.

I was buying it on the premise there would be no specific warranty due to high mileage but any issues found would be sorted on service and mot.

On service it had new rear pads/discs fitted, but when it went for mot it failed on the rear trailing arm bushes deteriorating on the side my freind was sitting. All replaced for re-test.

So I was fortunate the car was driven hard on test drive and my freind was sitting in the back.

[Shinjuku]

Grab hold of the tow bar and thrutch it up and down ad side to side vigerously. Is there a noise thats not relating to the suspension compressing and decompressing? Very unlikely but when i was a kid we had a caravan. Towed it around the potholed motorways of poland and czech rep in the early 90s. It cracked the bottom of the car. Unlikely to be this but if i ever buy a car with a towbar - something ive never done - this is what i would do as that test showed up there was a problem with that car. There will be a big diff in how cars are made now though - sure it won't be that

[Semnoz]

If it's the trailing arm front bushes that were replaced, it's actually a part called a 'lateral link' that is fitted, and this bolts to the floor underneath. You have to undo a few bolts around the hub carrier in order to lower the trailing arms enough to replace these bushes, so there is potential for someone to forget to tighten something up again. I can't imagine how the lateral links themselves could introduce any clunking unless they weren't tightened fully.

Also, the LHS lateral link on mine features an exhaust bracket 'hook' - check that has been secured properly.

I'm not sure an MOT is likely to fail/advise on these bushes as they're partly hidden under side panels, and you generally need to use a pry bar to check for problems, and this isn't done in MOTs. So don't be surprised if it wasn't mentioned, although kudos to an MOT centre that does bother to look at things like this as they can affect tracking.

[kenny]

Originally Posted by Splodger

I was buying it on the premise there would be no specific warranty due to high mileage

This is not legal, no such thing as sold as seen from a dealer. car needs to fit for purpose

[Splodger]

Kenny, what I mean is warranty outside your consumer rights covered normally by a third party.

I did look into it when buying and with 148k on the clock the warranties were expensive and the cover was not that good.

To add to it.....

As some of us perhaps know buying a second hand car is a minefield. When looking for a car I decided I wanted a v70 a long while a go, but most in my budget were older less efficient higher tax models and to be honest compared to most makes theres not a lot of volvos out there unless your willing to chase all over the country.

The original post is about a car from a main dealer who you would hope to be spot on in resolving all issues prior to purchase, as it is it's not the case and the guy is obviously stressing out trying to get issues resolved. If I had the money I would have liked to have gone to a main dealer and got a car with a nice fancy warranty with the supposed peace of mind of buying from a main dealer.

In the end I couldn't bring myself to buy private as there is little or no come back. Doing my homework on used dealers selling v70's brought up so many horror stories of cars going wrong that they were selling and severely ****ed of customers giving reviews all over the Internet it made you wonder if there was any trustworthy dealers selling decent cars out there.

In the end I came across a local Volvo Indy specialist with a high mileage v70. Car is spot on for now but only time will tell.....at the end of the day buying used cars can be a big risk.