Our cars 'handling' in general

[Yobbo]

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.

[btjtaylor]

Originally Posted by Yobbo

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.

Do you have a part number for the wishbone bush that you'd suggest replacing? Also any further info on the revised wishbones? (my car is any early pre-facelift so likely has the "wrong" model)

[Welton]

A good response there Yobbo, thank you, I did actually think about just replacing the main lower front bushes on mine but would like to check the trailing arm bushes too.

[LizardOfBodom]

Yobbo - tx for details, good to know. As for shocks, I would probably replace them first if only those were available in AWD flavor. Same for springs. Didnt really know options are SO limited before I bought the car, but ah well. You loose on one ground, gain on another.

PhilJ82- decoding the shocks and springs is actually pretty easy if you have Vida. You know how to read your build plate?


13 = Country Code
14 = Interior Code
15 = Paint Code

17 = Front Suspension Spring
18 = Front Suspension Strut
19 = Front Anti-Sway Bar
20 = Rear Suspension Spring
21 = Rear Suspension Shock
22 = Rear Anti-Sway Bar
23 = Front Suspension Bump Stop
24 = Rear Suspension Bump Stop

Then you compare the values to part numbers in Vida and voila.
Then you can read even more if you have DiCE as it will read your car's spec and provide some more info, but its more about how car is set up and not how it was ordered from factory.

If u dont have vida, pm me your VIN and build plate and I'll have a look if I can give you some more info

[Yobbo]

Originally Posted by btjtaylor

Do you have a part number for the wishbone bush that you'd suggest replacing? Also any further info on the revised wishbones? (my car is any early pre-facelift so likely has the "wrong" model)

These are the bushes that I fitted to mine -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Powerflex...-/311739578257
(you can get the black version which are harder)

There is no revised wishbone part, but if you meant the rear upper control arm then I'm afraid I don't recall the part number!
I'm pretty sure that if you punched in the details for an R-design S40/V50 on an auto website or even ebay, you may be able to come across a pattern part.

But yeah, if your car is going to be lower than stock then adjustable ones are required and of course get yer bleddy laser alignment done and let em know to do the adjustment on the arms!

[Yobbo]

Originally Posted by Welton

A good response there Yobbo, thank you, I did actually think about just replacing the main lower front bushes on mine but would like to check the trailing arm bushes too.

To inspect the rear trailing arm upper bush inspection plate there's a pop rivet and a questionable 10mm securing nut which likes to disintegrate when disturbed!
These bushes on most people's cars I'd imagine are fine, just depends where you live.
I took a trip to Halifax recently and their backroads are concussion inducing.

[PhilJ82]

Thankyou for that kind offer Lizard, I’ll pm you the details tomorrow

[btjtaylor]

Thanks for the excellent info Yobbo will add those bushes to my shopping list!