V50 Engine D5 : "Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated"

[ChrisCdotcodotuk]

So I finally got an interesting MOT advisory on the V50. I failed on a rear brake pad which I went red in the face for as I was sure I'd given the car a once over before hand but clearly missed the inner pad on the rear driverside so that's going to be swapped out in a day or two but the more interesting advisory was this:

002 - Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement - Nearside Front Lower [2.4.G.2]

The guy told me they'd gladly swap everything out but I was happy to wait because this is just an advisory. I really meant that I was going to go home and have a look online at what sort of job this is.

He mentioned "it's just 5 bolts per side" and "get new arms rather than bushes".

I've read this before but is this still standard practice? Should I go OEM parts? Should I buy something else?

--- I asked the question about what size arms as some show as 18mm ball joints, some as 21mm, Volvo confirmed mine needs 21mm --

Looking online I see these at £88 a side
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Vo...MAAOxyNW9SJfxS
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Vo...cAAOxyVh5SJf42

I can't be bothered with polybushes or anything like that.

So.... what am I letting myself in for?
I have a jack and axle stands and an ability to bite off more than I can chew

[FunkyMelon]

Not a job I'd like to attempt myself to be honest as they're usually the areas on a car that seize up over time.

On my old T4, Volvo couldn't get some of the bolts off no matter how much heat/oil they put into it, they even left it soaking in WD40 over night and in the end had to cut and replace the lot.

You can buy after market arms on Skandix for a lot less than Volvo ones - Quality is on par, you can't tell the difference, that's what I ended up doing

[Tannaton]

You can either change the bushes (there are two per side) or replace the bushes/arms/balljoints as an assembly.

There are loads of cheap patterm arms on ebay, and many complaints of bushes/ball joints not lasting too long on here. Genuine Volvo arms are best if you plan to keep the car a while.

I changed my bushes as I want to retain genuine arms. They're not too difficult to do, chop the old ones off with an angle grinder (rear) and press them out (front) then fit the new. You will need a strong vice or press. I went for Meyle HD bushes.

However I've seen Caffyns selling genuine Volvo ones for £100 on ebay I would probably just get those now. Best practice is to do both sides and always get the wheel alignment redone afterwards.

But - as it's an advisory - if the car is driving fine and you have no steering or tyre wear issues - you might decide to leave it a year....

[Mr Jolly]

I had a friend with a lift help with mine earlier in the year. 70k miles on a 09 C30 D5 and they were absolutely shot to pieces. It transformed the car in terms of handling. Took both of us about 90 minutes but we were in no rush, I went with Moog arms and they fitted really well.

https://ibb.co/iALLe5
https://ibb.co/nvsYz5
https://ibb.co/e6p2sQ

[Yobbo]

Wishbones, wishbones, wishbones... Or control arms.

Whichever the case, it is easier to replace both but word of warning - you must remove the driveshaft bolt and disconnect it from the hub on the driver's side or you can end up like I did, ragging the hub about and hitting the top of the arm with a bar and hammer which indeed caused the ball joint to pop out from the hub but in consequence separated the intermediary section of the drive-shaft which is a longer and jointed part compared to the nearside.

As I was actually trying to re-fit my original wishbones, in which I'd polybushed the the bigger rear bush (the oil-filled one that always fails) I found that I couldn't get the driver's side wishbone ball-joint to align properly - only the next day had it occurred to me that I'd dislocated the driveshaft (which had a torn boot), my jolly local mechanic arrived with a frown and decided the best thing to do was to remove the driveshaft from the middle section so they could get the hub back on and lower the car to get it onto their car lift...

Oh and to add further to this, if those bushes get really really bad it can induce judder at high speed and under hard to moderate braking conditions which will lead to increased tyre wear and a general feeling of annoyance.

[Montana]

I had a similar advisory and went through a similar thought process as you and decided I didn't want to mess about with poly bushing or just replacing the balljoint etc (some aftermarket wishbones have them riveted in place so even harder to remove).

In the end I got a pair of Vetech ones from GSF for around £95. 12 month guarantee but time will tell how robust they are.

As for the job, I did it on axle stands no issues what so ever , just make sure you have a balljoint splitter and a lump hammer. No need to touch the driveshaft nut - I have no idea why this is suggested (it's in the Haynes too)

[Yobbo]

Was the car you did the work on a 2.0D?
Because I had no issue swapping out the wishbones on mine.

But on my D5 I did on the driver's side - notably the driveshafts are different between the models and my problem may have been attributed to the inner CV boot being split, however it did state in the Haynes manual (2013 edition?) for the D5 that the driveshaft bolt must be removed.

Originally Posted by Montana

I had a similar advisory and went through a similar thought process as you and decided I didn't want to mess about with poly bushing or just replacing the balljoint etc (some aftermarket wishbones have them riveted in place so even harder to remove).

In the end I got a pair of Vetech ones from GSF for around £95. 12 month guarantee but time will tell how robust they are.

As for the job, I did it on axle stands no issues what so ever , just make sure you have a balljoint splitter and a lump hammer. No need to touch the driveshaft nut - I have no idea why this is suggested (it's in the Haynes too)

[iantowil]

These arms look identical to the ones on my D5 C70. I looked everywhere for alternatives to Volvo but from couldn't find any. Ended up getting a pair of arms from FRF in Swansea with the forum discount. Couple of things when changing:

1. The C70 D5 has the bigger ball joints and all the boil joint splitters in the local motor factors would not fit the 21mm ball joint. Ended up getting a set of 3 from ebay.

2. Splitting the ball joint was still not easy as the arms are at an angle to the joint and it can be quite easy to snap one of the forks. It took a few goes with the mallet before it cracked loose.

3. The rear bush bolts are easy to get out, but the front one that runs through the centre of the bush was a pig. I was hanging off the ratchet and pushing on the kerb, and on the last go just managed to crack it. The other side was slightly easier.

4. If you have bi xenons the automatic headlight levelling runs off the drivers side arm on mine. You'll need what looks like a threaded thimble put in the with a rivet type of gun to simply bolt the plastic mechanism to the arm.

Biggest thing by far is undoing the bolts. If you can undo the axial bolt on the front bush, you should be ok for the rest.....and the ball joint splitter of course.
Hope this helps.

[Montana]

Originally Posted by Yobbo

Was the car you did the work on a 2.0D?
Because I had no issue swapping out the wishbones on mine.

But on my D5 I did on the driver's side - notably the driveshafts are different between the models and my problem may have been attributed to the inner CV boot being split, however it did state in the Haynes manual (2013 edition?) for the D5 that the driveshaft bolt must be removed.

Yeah 2.0D

[StuartTR]

Originally Posted by Yobbo

As I was actually trying to re-fit my original wishbones, in which I'd polybushed the the bigger rear bush (the oil-filled one that always fails)

Did you notice any difference between standard and polys?