New to the XC90

[twinbeech]

Hello All,

I've been around on the forum for years, with two different Amazons but have been away for a while now. I'm returning having come back to the Volvo family with the purchase of what to my very untrained eye seems like quite a good 2006 XC90. I've only had it for a couple of days and am very pleased, and I bought it knowing that it had an advisory on the last two MOTs for what they called worn suspension bushings. I'm assuming they were talking about wishbone bushings, but I'm no mechanic. There's a definite low-level knocking from the front when the suspension has to work. The other thing is, how soft is the XC90 suspension? I'll confess that I bought this having never driven another, so can't compare it, but out this evening looking for a nice country walk, we drove over an undulating road, and the car lurched up and down like a spongy fairground ride, so much so that I had to brake to less than 10mph. I wasn't racing over them before.

[NMB]

The suspension on the XC 90 is fairly soft due to the fact the car weighs over two tons.

However, I would recommend getting the lower wishbone bushes checked out and possibly replaced along with the drop links at the front Including checking And replacing the lower ball joints.

With any of these gone or badly worn the suspension will not be sharp and as safety should always a priority I recommend getting this done immediately.

Also check your tyre pressures and I’m sure you will have a different experience.

[twinbeech]

Thank you very much for your response, I will get on with this right away.

[john langrick]

Hi and welcome back!

Just a reminder but I am sure you know, genuine Volvo always best and I find frf Volvo Swansea among one of the useful contacts who give discount to forum members.

Cheers John l

[twinbeech]

Thank you John, you pipped me to the post, I was just about to ask where was best to find the parts.

Is fitting them a doable DIY job? I've done disks and pads on other cars, as well as springs and shocks.

[john langrick]

Hi, not the best person to ask these days as am a tad old to be crawling under a car and get my indie to do these jobs, but I understand from other members it is relatively easy, the only difficulty I understand is seized nuts and bolts.

When I used to maintain my own cars (my trusty old triumph spitfire), I used to squirt liberally with penetrating oil for a couple of days and then if necessary use a heat gun to warm up the nuts before attempting to move them.

In any case most are through bolted so if they snap then so what! I think I have read that it is best policy to change these nuts and bolts as a matter of course (streach bolts?)

Hopefully members who have changed them can comment better but good luck!

John l

[twinbeech]

Many thanks again John. I'm keen to do it myself if possible. Hopefully someone will come along with some advice.

[Kev0607]

Hi,

These videos linked below may be of use to you & give you an indication of what's involved.

Control arm & ball joint

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHpFAOEQtGY

Drop links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzZLjgjDMHg

Its worth noting that some Volvo models have control arms that come complete with a new ball joint. However, it appears the ball joint is separate on the XC90 (So you need to purchase a control arm & a separate ball joint, if you decide to replace all of the parts that is).

[TruckbusUK]

Apologies if this has been mentioned in this thread already, but if changing your bushes stick to genuine Volvo parts (not those claiming to be OEM or Volvo suppliers etc,) but genuine Volvo supplied parts, otherwise you will end up changing the parts twice in a very short period.

Lots of crap parts out there claiming to be up to the job, but few are.

Hope it helps

[twinbeech]

The clarification is much appreciated. I have been looking around and like you say, there are lots out there. I'll get in touch with FRF in Swansea tomorrow and see what the prices look like.

Kev0607, thank you for the links, I'd actually just watched that exact control arm video just before I saw your post!