Advice on front shock mounts please ?

[Longhouse21]

Febi top mounts and Febi spring seats fitted August 2015 all detailed here one one of my earlier posts
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showt...=233474&page=2
Still going strong and the car does a good few miles up and down the country, motorways, A roads, back roads & construction sites so not too easy a life. I'd say Febi are OK.

[MarvinMitt]

Originally Posted by cheshired5

From the negative comments, I'm wondering if they have also fitted new insulators as shown in my video.
They add an extra level cushioning between the spring and top mount and it's essential that they are fitted as per the Vida parts diagram.

Altough the upper insulators are a good thing, they are not necessary unlike the lower insulators where the spring and strut make a metal to metal contact and become noisy and rusty.
I can't imagine how they would change the life of the absorber mount bushing since the spring plate supports against the bearing not the bushing.

[cheshired5]

Originally Posted by MarvinMitt

Altough the upper insulators are a good thing, they are not necessary

The insulator adds an extra level of protection between the spring and upper spring seat so the insulator will have to get worn through first before the spring contacts and wears down the upper spring seat.

If they are in the parts catalogue and diagram, I would say that they are definitely necessary.

[MarvinMitt]

The spring seat was designed to contact the spring directly and is strong enough for the job.
It's the bushing that fails.
The upper insulators weren't installed in factory (at least for the early P2 models) and were added in the parts diagram later, probably to address some suspension noises and given the price of them, make a little extra on front suspension jobs.
That's why most people drive without upper insulators and do so without any problems.

[davebb]

My 2002 D5 has never had upper or lower insulators ,
no noise it has done 85,000miles and is on the original Volvo top spring mounts, that are still good,
Dave

[Jools99]

When I removed my shocks there was no sign of upper or lower insulators and I didn’t have any noises.

I did have the hard plastic spring cover that covers about ½ a spring turn (seen at 1.00 mins in Cheshire’s video on shock refurb) – but mine was not fitted at the bottom of the spring as in the video (which I guess was to prevent direct contact between spring and strut)/
Mine started ¾ of a turn from the bottom and was on a free part of the spring facing outwards & driver’s side one was in the same place. My guess is they were fitted there to stop adjacent springs hitting each other ?
Does anyone know where they should be fitted when I put it back together and what the purpose is ?

As far as the rubber isolators are concerned – this is another confusing one ?!
My spring had a joggle and a groove worn in it at the bottom where it had been contacting the strut support – with the forces that caused this wear I find it hard to think that any rubber sheet in-between the spring and strut support would not get worn through very quickly. The material in the video looked like normal floppy rubber so I might do a little experiment and fit some home made isolators using pond liner and see how they last !
I have access to crack detect gear which showed the spring was ok – so despite the wear I’m going to reuse it this time.

The hard plastic covers are made of a much more wear resistant material than the isolators – so if I was going to use something to limit contact/wear/noise that might last I would use these.
As usual – all thoughts appreciated.

[Willber]

Just found this thread whilst researching suspension noise on V70.

I have replaced the entire front end apart from ARB bushes and springs on my FWD V70 2.4t but still get the odd twang or knock occasionally.

I dont have either of the spring pads/covers as shown in chesired5 /SiRobb video;

https://youtu.be/VvIgHHGdKSE

I am wondering if this could be the cause of the noise? I do have the spring covers which wrap around the spring starting about 3/4 of a turn from the bottom of the spring, but neither of the rubber cap things for the end of the springs to sit in before the strut seat or the top mount?