O-kay. Simply put, the front end is getting rattly from several causes. Bearing plates. Struts. and, most dangerously, a ball joint. I have the $ to do the control arm - my question is there any danger in just doing that and ignoring the other sins for now? I assume it will not hold a good alignment...

On another front, we went out to drive a replacement car last weekend. The 850 has about 300,000 miles and will go to a new owner later this year. It's a strong running 96 turbo with lots of deferred maintenance issues in the running gear. The engine is fine. Probably sell it to some high school kid who will have some spectacular single party accident and the car will give it's life and the kid will learn a lesson. But I digress.

We drove several high end mid size SUVs. The Q7, the SRX, The X5. Back in the Volvo, we agreed they were nicer, but certainly not #35,000 nicer. I may just pick up another 850 with fewer miles. Always wanted a red one, and a wagon might be nice...

Go ahead and replace the control arm. Shocks have very little to do with alignment unless they are totally dead.

I have an SUV, and hate the extra weight. A volvo wagon will seat 4 comfortably, and carry as much as most SUVs. If you don't need AWD, don't bother with one, just added expense and worse gas mileage

Klaus
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Praying for Cynthia Amendt, heaven bound

Wil do. Good to know.

Hey, maybe I'll get an XC with an extra inch of height and pretend I'm an SUV...it's all marketing.