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Control arm bushings & ball joints. Scan Tech or Meyle or OEM??? 850 1996

My Volvo mechanic informed me that my Ball joints & sway bar links need replacing on both sides. I have never felt anything from the front end except for a few groans when I make a tight turn when parking. There is no noise like whne my 240 would need ball joints and the car is riding beautifully. So I figure he is just playing it safe and found enough 'play' in the bushings to suggest replacing them. I figure I'm safe until the spring when I cna do the job myself.
I looked at FCPGROTON and found the Scan Tech brand and the Meyle, but no OEM part on their site. They were $75 & $95 respectively. Any suggestions on these brands or should I go to the dealer and get my 25% discount for the original Volvo part???
Any idea on how tough a job this is??

Thanks for your help.








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    Control arm bushings & ball joints. Scan Tech or Meyle or OEM??? 850 1995

    I installed the Volvo one. It is supposed to be much better than other brands out there.

    Ching-Ho Cheng
    --
    1995 855 NA, Bilstein Strut & Shocks, Volvo Protective Grill, K&N Filter, E-Code Lens, ClearCorner Light, Alpine CD-Changer, AutoDim RearView Mirror, 6000K HID








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    Control arm bushings & ball joints. Scan Tech or Meyle or OEM??? 850 1996

    You can check the sway bar links easily by wiggling each end of each bar. They will have noticeable play if bad. You may have to raise the car then support the control arm at the height needed to keep tension off the link while checking (and also while installing new ones if needed). They are very easy to replace once you loosen the old nut at each end.

    You can also check the ball joints with a pry bar to see if you can separate the knuckle away from the control arm at all. Just avoid cutting the rubber boot.

    I've had 3 swaybar links and 1 control arm over 120K miles. I used Volvo OEM parts, thinking of safety and longevity. I had the control arm done by a pro out of concern for getting everything to the right torque and keeping alignment.








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    Control arm bushings & ball joints. Scan Tech or Meyle or OEM??? 850 1996

    On ebay there are new lower control arms for $69.90 with free shipping. There web site is www.eeuroparts.com. I have personally ubought and have these on my 850 for 1 and1/2 years








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    Control arm bushings & ball joints. Scan Tech or Meyle or OEM??? 850 1996

    I installed Meyle units on my car and they have been good for 35k miles so far, and the originals were shot at 70k, so I'll be keeping an eye on these to see if they make it as far as the factory units did. Job is not too bad, but some have had difficulty with the ball end being a bit tough to remove from the steering knuckle.

    Get yourself a Haynes manual or subscribe to alldatadiy.com for instruction on his and many more repairs. Save yourself some coin, and get to know your brick..

    BB








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    Control arm bushings & ball joints. Scan Tech or Meyle or OEM??? 850 1996

    There are some reports that the non-OE parts (the ScanTech, in particular) wear out faster, especially for the anti-sway bar links. When I replaced those parts last fall on my '95, I elected to go the route of replacing everything with factory Volvo parts, but I'm intending on keeping my car for the long run.

    It's up to you...

    Hope this helps...


    --
    '95 854GLT 180k miles








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    Control arm bushings & ball joints. Scan Tech or Meyle or OEM??? 850 1996

    Last summer, I needed ball joints for my 855T. For most 850s, including your 1996, you can't just do ball joints. They are integrated into the control arms. So, I ordered the complete lower control arms -- which includes ball joints and bushings -- from Erie Volvo. These are recycled parts, fyi, but they looked absolutely new. They were cheap (maybe $25 each? $35? Don''t remember), and they have worked perfectly. Don't know about installation, my indy mechanic did the work.

    Try www.erievovo.com. Good luck.

    --Dan L.
    96 855T, 93k
    93 Camry Wagon 115k







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