The Volvo dealer just told my wife that both her strut mounts are broken in her 2000 S80, with only 57K miles on it. Cost to repair a whooping $880
I am really surpised at the rate of decay of the mounts, and I have not seen this in any other car I have ever owned.

Any recommendations for replacement /upgrade strut and mounts. I wouldn't mind improving the handling performance, since I think her car has soft handling, although she doesn't mind.


Cal Bear

Hi there. I doubt that this will be much help to you. But, I had exactly the same problem and the cost was identical. You are not being ripped off.

I think that the car is too heavy for the suspension. Your local Volvo rep or dealer knows all about it. He/she will definitely not say that they have not heard of this before and that you are the first to complain. It is well known and well recorded. You will have link rods, torque rods to follow. That is normal at this distance K's or miles.

Sorry to be the one to tell you. I know it is of little consolation.

Like every other rubber component on the car, the strut mount bushings are poor quality, and short lived. At 130K, my car is on it's fourth set of strut mount bushings, and third set of shock inserts. After the second set of Volvo shocks failed, I replaced the shocks with Bilsteins. (I've had shocks wear out in my other cars due to normal wear and tear, but the shocks in the S80 fail catastrophically.) While I enjoy shocks that offer positive suspension control with the Bilsteins, they put more stress on the marginal strut mount bushings, and the passenger-side new bushing broke inside of three weeks after the new shocks were installed. In retrospect I was partially to blame because I apparently overstressed the car by carrying four adults and driving over a dip in the road. Miraculously this one was parts warranty, (which didn't cover the re-alignment and re-centering the steering wheel) ($160.00). Typically they seem to just make it over one year before breaking again.
The S80 continues to be the most sorry excuse for a car I've ever owned. You would be hard pressed to find a more poorly designed and built car at any price.

This is a new one for me. Are they broken on the front or rear? Bottom or top? Can you visually see the break? Is the regional Volvo representative aware of this problem? You should at least contact the rep before having work done.

Klaus
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98 V70Rawd(108Kmi), 95 854T(88K mi), 75 164E(173K mi)

Klaus,
The strut mounts break in the front suspension on the top. When you remove the plastic strut tower cover underhood you can clearly see the broken mount with the shock rod just rattling around, surrounded by what looks like rubber sawdust. Interestingly the original part and all fresh replacement parts from Volvo have the same date code stamp of May 1998. Obviously Volvo bought a lifetime supply in one shot in anticipation of the S80 volume being a lot higher than the reality of its sales history could justify, and they ain't throwing away those dry-rotted seven year old rubber parts until they sell out. The point being that you can keep replacing strut bushings all day long, and the part you're putting in has the same deficiencies as the part that failed. Unfortunately there are no aftermarket replacements available as best I can determine, and given the modest volumes for this car, it would be difficult for anyone to justify the development costs.