Hi!

As far as a I know the S40 T4 (Euro 1,9l 200hp) had 3 options of suspension:

o Standard

o Nivomat

o Sport

Obviously a 4th option would be an aftermarket suspension and in this you cad have several different combinations of shocks/springs.

My car is a 1998 and has 7500km. It also came with Nivomat (30852092). Volvo Brazil did a campaign where they replaced all the shocks on the S40s sold in Brazil that had Nivomat back to standard setup. They did this because the bad quality of the roads here in Brazil was making the Nivomat setup too noisy and uncomfortable.

For some reason I "missed" this campaign, but I think I can make them do this swap for my car.

My question is, from a handling/safety persepective which setup would be best: Standard? Nivomat? Sport? Aftermarket (what combo)?

I've searched H&R and Koni's website and their springs and shocks are only compatible with S40s WITHOUT Nivomat. I've also seen other spring manufacturers that have this same issue with Nivomat.

On the other hand TME (www.tme.se) says their springs are compatible with Nivomat shocks.

I learned about the Volvo campaing when talking to the person in charge of parts at my local Volvo dealer. He said that the Nivomat setups is different from a standard setup and that the spring is "attached" to the shock and it would be impossible to change just the springs (this is opposite of what TME is saying).

The reality is that I don't know what to do.

Should I stay with my "almost" new Nivomat setup (7500km)?

Should I give the Volvo delaer a hard time so they apply the campaign ("patch") to my car so I go back to the standard setup for FREE and this will allow me to the but in Koni+H&R, etc OR is TME right when they say that their spring is compatible with the Nivomat and then use Nivomat shocks with TME springs?

Or should I just leave things as they are and wear out my current setup (Volvo Nivomat) and in 20,000-40,000km replace for new Nivomats or at that point switch to standard or aftermarket?

The guy at the parts department of the dealer also told me that Nivomats are expensive (aprox US$ 650 each) if I ever need to replace them and hard to find, he didn't have any in stock at that time. He also said that the campaing package that Volvo had "silently" applied to people that were complaining about the Nivomat because of noises/uncomfortable is worth here in Brazil about US$ 2500 to implement. This means that If in the future I want to go back to standard setup either because I like the standard or because through standard I can then do aftermarket, I'll have to pay US$ 2500.

Who is saying the truth? TME? Which setup provides the best handling? Can you easily upgrade a Nivomat suspension just by swapping the springs?

THANK YOU!

///Martinez