Fred,

I'm not sure I experienced the exact issue you're describing. My frustration was with the incredibly bouncy ride on all four corners -- rocking back and forth like a small boat on bigger waves, and almost swirling around on all fours after a sharp turn.

This could, I suppose, be described as cowl shake, in that it felt like there was a timing disconnect between the steering response and the car's bouncy motion, i.e., car sways to driver-rear, then driver-front, then passenger-front, then passenger-rear, and it felt like the pull on the steering wheel was about 45 to 90 degrees behind where I expected to feel it, given the body sway, at that moment.

I'm honestly a bit surprised that the upper strut brace accomplished as much as it did, though a tuner-nut at work with a customized Prelude at work assured me it would help. There's still a little bit of front-to-back bounce, still, but nothing like it had before. I'm still curious to get the IPD anti-sway bars in, but don't really feel any sense of urgency to do so anymore.

As for suspension options, my info comes from an internal Volvo sales training brochure that I downloaded from the UK Volvo Club. Specifically, at http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/70brochures.shtml

The exact line comes from the tenth PDF down, identified as follows:

C70 Convertible
Volvo Product Training Brochure
2952Kb
Dated 1999

The suspension info appears on page 10:

"CHASSIS
The driving behavior and also the riding comfort is to a great extent dependent of the stiffness and softness of the chassis.
The softer Comfort chassis gives the Volvo C70 Convertible a high degree of riding comfort. The stiffer
Dynamic and Low Dynamic chassis gives a more sporty and distinct roadholding. Comfort is standard with the LPT engine and Dynamic is standard with the HPT engine. Low Dynamic is the stiffest chassis, available only as an option."

I've read elsewhere (probably on volvospeed.com or swedespeed.com, after bringing this up over there) that Volvo's different suspension elements were actually too thin and flexible to do very much.

So, to make a long answer short (way too late for that, huh?), I don't know if I can answer your question. I don't recall the '00 C70 LPT I test drove in Santa Rosa in 2002 feeling as bouncy, but it was on perfectly flat roads. The '99 that I bought this year, on the other hand, I noticed the shake numerous times on 101 South, from Marin to SF, right off the dealer lot.

Still bought it with confidence -- I've never driven a Volvo (except our '99 V70R AWD) that I didn't feel a need to put some beefier suspension into.

-KB
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'99 C70 Convertible || '99 V70R AWD || '90 780 Turbo (for sale)