Dear Big Harry,

Hope you're well and glad to hear that no one in the car was hurt!! Volvo VADIS - the superseded parts/service database - shows that the front shock absorbers (#271911) are supplied as a "kit". That is, the shock absorber and its housing come as a unit. The full retail price is about $140. At Tasca Volvo or Borton Volvo the price is likely to be closer to $100 for each unit.

Even if the strut cartridges were available separately, I'd replace the mounting tubes, because the severe impact you described is likely to have to damaged them in inobvious ways. As the mounting tubes are a safety-critical part, they should be replaced.

The spindles and hubs - on which the wheels are mounted - could also have been compromised. I'd be surprised if the wheels are not bent.

A decade ago, my '93 940 hit a man-made road hazard, i.e., the leading edge of a 3"-tall layer of fresh asphalt, which had not been feathered, to allow the tires to rise gradually to the new surface. The road-builder's paving crew simply were grossly negligent. In the dark, no one could see the hazard they created. Because these imbeciles didn't recognize that they'd created a hazard, they did not put up any sign, e.g., "BUMP", that might have provided some warning.

At highway speed, the impact with this asphalt ledge so damaged a front tire, that on the inside of the tire, the steel cord was exposed. Fortunately, the tire did not "blow out", but got me home, where the tire deflated quietly in the garage.

As the impact was at highway speed, I required the road construction company's insurer to cover the cost of replacing both struts, strut mounts, strut tubes, hubs, wheels (all four of which were bent) and tires.

After replacement, I inspected the factory-original hubs. The bearing balls - made of very hard steel - had been marked by the impact. There was a "line" on the mirror-like finish of the bearing balls, caused by the impact of the bearing race, the part that contains the bearing balls. That "line" told me that the bearing was damaged and that the hub was going to fail long before the 250,000-300,000 miles that I might have expected from the factory-original hub.

In short, if the impact you described occurred at highway speed, I'd replace far more than the strut cartridges and their housings.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook