I stopped at a parts place yesterday to attempt to get some rear shocks for my wife's car. I bought some, returned home, jacked the car up and removed the old ones. I began to install the new ones and the lower mount would not fit. The original one was much larger than the replacment. I took them back.

I checked several sites and no one seems to have rear shocks for this car, except the dealer at a high price. Not Bilstein or KYB.

So, are 960's and the 90's, the bastard children of Volvo, produced in low volume so it's not worth the expense of aftermarket prices?

Any suggestions?

hi

if your car is a 4door sedan it has multilink suspension in the rear,

and they only come with self leveling dampers. That explains the price

and no/little interest in the aftermarket for thouse shocks.

However if the car is a 940 or a 960 station it has a solid rear axel

and more "normal" shocks. This multilink began with the 760 sedan in 1988

and is much better suspension (independant,wider track,better ride,self leveling) but it is more expensive and has more wear parts.

I myself have 1988 760 with multilink and it still has the original shocks

I dont find any need to change them nor have I ever needed to look at any

wear on the multilink. I can give this suspension thums up!

If you try to change self leveling/nivomat shocks for non leveling shocks

you will find out that they are alot stiffer than other, which means your

960 will look like it has an anker from the uss nimits in its trunk.

A bastard? no since I dont like front wheel drive, I like to think it is one of theyr finest!

Please present FACTS!

95 and up 964's have multi-link, but NO NIVO's. the shocks are $65 from the dealer.

NOt sure who has responde din the meantime., But we just had our shock replaced. The shocks for the 960 (ours is a 92) are the NOVOMAT self-levelling suspension. We got ours from 'the benz bin' on line for approx $230 US each) There was no problem getting them installed.

Hope this helps.!

Honestly, if you think the 90's and 960s were bad, just you wait until you get a taste of the newer Volvos.

It does get worse.

Hello Warren:

When I did mine (1995 960), I found locally Boge made in Mexico. They looked downright cheap. So I got the Volvo kit with bolts from Philip at Swedish Engineering in Marietta, Georgia, German made for $59 each. I seem to remember I checked with IPD and they did not have the shocks. They did say that there is no aftermarket for the 960. Best regards to you and to Tom Irwin.

Rafael

nm

nmi

Yeah, kinda. Oh, I KNEW there was something I forgot to tell you on the phone the other day..... I went through the same damn problem when I did mine. OEM's from the dealer at $56 each was much less hassle than dicking around. Even shox.com couldn't help me.

The upside is, as far as I know, Monroe STILL buys the OEM front struts, paints em black and slaps a sticker on them. This too, is due to the low volume.