Hi;

My car shudders a little, especially when lightly applying the brakes. I found the following info in the archives:

Brake Shuddering and Suspension Bushings. One reason we got some shuddering on braking our '90 745 was that the suspension bushings were shot. Those conical rubber bushings on the lower control rod where it enters the main lower suspension arm take a beating under braking, and eventually allow quite a bit of fore and aft movement of the wheel. Maybe the rotors are warped, but, especially if you get shaking without brake pedal pulsing, could it be bushings? They're cheap, and take about an hour to do.

I found the following on ebay:

This auction is for a new front suspension repair kit for your Volvo 740/760/780/940/ or 960 series for years thru 1994. My kit includes, 2 ball joints (both left and right manufactured by TRW) and 4 bushings (left and right, 2 are requried per side manufactured in Germany) and the 4 washers for the bushings manufactured in Sweden (not shown in pic). These are the bushings where the control arm and link arm connect. All parts are new and European manufactured.

Questions:

1) Does my problem sound like bushings or rotor or something else? Is there a way to diagnose accurately?

2) If the problem is caused by the bushings, is the advertised repair kit appropriate?

3) Is the statement "... take an hour to do." accurate for a beginner?

thanks,
sam

IMHO you don't need the entire repair kit...and it would take more than an hour to install two ball joints and four bushings, especially for a beginner without air tools.

I would guess you don't need new balljoints unless your current balljoints have torn rubber boots...and I wouldn't do new balljoints unless I did new shock/strut cartridges. Don't bother with anything other than Bilsteins for the shock cartridges or you'll just be putting in another set in 50-70K. The Bilsteins can be a rougher ride, however. Your worst problem is the IRS with Nivomats on your 760...bite the bullet and get some new Nivomats if the car sways in lane changes!!!

The cone bushings list about $20 each...you can get them from IPD cheaper or even go to polyurethane cone bushings. I haven't done that yet..the stock bushings are relatively easy to remove...with a chisel!

Be careful if you have aluminum lower control arms....the bushings have a metal core that often sticks to the countersunk holes in the lower control arm and it's easy to gouge the aluminum..steel don't worry.

One tip...getting in the new bushings can be difficult with the short bolts used to bolt the control arm/radius rod. I've found that the bolt used to hold the front swaybar link to the lower control arm is longer than the bushing bolt and can be used to initially install the bushings...tighten up the longer bolt as far as it will go, then remove it and quickly install the shorter bolt...it should catch a few threads and tighten up the rest of the way.

I like to use blue medium strength threadlocker on these threads!!

While you're at it...chances are the swaybar link bushing is probably shot too...the bushing isn't serviced anymore so you'll probably have to buy the entire link (do both sides), it's another $20-30 part.

You'll have to remove the radius rod from the body to get the rod out from the control arm...borrow an aircompressor and an impact wrench!

This is almost considered to be normal on Volvos around these years. Sometimes it is pad transfer from the brake pad into the rotor. Sometimes it is rotor thickness variation. Rotor warping is usually the least reason because they must be warped quite a bit to vibrate. You will notice that the rotor wears almost a fast as the pads, especially with OEM pads. Try Repco/PBR Deluxe pads if you don't drive too hard. The Deluxe's give you one good high speed stop and then you have to wait for them to cool down. They are easy on the rotor and the brake dust is much less. I use them on my 383ci Chevy powered 262GL that I drive every day for the last 17 years. Remember hard stop---must cool down.