Last year while I was on vacation my right rear shock craped out on me.
I bought two on the road and replace the broken one. When I got home I
changed the other shock out and my car has tilted to one side ever since.
Tell me if you think I messed it up by doing one and later doing the other.
Is there a trick to get these things to self level?

Another question - Is there any way to get away from these expensive
self leveling shocks and adapt a regular shock to my 1989 760 turbo.

Thanks in advance,

Rick

P.S. I did install the shocks with the sticker that says
"This Side Out" facing out.

Rik:

Answers in two parts.

Tilting Issue:
The problem isn't necessarily the rear shocks. It could be that the front opposing shock is shot and is allowing the car to drift up or down a bit instead of holding it steady.

I wouldn't worry about teh tilt too much unless it is REALLY pronounced. I asked my independant volvo specialist about it (excellent mechanic) andf he told me EVERY volvo has it, pointing to one in his garage at that moment that was tilting as well. As far as I have been able to ascretain, the tilting is generally left towards the driver's side... probably from the systematic wear of teh driver's 150-200lbs on that side without a consistent counter weight.

If your tires aren't bottoming out in the wells just forget about it.

Conversion:
You'll find just about every online auto retailer includes notes about teh parts you need in their section on suspension (I only buy online, and suggest you do the same to save an AMAZING amount of money). Go here: http://www.importeccatalog.com and select your car by year, make, and model. You'll get a list of all the parts broken down into sections. Go to suspension and check it out.

I would suggest you stay with the Nivs. You already replacd them, so its likely you'll have them until the car dies at this point. However, teh other reason is that your car was designed to have them, and I favor staying with the manufacturers spec/parts whenever possible.

Good luck,
Rick

In order to get around the expensive Nivomats, you have to replace both the shock AND the rear springs. This is because the Nivomats are intended to be load bearing, so weaker springs are used. You probably have IRS, so I don't know if aftermarket springs exist for your car. Look around and see what you can find.

Tim
--
Tim Smith '85 745GLE M46 w/84k

Rick,

I believe that there is more info on changing the self leveling Nivomats to regular shocks on the 700 FAQ in the features pull down menu. As for the tilting issues, I will leave that to the real brick guru's to answer.

Tim