My friend has an 83 240, in the last few months she has replaced the struts, tie-rods, and front wheel bearings. The passenger side front wheel makes a clunking noise when ever she hits a bump. In addition, when going around a curve at medium speed, if she hits a bump, it seems like the car as a bit of time controlling it course so she has to compensate for it.

I suggested she take a look at the ball joints...then again Im new to this whole DIY car thing.

Any ideas?

Ball joints, the rear A-arm bushings, and sway bar links/bushings are all clunk-makers; the first two can noticeably affect handling on a bumpy turn. None is an expensive repair, but the first two will require an alignment after replacing.

A little-known fact about Volvo front struts is that when replacing the stock (Bilstein) struts with a different brand, it is ESSENTIAL to emply spacer shims on top of the new strut, so that it will snug down fully. If you don't...you get a 'clunk' that is really hard to diagnose..I learned the hard way.Dee Jay

There is a chance the cap on the strut tube has become loose. Can you make the clunking noise when forcing the passenger's side down with your body weight?? If so it should be easy to find the source. The cap on the top of the strut tube is threaded and can be tightened/checked by raising the rubber boot and placing a brass rod on one of the "ears" on the cap and striking the rod to try to tighten the cap. The shop that did the work could(and should) do this with ease.

BTW I have never seen any of the front end bushings that didn't need to be pressed out or new ones pressed in. Perhaps with only a large vise and the correct size diameter socket (or something similiar of the right diameter) but some real pressing force is needed.

Any shop with half a brain should have at least checked all of the rest of the components in the front end when they were there doing the work.

Randy

I've done my front control arm bushings in the driveway without special tools. All you need is a nice little 2-3lb sledgehammer. Drive 'em right out, hammer 'em back in. Hardest part I've had is getting the ID of the bushing off the end of the control arm.
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: "Roterande Fläkt Och Drivremmar!"

Yeah, I told her when she took it to the shop last time. Instead of just telling them what to do(she must have the idiot trained or something cause you think he'd try to hit her over the head with more repairs, but not so much)she should have asked them to inspect the suspension all the way around.

The way it sounds she could have saved her self close to $500.

check out the front and rear control arm bushings and check the torque on the crossmember bolts. verify the gland nut on the struts is secured properly, as well as the strut bearing integrity. Check all items like brake calipers that were removed or lossened during the strut procedure. I'll guess the most likely culpret is the bushings. However, when you talk about the cornering problem, I'm somewhat concerned about things like anti-sway bar bushings and mounts, as well as the strut installation.

Hello,

Guaranteed it is either the lower control arm bushing and/or the mount needs to be re-welded as I have seen some of them bust lose over the years.

Cheap, easy and you don't need a press to get that bushing out.


Richard

87 245 DL 349,000 km
82 242 GLT 121,000 km

BTW... who was the moron that replaced all that stuff before looking at the bushing or the bushing mount??? Could have saved a lot of $$$$....

Check out and replace the bushings.

Kits can be found at www.ipdusa.com if you must, only replace the front, but getting around to the rear, will make the car feel new again.

Jordan

You'll need a shop to press the bushings in most likely