dave stew
Thursday 16th July 2009, 10:51
Well, being one of the 'Nottingham/Manchester P2 Four' who have been debating suspension changes in this forum, I've done mine now too!
To summarise for anyone waking from this coma inducing tale:
V70 Torslanda (John) - kept it stock and replaced his dampers with Sachs SuperTouring
Robbie H - went a bit bling and added Eibach Sportline springs to his Super Tourings
Cornclose (Chris) went the whole hog and fitted the Volvo approved sports suspension kit with new springs, uprated front dampers, Nivomat rears and a thicker rear anti roll bar.
Me - kept the standard T5 springs and added four new Sachs 'Advantage' dampers.
1. Reasoning
I have looked long and hard at this and pondered several options.
One was the Volvo kit, but I reasoned that the springs that gave a 15mm drop were for a standard V70 and as a T5 has approx 10mm drop over standard, I wouldn't gain much. Plus, I don't tow or carry heavy loads (except the Mother in Law, ho ho) so didn't need Nivos.
I then considered a set of Bilstein B6s all round. Problem is, I know from previous experience that they are quite hard and I really didn't want anything too stiff first thing in the morning. :redface:
I have discounted lowered springs too, as I feel that you need the damper to operate over its full travel range and I don't want to scrape the undertray over the Nottingham City Council ('we hate all private cars') speed ramps.
So - I wanted something uprated, but not too much. I therefore have opted for Sachs Advantage dampers, a gas monotube design, but I reckon more compliant than Bilsten B6s. These were approx 25% more expensive than Super Tourings. I sourced these from John at Euro Car Parts, incidently.
2. Results
The tank has been clonking its head off on the aforementioned Notts City Car Hating Tank Traps for a couple of months. It turns out that it was a totally ruined front N/S drop link - the ball joints were so worn out that they could be pulled out from their sockets!
With the new dampers fitted, the car feels firmer, but certainly not uncomfortably so. It feels tighter, you can feel the road better and it puts the power down better without squirming (I have Powerflexed front wishbones BTW). So far, so good.
The only downside is that the ride height seems to have increased by about 10mm all round so I am hoping it will settle down again.
3.Improvement
Cost vs performance vs ride comfort are all well balanced. I'd recommend this if you want to improve your V70 without making it some rock hard go kart.
So - the next tweaks are to replace the engine stabiliser bushes and possibly a strut brace.
To summarise for anyone waking from this coma inducing tale:
V70 Torslanda (John) - kept it stock and replaced his dampers with Sachs SuperTouring
Robbie H - went a bit bling and added Eibach Sportline springs to his Super Tourings
Cornclose (Chris) went the whole hog and fitted the Volvo approved sports suspension kit with new springs, uprated front dampers, Nivomat rears and a thicker rear anti roll bar.
Me - kept the standard T5 springs and added four new Sachs 'Advantage' dampers.
1. Reasoning
I have looked long and hard at this and pondered several options.
One was the Volvo kit, but I reasoned that the springs that gave a 15mm drop were for a standard V70 and as a T5 has approx 10mm drop over standard, I wouldn't gain much. Plus, I don't tow or carry heavy loads (except the Mother in Law, ho ho) so didn't need Nivos.
I then considered a set of Bilstein B6s all round. Problem is, I know from previous experience that they are quite hard and I really didn't want anything too stiff first thing in the morning. :redface:
I have discounted lowered springs too, as I feel that you need the damper to operate over its full travel range and I don't want to scrape the undertray over the Nottingham City Council ('we hate all private cars') speed ramps.
So - I wanted something uprated, but not too much. I therefore have opted for Sachs Advantage dampers, a gas monotube design, but I reckon more compliant than Bilsten B6s. These were approx 25% more expensive than Super Tourings. I sourced these from John at Euro Car Parts, incidently.
2. Results
The tank has been clonking its head off on the aforementioned Notts City Car Hating Tank Traps for a couple of months. It turns out that it was a totally ruined front N/S drop link - the ball joints were so worn out that they could be pulled out from their sockets!
With the new dampers fitted, the car feels firmer, but certainly not uncomfortably so. It feels tighter, you can feel the road better and it puts the power down better without squirming (I have Powerflexed front wishbones BTW). So far, so good.
The only downside is that the ride height seems to have increased by about 10mm all round so I am hoping it will settle down again.
3.Improvement
Cost vs performance vs ride comfort are all well balanced. I'd recommend this if you want to improve your V70 without making it some rock hard go kart.
So - the next tweaks are to replace the engine stabiliser bushes and possibly a strut brace.