Parts not lasting!!!

[850 t5 vs 600cc]

I replaced both lower wishbones on the car in May/June time and no problems. The car started pulling to one side so i thought i would jack it up and check why now that the snow has gone.

Guess what, yes the wishbones are shot to pieces and i now have to try and sort this problem out while still using the car for work. I don't have time for this or the money to buy more expensive items to replace them with. I thought £128 for the the 2 was alot anyway.

[Gouldy]

sorry to hear mate, i keep on hearing about the great volvo build quality however from the things i read on here and other volvo forums anything new-ish seems to suffer quite badly from stuff not lasting, let alone the parts not being cheap too

[ANDY B]

If the ball joint has no play? then it's only the bushes that need replacing.
very common on the T5 because it is a highly stressed part from braking and accelerating all through the front wheels.

Standard rubber bushes are cheep as chips and easy to replace, there is probably a how to on here some where?

Or upgrade to the poly ones, even easier to put back on.

[Tomcat]

The cheaper ones will always fail way before the genuine ones, probably best to get a price from RUFE for them, as has already been said if it's just the bushes then replace them with some poly ones.

[cookie]

I assume Scan Tech parts, they are renowned for failing prematurely, trouble is PFV over price, and are often double price of Braydon for scan tech parts, but anything rubber or moving, made by scan tech wont last anywhere near as long as genuine

[850 t5 vs 600cc]

thanks.......did not know i could get poly bushes for these. So i need to PM Rufe then.

[Volvostorm]

thanks.......did not know i could get poly bushes for these. So i need to PM Rufe then.

You won't get polys from a main dealer, they are aftermarket parts.

These are the cheapest place so far.

http://www.larkspeed.com/index.pl?p=2413PF88101&a=i

[woody]

I replaced both lower wishbones on the car in May/June time and no problems. The car started pulling to one side so i thought i would jack it up and check why now that the snow has gone.

Guess what, yes the wishbones are shot to pieces and i now have to try and sort this problem out while still using the car for work. I don't have time for this or the money to buy more expensive items to replace them with. I thought £128 for the the 2 was alot anyway.

I fitted Power-flex back in March '09 and one of the bushes has failed already! RT are helping me reach a conclusion on how this has happened.

[850 t5 vs 600cc]

I fitted Power-flex back in March '09 and one of the bushes has failed already! RT are helping me reach a conclusion on how this has happened.

thanks for this, maybe it was a bad batch...

[Al115]

ScanTech are known as ScamTech in some circles, couldn't say why though???

[nobananas]

I'm afraid the pattern bushes and arms for the 850 are pretty poor imho. I fitted a pattern arm to mine a while back and it threw the steering out by nearly half a turn !. When I checked the tracking it was off the scale and getting it right meant that the track rod end was dangerously close to the end of the track rod threaded section. I ended up getting a good used arm and swapping my polybushes into that and have done so several times when the balljoint has gone. I have also had scantech bushes that lasted 5 months ! My polybushes have been in since 2005 and have probably covered 70,000 odd miles by now so I'm fairly happy with them, they are also much easier to fit then standard ones. If you haven't done already make sure you get your tracking checked with those pattern arms on, chances are it will be miles out, a camber check is worthwhile too.

[nobananas]

I fitted Power-flex back in March '09 and one of the bushes has failed already! RT are helping me reach a conclusion on how this has happened.

Was it the actual bush that failed or the 'rings'. Just interested in case they do have a weak spot for failing.

[walter leever]

As said before another option is Meyhle they do uprated versions and cheaper than the oem parts for that matter.:Handshake

walter

[woody]

Was it the actual bush that failed or the 'rings'. Just interested in case they do have a weak spot for failing.

Hi buddy. When I looked underneath, 2 rings had split and upon removal of one of the rings, the inner metal (copper?) bush is exposed. Ive sent photos to RT for advise.

[nobananas]

Hi buddy. When I looked underneath, 2 rings had split and upon removal of one of the rings, the inner metal (copper?) bush is exposed. Ive sent photos to RT for advise.

Ahh, if it is just the 'loose' rings as opposed to the top hat section thats moulded onto the bush you haven't anything to worry about. The instructions in the bushes do state that the rings may become displaced in use but won't effect the bushes performance. The actual fore and aft loading on the bushes is taken by the moulded top hat section of the bush which is why they must be fitted on opposite sides of the control arms holes (if they were both fitted to the same sides of the arms holes then the arm would slide off the bushes when you braked). I think I lost mine ages ago !

[woody]

Ahh, if it is just the 'loose' rings as opposed to the top hat section thats moulded onto the bush you haven't anything to worry about. The instructions in the bushes do state that the rings may become displaced in use but won't effect the bushes performance. The actual fore and aft loading on the bushes is taken by the moulded top hat section of the bush which is why they must be fitted on opposite sides of the control arms holes (if they were both fitted to the same sides of the arms holes then the arm would slide off the bushes when you braked). I think I lost mine ages ago !

As you can see from the photo, the top-hat has been destroyed which is causing my drifting under braking! They are beyond help IMHO. If they can't withstand the rigours of the British roads, then I'll just re-fit EOM bushes.

[nobananas]

As you can see from the photo, the top-hat has been destroyed which is causing my drifting under braking! They are beyond help IMHO. If they can't withstand the rigours of the British roads, then I'll just re-fit EOM bushes.

Apologies, I didn't actually enlarge the pics so I missed the second one. Have never seen that type of polybush before, certainly not the same design as the ones I have, mine only have a thin stainless sleeve through the middle, have never seen one with a 'brass' centre unless it's cast within the bush itself but I thought they were just solid.

These were mine

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/th_polybushstart8.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/?action=view&current=polybushstart8.jpg)
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/th_sleevestart9.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/?action=view&current=sleevestart9.jpg)
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/th_oringfitting10.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/albums/m279/nobananas000/?action=view&current=oringfitting10.jpg)

[nobananas]

Just a thought Woody. Were both bushes fitted the right way round (apologies if you fitted them yourself I mean no offence just trying to work out how they could have failed) as in were they fitted so that they faced opposite directions with the loose rings inner most. If they were fitted the same way round then they wouldn't be able to take the forces of braking or acceleration and would fail and allow the arm to slid back and forth.

[woody]

Just a thought Woody. Were both bushes fitted the right way round (apologies if you fitted them yourself I mean no offence just trying to work out how they could have failed) as in were they fitted so that they faced opposite directions with the loose rings inner most. If they were fitted the same way round then they wouldn't be able to take the forces of braking or acceleration and would fail and allow the arm to slid back and forth.

Hi nobananas. They were fitted as per the instructions. The photo shows the bush with a copper colour, buts it's probably the colour of rust! lol. The whole bush consisted of one inner steel sleeve, two Top-hat bushes and the two rings. Thinking back, it was practically impossible to assemble it any other way! Hope I'm not wrong on that! :troutslap

[nobananas]

Hi nobananas. They were fitted as per the instructions. The photo shows the bush with a copper colour, buts it's probably the colour of rust! lol. The whole bush consisted of one inner steel sleeve, two Top-hat bushes and the two rings. Thinking back, it was practically impossible to assemble it any other way! Hope I'm not wrong on that! :troutslap

Sounds like you've just been unlucky, I haven't heard of anybody else having any problems with them other then the loose rings splitting and falling off.

[850 t5 vs 600cc]

Well after the week I've had so far i thought i had better up date the forum. I found out that the proflex factory that make all the poly bushes has had a fire and they have very little stock left. Volvo is not one of them. So far i have contacted Rufe, Demon Tweeks, Volvo on line, POTN, central auto supplies, motor serve and another one i can't remember. I have had lots of help, silly advise and little help so I'm doing well.
I have now decided to go with genuine Volvo parts as I've seen £9.99 ones and thought it WAS not a bargain. The Volvo ones are £72 with postage.
I just hope nothing else goes wrong now, I'm skint.

[Flatout Phil]

Sounds like you've just been unlucky, I haven't heard of anybody else having any problems with them other then the loose rings splitting and falling off.

This is EXACTLY what seems to have happened to mine too. Wobbly and horrible. They cannot have been fitted any earlier than Oct 08 or later than July 09 - and had no more than about 4000 miles on them.
Not impressed.

[Flatout Phil]

You won't get polys from a main dealer, they are aftermarket parts.

These are the cheapest place so far.

http://www.larkspeed.com/index.pl?p=2413PF88101&a=i

Oh ARSE! I just ordered some from elsewhere for about fifteeen quid more and then found this thread.

Not having a good day.