I want to improve the road manners of my 850! What is best?

[Storm1n]

Hi I need to improve the road manners of the car. Suspension needs a change and was thinking of changing bushes too. For suspension I was thinking coilovers as I can adjust the height but bushes poly or std?

[Wally Dog]

Strut brace is a must and if suspension is wooly, replace with GENUINE PARTS - aftermarket parts are sooooooooooooo rubbish. I have had poly bushes in my 1996 T5 and they were good for a while but ended up putting GENUINE standard bottom arms back in and soooooooooo much better. Wider, lower profile tyres also help - I have 17" Amalthea wheels on my T5 and it handles much better than with the standard 16" T5 alloys.

[TenaciousC]

I seem to remember someone raving about an uprated front anti roll bar transforming handling. Quite pricey though and a pain to fit (subframe must be lowered).

C


Hi I need to improve the road manners of the car. Suspension needs a change and was thinking of changing bushes too. For suspension I was thinking coilovers as I can adjust the height but bushes poly or std?

[kmb]

The Volvo OEM front strut brace does truly make a good difference to the 850, not expensive either, around £60.

[Redbrick]

At 20 years old and I'm guessing 150000+ miles a good stage 0, a set of standard Sachs/Boge/Bilstein/Koni shocks and Eibach springs combined with new top mounts would transform her.

A rear IPD anti roll bar would make a big difference.

Avoid the cheap and nasty coilover kits if you want to improve the ride quality and handling.

Bushes - Poly will feel the same as new standard to start with. Depends how long you are keeping her for.

[don kalmar union]

If you check here on my website you will find the UK made suspension kit that I offer made to order within 3 to 4 weeks.

http://kalmar-union.com/parts/volvo-850_s70_v70_c70-suspension/

The dampers are fully rebuildable and you would not need to consider uprated rear ARB once you have it properly adjusted according to our recommendations.

Don.

[kmb]

I have just acquired some 7k miler Koni Yellow Adjustable with Eibach springs from a very helpful member on here, hoping to replace my 139k original ones in a few weeks, normal road use with the occasional hoon - Will try to report back as may help when mentioned above as an option :)

[MoleT-5R]

I have just acquired some 7k miler Koni Yellow Adjustable with Eibach springs from a very helpful member on here, hoping to replace my 139k original ones in a few weeks, normal road use with the occasional hoon - Will try to report back as may help when mentioned above as an option :)

just as a thought, but new front subframe bushes or inserts to liven up your old ones, someone on here used to do them, seemed to make a noticeable difference to an aging 850.

[thunderace]

just as a thought, but new front subframe bushes or inserts to liven up your old ones, someone on here used to do them, seemed to make a noticeable difference to an aging 850.

It was Sponge.

http://forums.t5d5.org/topic/22024-subframe-poly-inserts/

[Foeux]

Please caveat everything I say with the idea that it is simply personal experience.

A pal and I have fettled a few V70 and 850 in recent years. Things that work well are:

Bilstein B4 and Eibach progressive springs

Poly subframe inserts (pushed in with plate and a jack and lots of grease)

Strut brace

Replace rear delta links

Decent tyres

302mm brakes with Ferodo DS2500 and braided lines well bled

replace any worn bushes and links with decent volvo or aftermarket bits (meyle HD drop links for example)

All of this has worked on cars we own.

However, garner as much opinion as you can and try to get rides in cars of different setups to see what you like most.

Best,

F