My Suspension Upgrade Review...

**cornclose** · Saturday 25th July 2009, 23:21

Right, as promised, a quick review of my suspension work now that it's been on for a number of weeks.

Before

Standard T5 springs and dampers, stock wishbone bushes and drop links, top mounts etc. No idea how long this little lot had been on the car, no real issues as such (as in no knocks/twangs etc) but I wanted something to make the car feel more planted. With a bit of enthusiastic driving, I had to back off long before I would do normally just to prevent the car from leaving the road (or it feeling like it was going to leave the road!). So, not good, wanted something that handled a lot better but without spoiling the ride quality.

So what did I want ?

As above, something that handled a lot better but without spoiling the ride quality. But I also wanted the car to remain stable and level when fully loaded, which is not that often really, but I still wanted the load capacity for towing the caravan with three kids in and four bikes and a roofbox on etc.

As the car is also often loaded with kids and the stuff that goes with them, it was noticably low at the back in these circumstances too.

What to get ?

Not a huge number of choices, although I suppose you could mix and match all kinds of components to get quite a fair number of permutations in the setup. So, it boiled down to what I wanted from the car, and what I didn't want, that also fitted in with my usage and requirements. A compromise if you will.

Having read others' views on what they would be doing, and having read a few others' reviews of how their car was changed with the new setups, I quickly came to two conclusions;

a) What others were doing invariably didn't meet my requirements
b) I didn't want to turn the car into a go-kart

So, it really only left one option as I saw it. The Volvo Sports Suspension kit, commonly known as the 'Volvo Dynamic Sports Chasis'.

This kit is comprised of a pair of front sport dampers and springs, and a pair of Nivomatic rear dampers and springs, and also offers a degree of lowering by approximately 15mm. So, not exactly an out and out sporty setup, but that's not what I wanted.

In addition to this kit, Volvo also offered an uprated rear anti-roll bar, which is thicker and stiffer than the standard T5 offering. So I went with this aswell.

What else was fitted ?

In addition to the above Volvo Dynamic Sports Chasis kit, the aforementioned rear ARB was also fitted. Two new rear top mounts came with the kit for the Nivo's too. All nuts, bolts and fixing were also included.

As this kit was going to be fitted by my local friendly Volvo specialist, DPA Volvo of Nottingham, I quized them as to what additional labour would be required to fit new bits and pieces to the suspension whilst they were fitting the main kit. Nothing, they informed me, so I suggested that whilst they were at it they would fit the following :-

New Rear Drop Links
New Front Drop Links (uprated IPD ones from partsforvolvo)
New Ball Joints
New Front Spring Seats
New Front Top Mounts
Exchange Powerflexed bushed wishbones from John (V70Torslanda) (Front powerflex, rear standard)
A pair of new Lock Stops for good measure (the old ones were a bit rattly - the old 'hard' roller type)

Pretty much all parts were sourced from TMS Volvo at Hinckley, who offered a 15% discount, and also delivered the lot to DPA Volvo in Nottingham for free, as they supply all their genuine parts on an almost daily basis. IPD drop links came from partsforvolvo.

Total cost for all the parts (from TMS and partsforvolvo) came to just under £1065 including VAT. Labour to install the above came in at £340 including VAT and this also included a full four-wheel alignment. So, all up it came to £1405 fitted. Not the cheapest option I'm sure, but worth every penny (read on...).

In addition to this lot, I also have the phase 2 front strut brace from Ultra Racing fitted.

How does it perform ?

First impression was 'My god, what an improvement'. No more crashing over potholes, no 'noise' from the road, no body roll to speak of in bends, no body roll to speak of when really throwing it around the twisties either. No wandering in general driving or under acceleration. No lurching forward and aft in hard braking or acceleration. Better traction and grip from what are exactly the same tyres (Maxxis MA-V1's on the front (soon to be changed, down to 2mm) and Continental ContiSportContact 3's at the rear). The traction control used to kick in almost all the time before, I don't think I've seen it more than a handful of times in the last 3 weeks now.

Understeer is completely gone (well, I've not reached the limit yet, whereas before it was a regular occurance!). You really can attack the bends with so much more confidence. Less slow down, power through, it sticks to the road and the steering is precise, you just point and press. Gone also is the tendancy to 'float' on the apex of a road, where the car would almost become weightless if you hit the peak at a certain speed. Can't get it to do it now on the roads I know at any speed I've tried. Impressive! It just sticks. It now feels like my A6 Quattro did on the twisties, but with masses more torque and guts!

So what about the ride quality ?

In a word, excellent. Sure, it's stiffer than before, but despite this, it's much less intrusive overall than before. It doesn't wallow like it used to, which gave that 'armchair' ride style, but rather it just feels like it's glued to the road and removes all the little undulations and impurities from the surface. I really like it.

All in all, an enormous improvement over what was fitted before. I've measured an overall lowering of 9mm over the standard setup, so that's not a huge amount, but with Nivo's on the rear I think it's respectable, and centre of gravity will of course be a little lower too.

Not really sure what components have affected the various characteristics of the car, but don't really care. The whole package is now superb, and pretty much just what I was hoping for. A compromise ? Probably, but a pretty damn good one at that!

Next up, my Aquamist Water Injection System review...

**dave stew** · Sunday 26th July 2009, 09:50

Excellent write up as ever Chris. I reckon the last thing you need to do is add a set of Nebulas and you're done!

**v70torslanda** · Sunday 26th July 2009, 10:39

You're never actually done are you?

Excellent write up, Chris. Dave's right though, it needs a set of Nebs.

Yesterday when I was having my gearbox fluid changed I spotted an ex-plod T5 which is being broken. I only realised last night that it still had the brakes on it.

More expense. DOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

j