Well it's been a while since I've been on and updated the thread, not really been up to a great deal so far but I have done one thing which i've been meaning to do for a while. A member was breaking his 855R and as a result I managed to obtain a full set of Koni adjustables with 40mm lowering springs.
I'm not really a fan of purchasing second hand parts but the suspension hadn't done a great deal of work/miles and for the cost I thought it was worth a gamble. So after purchasing the kit I set about cleaning up the springs and repainting the shocks as the paint had taken a bit of a hit from salty winters and stones etc. I didn't manage to get any before or after shots of the suspension itself, and whilst not being my finest hour, it is all now presentable and protected from any further water and salt collections. During suspension replacement I put an order in with my local Volvo garage for all new bolts, nuts and mounts related to the suspension so as to have the best I could and make sure any nasty corroded bolts weren't going back on the car after being removed with the original suspension.
Since fitting the suspension it's quite obvious the old suspension was well past it's best. Now squating on acceleration, diving when braking and leaning when cornering has been greatly reduced. Turn in is much much crisper and the car feels like it has a lot more to give with traction on exiting corners and roundabouts having been greatly improved. I currently have both front and rear shocks set half way between firm and soft and will experiment with the settings as I go, that said I am actually really quite happy with it so am not really bothered if adjustments either way don't see an improvement for my driving technic.
Here are a couple of pictures I have taken today.
Having taken these shots today it's clear that the old suspension at the front had sagged quite a lot as even with the lower springs the front sits approximately where it used to, the rear however has now dropped a bit and helped to level the rear of the car which is something I am pleased about as I always used to hate the high rear end appearance the car had.
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