blown_volvo850r Posted May 22, 2008 Report Share Posted May 22, 2008 I noticed the other day there was some noise coming from the front right suspension area. It's gotten progressively worse over the last few days. It's a groaning/creaking sound and gets louder whenever I hit a bump or am in a left side turn. Could it be a ball joint or broken motor mount? The struts/strut mounts, springs, sway bar, and endlinks have been replaced within the past year. The lower control arms and tie rod ends are a few years old, but the guys who installed them didn't do a good job and I was getting pretty bad vibrations a week after they were put in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxx999 Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Get under there and check and grab stuff and you should soon find out what's making noise, could also be bad spring seat or endlinks or that something is loose.Check the big nut ontop of the front shocks and see if you can turn it, 20% is fine but any more give than that and its toast buddy. Dont worry the nut wont fly off lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oreo931 Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Sounds like a busted spring seat. Did you replace everything with OEM parts? The non-oem spring seats tend to fail very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blown_volvo850r Posted May 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Bad spring seat makes sense...it's the only thing that hasn't been changed out. AFAIK they're stock, but I've never put new ones in. I need to jack the car up and check out all the bushings and connections. The handling is not what it should be. The CV joints are pretty bad but they've been that way for awhile and have always made popping sounds, not creaking. I noticed today the creaking sound doesn't start until I've been driving it for a few minutes and everything's warmed up. Weird.Also, I'm curious about strut/shock adjustment for Konis. One of the regulars at the restaurant I work at is into the S500s and so on, and I told him about my car not handling well. From what he said, the tires are my weak link. Sure, they're Toyos, but they're still street tires, and stiffening the struts/shocks is putting too much strain on them and causing them to buckle. There's gotta be some truth to it as the tread next to the sidewalls wears out much faster than the rest of the tire. He said put the rears at about 50%, and the fronts around 75% (since it's front heavy). I've never adjusted the rears and I asked about it well over a year ago, but I've forgotten the procedure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drej1 Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 I noticed the other day there was some noise coming from the front right suspension area. It's gotten progressively worse over the last few days. It's a groaning/creaking sound and gets louder whenever I hit a bump or am in a left side turn. Could it be a ball joint or broken motor mount? The struts/strut mounts, springs, sway bar, and endlinks have been replaced within the past year. The lower control arms and tie rod ends are a few years old, but the guys who installed them didn't do a good job and I was getting pretty bad vibrations a week after they were put in.Yes our 98 has this cracked Spr seat. I went in and replaced the whole side suspesion parts as I was into it. Sometimes it takes a bit more $ but worth changing other stuff. I actually have an extra strut mount I'll sell p/n is K90240 . drej98@hotmail.com , Chao~ Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjts1 Posted May 23, 2008 Report Share Posted May 23, 2008 Sounds like a busted spring seat. Did you replace everything with OEM parts? The non-oem spring seats tend to fail very quickly.Creaking, groaning over bumps = spring seats. Metal on metal tapping = end links. I have the whole service history of this car from its previous 1 owner. In July of 07 they took it to the mechanic complaining about the same noise in the front suspension. Mechanic replaced the struts, shocks and strut mounts. Total bill = $1200. They didn't change the spring seats. When the noise didn't go away, the owner sold the car to my GF by October. Last week I replaced the 175k mile old spring seats. It was about time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R wagon Posted May 24, 2008 Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 if you have HD endlinks than this might be your problem. my car makes god awful noises on slow speed turns as well as hitting bumps while driving slowly.Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blown_volvo850r Posted May 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 I keep forgetting I changed my sig. This is what my suspension is:Koni adjustable struts/shocksMomo strut braceIPD front and rear sway barsVMS P2 adjustable endlinksIntrax 1.5" progressive springsThe struts are barely over a year old, the strut brace isn't making that noise, the sway bars are the newest design, the endlinks are about six months old, and the springs have been on about a year and a half. The strut mounts were replaced with the struts, but we didn't change out the spring seats. It's at 130,000 miles or so now, and it's had Konis on it since I got it at 73,000 miles.It's probably the spring seats...how much are OEMs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikv11 Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 OEM spring seats are cheap, maybe $30 each, but replacing them is a PITA. You have to take out and disassemble the strut assembly. Reassemble and then get an alignment.So if you think it is the spring seat, just check it and make sure. If you aren't happy with the wrench test described above, you can take that top nut right off and look closely at the spring seat, check for cracks in the rubber or little pieces of rubber breaking off. It is usually pretty obvious if they are bad.Have you been messing with your control arms recently? Control arms bushing that aren't tightened enough also do a lot of squeaking. Be sure to load the arm before tightnening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blown_volvo850r Posted May 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 The nut is on top of the strut? I thought that was the strut mount. Apparently I don't know my suspension components very well. Where is the spring seat in relation to the strut mount? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikv11 Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 1 is the top nut - it threads onto the end of the strut shaft. To remove it, you must hold the strut shaft still, usually with a hex inside of the shaft or grab the shaft with wrench or pliers (careful of the threads!)2 is called a washeryou can take 1 and 2 off with the strut in the car, or after you remove the strut assembly3 is the strut mount. When you remove the assembly from the car, only the top nut holds the strut mount on to the assembly4 is the cross-shaped nut - never take this nut off unless the coil spring is being held by a spring compressor5 is the spring seat. The little metal collar in the center of it is what breaks away from surrounding metal. You can not get the spring seat off without removing the cross-shaped nut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blown_volvo850r Posted May 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 Thanks...I'm planning on changing out both spring seats on Monday with loudvolvo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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