Morning Everybody!

I just purchased a '99 V70 Wagon on the cheap. Loaded, but it's the base mode l - as in, front wheel drive, no automatic shock adjustment, non-turbo.

The most noticeable, immediate thing, is that upon braking it pulls noticeably to the left, then seems to let up and brake "straight." Kind of like there is an initial grab, then release.

There is (literally) a folder full of service records for this car, and the front brakes were replace less than 5k ago.

Any initial thoughts as to the most likely culprit?

 

Left caliper is grabbing harder or right caliper is weak.
Brakes may have been done recently but it doesn't guarantee they were done correctly. Someone may have cut some corners if they were in a hurry. I'd still pull them apart and inspect everything just like you were doing the job over (you are). Try retracting the pistons and make sure you do it slowly and gently to try and "feel" if there is any binding or unusual resistance when the piston slides back in. At 5K unless you're really hard on it the rotors should look near perfect and the same with the pad. Check to make sure the pads are wearing FLAT. If one of the pads is cocked or jammed in the caliper it can cause it to wear oddly and will of course have a different coefficient of friction on that side.

Make sure the pins or slides are lightly lubricated and if it's slides that there isn't any scale. I can't remember off hand exactly how the calipers float to follow the rotors but I think it's pins. Use a high temp brake specific lube. Just hi temp wheel bearing grease is better than nothing but over time with the temp the brakes generate it breaks down and gets gummy and doesn't allow smooth operation. The biggest mistake I find is people doing a pad slap and don't clean and re-lubricate the caliper so it can float and follow the rotor. Again, lightly lubricate as you don't want to go crazy with it either and have it slinging onto the rotor or pads or you create the exact pulling problem you have now or it screeches when applied and pulls.

Once you have it apart work the bleeders loose and once it's all back together except for the tires, bleed the fronts to see if you get any air. Air in the right caliper or line would cause the problem too.

If everything in the brakes looks OK it could also be well worn control arm bushings allowing the control arm to shift and affect the direction. Might want to check those before taking the brakes apart once the tires are off as you have better access to them.

 

That was the problem - the control arm bushings. Got a pair of them, came with ball-joints, from RockAuto. Easy change-over, and all is well in Volvo land! Thanks!

 

I always forget this, when you install those bushings you should leave them loose until you have reassembled everything else.

Once it's drivable, drive it up on a drive on ramp and torque those bushing bolts to spec with the vehicles weight on the suspension. I'm not sure how important that is but some have reported problems having the control arms tensioned in the fully extended position.

Trailer park way to do it would be to drive it up on a curb so you can slide under.

Just don't try this :
Hope that red chair is rated for 2 ton.

 

+1 WITH preloading the control arms before you torque them down. If you torque them down with the wheels extended, it will put a permanent torque on the bushings. I believe this only applies to bushings that have a bolt through them, not the ones that have the bracket that bolts to the frame.

 

Preload this type:



Not this type:

 

Right.

What I did was rolled a second floor jack up under each ball joint, and lifted the car until it was close to coming up off the jackstands.


THANKS FOR THE TIPS, GUYS!