Hello. My 2007 V70 2.5T won't track straight. On some road surfaces it feels like the driver side axle is bouncing around, and the front tires are wearing imporperly, (severe wear to inside edge). Alot of searching here shows lower control arm bushings as a commons problem, but is this actually possible on a car with 66k miles? Actually it's been worsening for a while so they would have been shot by 62k.
Can the condition of the arms be checked while on the car?
And in the event I need to replace them, I guess I'll replace the ball joints at the same time and - should I check or replace anything else at this time?
I'll be doing this myself. Any advice appreciated.

 

Age is harder on bushings than mileage in most cases, but 66,000 miles on a vehicle that's only 7 years old is pretty "new". I'd recommend just taking a quick look at the flat, round bushings on the back of the lower control arms - they're easy to see without removing anything (you might want to crank the steering wheel to get your head a little closer though).

If you don't see obvious signs of bad bushings, I'd sincerely recommend spending $50-75 on an alignment. It sounds a lot like your toe-in is very wrong, and possibly you have a bad strut (your "driver side axle bouncing around comment"). I'd start out by giving a mighty push to each front corner and see if they both bounce the same. If your left side seems "looser" you may have a bad strut, or perhaps one of the bushings in the strut, sway bar or steering linkage has failed. You could have someone turn the wheel back and forth while you lay under the car looking for inappropriate movement (it sounds like the problem would be obvious unless it's just a bad alignment, which could have been caused by smacking a curb or other object).

 

Thank you for the response. I will try all your recommendations. I have checked the struts by bouncing the front and both side seem to control the bounce the same and as expected.
It does however make a thump or rattle from what seems to be the upper driver side shock tower when on rough roads. So I'm assuming that the spring seat is shot. Can't imagine that a spring seat could cause my issues?

 

I'd check the sway bar bushing, too. I've heard some pretty dramatic noises coming out of vehicles with nothing but a bad (anti)sway bar bushing. It could be a ball joint, too - but that should be easy enough to check for play (think "pry bar"). I'm not familiar with the spring seats (happily, meaning I've never had to look at mine) but there is play in anything connected to the front wheel, it's gonna rattle.

 

Checked everything that I could think to check. Can't seem to find any slop or play in ball joints or lower A arms. Bushings don't look out of the ordinary.
Only obvious problem is whatever holds the rubber gaiters that cover the strut shafts up has failed on both side. There are remnants of disintegrated tan foam like part up there. Was that the spring seat? Whatever it is I doubt it could cause the tire wear and the front end clunking.

 

Did you get the alignment done? It could be that your alignment is way out, which would lead to those worn front tires and vague handling.

 

Not yet. I had hoped to take it to the shop with the worn component(s) already replaced, or at least knowledge as to what they are. It really feels like something is loose, but as of yet I can't find it.