My wife's XC90 was making noise on the driver's side. During an oil change, our mechanic, who we completely trust as a friend before we bought the car, advised us that the sway bar links were loose. I replaced both (full disclosure - used the cheap ones). The passenger side was noisy and settled in. The driver's side continues to be noisy.

I'm not interested in theories - I've had discussions on a bad sway bar link, bad sway bar, rack issues and others. If anyone has experience with this issue or knows of a common problem, I'm interested to learn more.

Thanks.

2007 XC90
3.2
152k miles

 

depends on the noise - is it more of a thumping or a rattle? bad end links can sound similar to worn strut mounts (more of a thump than a rattle). Other areas to check out are the sway bar bushings/mount clips, strut mounts, control arms, but torque rods (motor mounts) can also create similar noises.

 

The timing of you post coincided with resolving the issue. At the recommendation of a friend that is also a Volvo mechanic, I removed the inlinks to see if the noise remained. No surprise that it went away. I had installed the cheap inlinks, as I figured the difference in price was more about life span than anything. Since the car has 150k on it, I don't know how much longer we will keep it. I bought the better ones (almost twice the price), installed them and all is good.