Hey I'm looking at a 90 240 beater that I want to lower on the cheap. The shocks are completely worn out, it floats around like a sailboat. My question is, since I want to lower it, can I put the cheap shocks on it and cut the springs, or do I have to do the super expensive strut-HD shock-lowering spring route? I don't care if it rides a little rough, as long as it's safe. Any thoughts?

 

Yes. My thoughts are go buy a four door civic that's already lowered.

 

Cheap shock are not going to be stiff enough for a lowered ride.

 

I only wanted to go down an inch or two, but I don't want to ruin the suspension. Why are shocks so expensive for these? I'm from the 4x4 world, where good shocks are 60-80 bucks max.

 

when you lower a car, you're shortening the travel range of the suspension, so you really should use stiffer springs to compensate or you'll bottom out too easily. stiffer dampers (shocks) shold be mated with those stiffer springs.

your front end uses mcpherson struts, with cartridge shock/dampers, so no, there's no possible way to put cheap generic shocks on these. The rear end uses a conventional shock absorber, you could probably find a generic shock that fits with minimal modifications.

there's only 3-4 brands of shocks/struts that fit on most RWD volvos... Boge/Sachs who made the factory shocks and have a sportier/stiffer turbogas version; KYB who, imho, makes cheap shocks for riceboys that don't last real long; Bilstein, who makes both TC/Touring milder shocks and HD stiff ones; Kona who makes a adjustable racecar style stiff sport shock; and Monroe, who generally makes junk suitable for 4x4 trucks but not much else.

 

I'm voting with Dezertsub..

 

LOL! Obviously you've never priced any King coilover/bypass shocks!

As an off road racer, I can testify that we are either certifiably insane, flat out hate money, or a healthy combination of both.

 

there are a few budget suspension threads on turbobricks.com that have short strut options. Problem is you are still limited by the lenght of the strut tube. Solution is to cut the tubes and rethread the inside, which is what I had done. then you can run the shorter struts and lower the front a good deal, and still have travel.

The rear will require some more money to have a safe and proper travel. since the shock is on the opposite side of the axle, the spring to shock ratio is not 1:1. so you need helper springs to keep the rear springs seated when you hit a bump, or are unloading one side due to weight transfer.

You can dump it on the bumpstops by cutting the springs and blow out the shocks sooner then most, and your ride will be like crap.

 

It will ride like S%#% doing that, if your gonna, you'd fit better in the honda crowd doing that no offense. thats the worst way to lower a car. to each is own.

 

yeah I agree with shelby Ive owned several hondas super easy and cheap to lower, the Volvo suspension is completely different and it is such a drastically heavier car, it wouldnt be safe to say the least.