Hi.
I'm looking online for suppliers of rear suspension bushes and sub-frame bushes and there are a small number of alternative suppliers to volvo OEM.
Can anyone recommend (or steer me away) from the following -
Transgold.
Firstline (seem to make almost every bush for the 850 including engine mounts, shock mounts and all suspension bushes).
Scan-Tech.
Powerflex (but they only appear to provide control arm bushes and shock bushes)

Also - does anyone have good or bad experiences with these sub-frame/body mount inserts that push in to reinforce the standard bushes? I've seen a youTube of them and they are for sale on ebay. But are they worthwhile or crap?

 

To me, it depends on which part and how many miles you want to get out of the part. For control arm bushings, I tried Scan-Techs and they wore out at 60K miles so I went back to OEM. For engine mounts, I've used after market and went to the IPD poly for the top bushing (easy 10 minute install) with no problems. Also, when doing control arms check if your model of 850 has the bolt on ball joint or the single piece. If you have a single piece, its easiest to just replace the entire control arm vs trying to press in new bushings (assuming you don't have a bushing press) - you get new ball joints in the process and if you go OEM you will get 100K+ miles of worry free. Shock mounts - do you mean the front strut spring seats? Again, go OEM or you'll be replacing in 50K miles - I've also seen where people use the "Heavy duty" seat from the XCs.

 

Thank you. Its good information and I appreciate that you replied.

I'm chasing down an unusual sway problem on medium braking and as I've had the rear caliphers overhauled, machined discs and new pads with no improvement at all, I've turned my attention to the rear suspension bushes. Doesn't look like a difficult job but expensive. Its why I was asking about aftermarket bits.

Do you know anything about these inserts that go into the subframe mounts?

 

Vibration while braking? Your engine mounts might be bad.
https://volvo850wagon.wordpress.com/...ith-brakes-on/


Do you want more vibration to with a stiffer ride?

If the subframe bushings is bad, change the bushings.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/vol...t-xc90-8678497

 

No. Its not vibration.
When I brake, the rear of the car does a very small dive to the side and then straightens up again. It doesn't pull the steering. There is no effect at the front of the car at all. Its the back end of the car. I thought it was the brakes and we found one piston in each calipher was jammed. I had them overhauled by a brake specialst and he also machined the discs, fitted new pads and bled the brake fluid clean.
But the sway is unchanged.
It is not there on very light brake application at low speeds.
Also if I do a very fast stop it is not there - the car brakes straight and true.
but moderate braking from about 30klms/hr up to 80klm/hr the rear does this small dive to left or right. I have not tried higher speeds.

 

I've done all my own front end work on my 850T - struts/sway bar end linkes/tie rods/control arms over the years. On the rear suspension, I had to have a "delta link" replaced but gave that to the dealer as it requires a special press tool most mechanics don't have. For chassis bushings and motor mounts, I'd be ok with after market since they don't take the same beating as the suspension bushings. My experience is the 850 front suspensions take a lot of abuse (you may not recall a class action lawsuit against Volvo due to all the blowouts 850s had - a good reason to keep tire pressure at 36-38 PSI) which I personally believe is due to the set up being less compliant than other cars)