2007 Volvo S40 automatic. A few weeks ago when I applied the brakes (at stop signs and red lights), the car instead of rocking back once, evenly and symmetrically... It rocked lopsided towards the right front corner of the car and back. It was like a seasick type of experience you feel when riding in old dilapidated taxi cabs. Several mini-rockings (wobbly) rather than one nice firm back rocking. The front right corner seemed to tip down further than it should and then back up again. Later that day, and for the next several days after that, the weird problem completely went away. It rocked normally, symmetrically, beautifully at stops like it always had prior. Then the strange problem suddenly came back… The lopsided rocking rather than even symmetrical rocking. I took the car to my mechanic, he said the right front strut was bad, replaced both front struts, $711.00. The problem started again right after the repair. Uggh. A bit less pronounced than before, but definitely not corrected. Yesterday it happened only during my first drive of the day. All trips after that were fine, perfect. Today, so far all day, has been wobbly (bad) again. I have tried turning the car off and on again, thinking it is maybe some electrical sensor thing that needs to be reset, makes no change. Does seem to happen more in the first half of the day than in the second half of the day. Also, it has gone from bad to good during the same drive. Mechanic seems stumped, told me to drop it off this coming week and he “will do some research.” Any thoughts?

 

My first thought was a bad strut. You describe the classic symptoms. The test is to stand at each corner of the car and press down hard one time. The car should depress then rebound one time only. More than one bounce indicates a worn shock/strut as the spring is the only thing left for damping motion.

If my car did what you describe I would be scratching my head too. Your mechanic replaced the struts and did not find any broken parts? What brand struts did you buy? Some are stiffer than others but all should be consistant. What you describe is almost like an airbag system with a short circuit. Sometimes it's fully inflated other times not.