Ok, kinda long story. I have searched the net for days on all possible fixes. (I have a 04.5 s40 with coilover suspension lowered 3 in and full exhaust from evolve. all engine mounts and axles were replaced in 07).
I was 250mi from home week b4 xmas and axle went bad in highway, i knew right away. the shaking was very violent by the time i got home. replaced the rt axle, it was clearly toast. still have slight vibration on med to hard accel. so i replaced the left axle too. still same slight vibration, put another rt axle in thinkin maybe first was defective, still vibration. have had 2 different shops check mounts and they say they are fine.
2 different Les Schwabs have checked the front end. lower balljoint, control arm, bushings, steering rack, hub and strut are good they say. but rt front suspension has a clunking sound after axles fixed. was told the rubber bushing at top of strut was bad and that is the cause of the clunk sound.
SOOOOOO! my ques is this, where do i look for this vibration? tranny shop said there is no way my transaxle bearings are bad. AT MY WHITS END! I do not want to throw a bunch of needless $ at this car. I have read alot about volvo dealers on forums and they seems incompetant and very spendy. Something clearly went wrong when the axle went bad and the terrible vibration has seemed to make something else loose.

 

What brand axles?
Have you felt for play your self in the inner joints?
I have not had to replace any spring seats on the newer S40's so I am not sure if they are like the older ones or not. But you might be able to see if one is broke causing the clunking.

 

It is possible.

 

It's due to the cv joints not being able to cope with the new angle after lowering the car. Happened on my Old S40 T5 too. After I installed the OEM springs the vibration went away. It wasn't bad enough to really bother my with the H&R springs so I just dealt with it. Since your on Coilovers, raise your car up to see if the vibration goes away. If it does your probably don't have the updated axles anymore. You best bet is to go with OEM here. you should be able to get them pretty cheap at Myswedishparts.com (I know this is there old site but it will link you to there new one). Good luck.

 

Hello everyone! I have a 2002 Volvo s40 and I am having a very similar issue with vobration. When i accelerate I am getting a vibration that can be very bad at times. When I let go off the accelrator the vibration goes away. Is that my axle? How can I find out for sure? If it is my axle, what am I looking at as far as pricing to get it fixed?

Thanks for any help possible.

 

I'm having the same problem with my 07' C70 after lowering it only 1"! 1 right, and 4 left axles later, still a vibration at low speeds (10-17 mph) I have also had all of the motor mounts replaced. Still haven't figured out how to fix it, but I don't want to put the original springs back on it because it looks too good as it is. Do after-market axles exist to compensate for this problem?
~John