Just replaced the front struts and strut-mounts on my '99 S70 GLT. When looking at the top of the strut tower now that the job is complete, I noticed something odd...

Bouncing the car up and down causes the center Crown nut and strut shaft (not any of the three bolts sticking up around it, holding the mount in place) on both driver and passenger side to move up and down. The total range of movement is about 1/2 inch. I tried spinning the crown nut to see if the spring seats are bad. No movement at all, lateral or torsional. Just up-and-down when you bounce the car.

On the top of the strut tower, there is a 3-inch dinner-plate shaped rubber bushing held in place by a similarly shaped metal plate underneath, and the crown nut above. This whole assembly moves up and down.

It could be that this is entirely normal, but it sure looks wierd to see those things moving up and down when the car is bouncing. Seems to me that the spring and strut sould be what move, and the mount area shoud be completely still.

Could one of you guys with an S70 please pop your hood, lean on the front end and watch you strut towers while you bounce the car? I would be grateful to know what you see...

 

Did you replace ALL of these components pictured below, or just the upper bearing ? The rubber hub tends to tear away from the center and allows the strut to protrude through. I have a s80 to do the suspension on next week. I can take pictures of if you haven't resolved this by then.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Volvo...Q5fAccessories

 

I replaced the struts and the metal upper mount plates in your photograph. I didn't replace the spring seats, as they didn't appear worn. Here's a photo of the Strut tower.



See the black rubber dinner plate? That whole thing moves up and down. The way that whole assembly is put together just looks odd. It CERTAINLY doesn't make sense that it would move up and down.

Now, don't get me wrong... it doesn't move up and down like anything is loose. It moves more like the mounting plate is made out of rubber, not metal. You know what I mean? It just doesn't make sense. It's a METAL PLATE that the top of this strut runs through. How can it possibly be moving in an elastic way?

 

Yeah... so, goes to show what I know about this vehicle.

The front upper Spring Seats each have a rubber insulator bushing in the middle that completely disintegrated on my old set. As they were gone, I couldn't tell that anything was amiss. Both looked completely normal, from what I could tell.

I have a new set of upper spring seats being installed as I type this, and the 5-link specialist doing it is keeping an eye out for anything else I might have screwed up.

I'll post results later today.

Cheers,
LG

 

Yeah need the rubber strut mount to be replaced, the center metal ring will separate. Mine did that too, very common apparently. It is cheap on IPD, they even make a HD one. I think I even have a picture of it on my account on here... new vs old broken one.