My daughters S70 is in need of suspension work. I drove over a neighborhood speed bump going about 15 and the front of the car scrapped on the other side of the bump.

I'm thinking the thing needs front shocks & springs amoung other things. Can someone give me some guidance as to what I should check before ordering parts. I'd hate to order front shocks only to find out that other front suspension parts are needed, i.e. strut braces, control arms, etc. How to I check these things?

 

Hi rspi - well I'd order all parts that support the strut and spring (see diagram from FCP Groton atatched), spring seats and strut mounts do wear out and break regularly.

Then since the springs need to be pulled anyway, and that takes some significant labor - I'd check the control arms, which have integral ball joints and bushings as wear items.

 

What kind of miles do people usually get out of a control arm or spring seats? Or is it a matter of road conditions, i.e. rough roads vs highway driving?

I guess these parts are really not that expensive and it she has new struts put in, why not spend the extra $150 on the rest of the stuff???

Is this a diy job or should I have a shop do the stuff???

 

What struts are you installing? Would suggest OEM or Bilstein TCs; latter is what i have on both my vehicles; very nice.

As far as replacing other parts; ck the tie rods and LCA (lower control arm) balljoints for play or torn boots. If you replace theese items, spend the $$ and go OEM; otherwise you'll be doing it again in 50K mls or less...
Also ck the rear shock upper mounts if you're doing those too.

If your struts/shocks have over 120K mls, strongly suggest you replace the front upper spring seats (go with either OEM or HD ones from IPD) and strut mount bearings (definitely go OEM here; had to do the job twice once because i didn't use OEM parts the first time..) while you're in there.

Re: DIY? yeah of course, if you have the right tools. Personally i wouldn't attempt the ball joints or tie rods w/o an air hammer and pickle-fork attachment. For the front struts, you'll need a spring compressor; this can be dangerous so you need to know what you're doing... but it's just like any other macphersion strut assembly...

Of course get an alignment when your all done... have fun!