Vehicle is a 2004 Volvo S80 2.9 with 130k miles. I have been chasing this problem for several months now, and really don't know where to go next. Over bumps, you occasionally hear this knocking noise that I can only describe as a woodpecker rapidly banging against a metal surface. It is a pretty loud and substantial noise and seems to come from the front-passenger side wheel-well area. The noise is worse over lots of small road imperfections, rather than one large bump or pothole in the road. Brick roads in particular make it appear. Another symptom I've noticed is that there is a very loud clunk sometimes when pulling out of my driveway, but this only happens 2-3 times a month. It has never done that before during my 6 years of owning it.

I took the car into a Volvo dealer for diagnosis. They were unable to replicate the problem and I suspect they didn't really try hard to replicate the issue. Many online suggest to replace the sway bar end links, which I did myself with OE Volvo parts. Made absolutely no difference.

Then, I took it to an independent shop that specializes in suspension work and they were insistent on changing the entire strut assembly, which was quite expensive. They used new OE Volvo parts. The problem went away for a month and now it's back; sounds exactly the same as before.

Both shops and I have determined that the front suspension feels tight and there is no play when you try shaking the front tires. Any other suggestions?

 

the first noise you mentioned sounds like a sway bar link... thats your cheapest option but as you tear into the front end you may find out it is a lot worse that that little clunk.... fyi engine mounts clunk on these too... On my s80 I did the struts assembly 100% new get hd mounts and everything moog or monroe if possible... Id go thru rock auto... ball joints are usually rough at this point too and control arms are usually shot..... Make sure you torque down the ball joints and use lock tight.... since I was now digging I did tie rods inner and outer.... cv shafts brakes and I broke a steering stop so that too... on the back I did the ebrake and brakes along with the sway bar links and shocks.... I had all original equipment on my car and being that old and with that many miles everything was shot..... now you will save thousands doing this yourself.... Its not a hard job take pictures watch youtube and use lock tight and your torque wrench... fyi loosen cv bolt before removing the wheel and snug it with locktight... the bolt will sheer if you over tighten it.... now for the occasional big clunk... you need to replace engine mounts... all of them... including the trans mounts... I have 2 left to do... My clunk is slowly improving but I know its the one by the cats on the drivers side thats bad... there is another up front above the torque rod.... replace that too... there is one behind the harmonic balance on the timing belt on the passenger side behind the movable plastic cover and on top there is the torque rod... replace the bushing with the heavy duty ipd mount and the outer two with the aluminum block economy conversion kit... dont waist money on the ipd one unless you need it to say ipd.... now you will have no more clunks for 100k miles if not more....

 

now yes i realize you have done some of these things... make sure the strut mounts were done for one.... two the control arms would be your next best option but first take the wheels off and make certain everything is nice and tight... volvo doesn't use the keyed nuts so they tend to loosen up.....