Bad Vibrations
 

Hey guys,

My wife's V70 had a bad knock in the front end. I replaced the strut seat and that stopped the knock but the shimmying has gotten much worse.

The dealer says both axles are shot and the control arm bushings are just about gone. They quoted me a price of $2,200.

This is a 2003 with 144,000 miles. I don't want to sink that much money into it.

The bottom line is that we are getting rid of the Volvo but how difficult would it be on these models to replace the axles? I'd rather sell it driveable for $6,000 than sell it undriveable for $1,000 to $2,000.

The dealer wants $500+ per axle. I understand I can get after market axles but I want to know if I can trust them. A friend with a Honda put on after market axles and they had bad vibrations between 45 to 80 mph.

Any advice on changing the axles or where to buy them cheaply would be appreciated.

I heard Raxles, America's premier supplier of OE quality CV Axles and CV joints - Raxles Inc. is OK for rebuilt axles. That being said, I bought Auto Zone axles for my 2001 Subaru and they are still working fine after 50K miles and only cost 60 each (front).
Stay away from santech (sp?) for control arms although with plans to sell it might not matter.'
I'm not familiar with Volvo axle change but can't imagine it is any worse than a suby.

Have an indi shop fix it. Doesn't matter what they use if you will be selling the car. (Why donen't anyone put where they are located any more???)

I'm in Atlanta (sorry, thought it was on my profile...oops).

I did get a good tip on an indy shop and was planning to talk to the guy tomorrow. I'm pretty handy though (I've done some engine rebuilds, axle swaps, etc on older cars) so I was wondering how tough an axle swap is on these newer Volvos.

I will check out the shops y'all mentioned for axles ... including Auto Zone.

Thanks.