Just completed replacing my front struts, upper spring seats, upper strut bearing mounts, and my rear Nivomat self leveling rear shocks on my 98 Volvo V70XC AWD. Not a bad project execpt for the 1k price tag on the parts. When removing the old front struts I noticed that the a couple of the lower strut to steering knuckle bolts were streched in the middle some so I installed all new Volvo hardware (bolts & lock nuts) during the repacement. There are no caster or camber adjustments (offsets or shims)in the lower strut mounting points, although the steering knuckle will shift very slightly before one tightens them to the 48ft lbs + 90 degree torque specs. The upper strut mounts don't have much in the way of adjustments either. Once the three upper mount studs are mounted up in the body they are pretty much the same position as they were before taking the old struts out.
Thinking all of this over; about the streched lower strut mounting bolts, I thought I should talk to someone about alignment before I put the final torque on the new mounting bolts. I first called the Volvo dealer today and asked to talk to their alignment man. Once I got through to him, I discussed the above and asked if I should just put the 48ft lbs of torque on the lower mounting bolts and wait to let them do the + 90 degree more once the alignment was completed. His answer really shocked me! He said, "It doesn't make any difference because there are no camber or caster adjustments on your model Volvo" He went on to say that the only thing that can be adjusted on it was the toe in. Doesn't that just blow your mind?
Although I believed his answer, I thought it would be good to check somewhere else too. I called one of the independent tire and alignment places that I have used for both and presented them with the same data and questions. The alignment man there told me pretty much the same thing execpt one small important tid bit. He said be sure and put the weight of the car down on the newly installed struts before you torque the lower mounting bolts. That way the steering knuckle is set in its normal/designed position. Other than that no camber or caster adjustments are possible.
My question to you all concerns the issue with alignment. After reading this post, do you all think that an alignment is nessesary after the front struts are replaced? I'm not sure if this same infomation applies to 97 and older 850's. I know that the books call for an alignment after this job. I have always had alignment done after a new set of tire are installed. I have never had any tire wear in the past before new tires or after new tires with the alignments that have been done. 140k miles and counting. Thanks for any and all input or thoughts on this issue.