2003 Volvo C70 — front suspension "knocks!"

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Greetings,

I have a 2003 Volvo C70 that I’ve owned since 2004. In February, I ordered struts for the front with all the trimmings, (spring seat, strut mount, bump stop, etc) from FCP Euro. The struts were Sachs 553-058, which are supposed to be as good if not better than the original struts. I installed them myself, meticulously following the instructional video FCP publishes on YouTube. Installation went very smoothly. Afterwards, I noticed a rattle/knock coming from the right front when I drove over a bump or rough area. I took it to a local tire/brake place that I have a good bit of confidence. After driving the car, the guy says, “You gotta bad strut!” Called FCP. They sent me a new strut. I installed it and sent the other back. Sounded a LOT better—for about two weeks. Now I am hearing the sound on both sides. I took it to a very reputable Volvo mechanic, I have used since the warranty expired. He drove it, confirmed the sound was not normal. We put it on the lift and he checked everything on the front suspension and was stumped. He said there was nothing wrong with my installation, no problem with the suspension.

Okay, FCP has an unconditional satisfaction guarantee, so I could replace these with a more expensive strut for say $50 more, but is the problem with the struts? I would hate to have to do this installation again and still have the same problem.

Any ideas?

Robotarmy

'03 C70 Convertible LT
110,000 miles
well-maintained, great-running car

2

Have all the nuts and bolts been torqued down properly? Something could be working its way loose causing it to move when it should not. Perhaps you could jack up one side and get a long bar and see if you can lift the weel up and down. Pay attention to the top of the shock tower there in the engine bay and see if anything moves up and down.

3

You imply the OEM struts never made this noise. If true, you need to use OEM struts.

4

Have you checked out the sway bar links?

Worn sway bar links can cause loud clunks and thunks . . .

I’ve worked on plenty of vehicles, where the driver was convinced a complete suspension rebuild was needed, when the problem was just sway bar links

And they do make noise going over bumps

5

I’m wondering if this is some kind of bushing problem? Were all the front side rubber/plastic bushings replaced w/new ones as part of with the strut replacement?