V50 Front Wishbones: to Poly' or not to Poly'.

[SouthWestWanderer]

When I bought my car, it had just had a new MOT. One of the advisories was front wishbone bushes (O/S/F).

I have a judder under light braking, and suspect it might be this: there is also a loud knocking noise over the small speed ridges in our office carpark. Both the judder and the knock are now much worse and I guess both sides have/are failing.

There are a number of threads out there on replacing the wishbones to cure these symptoms, and I understand that the wishbones come with the bushes preinstalled.

Wishbones look to be around £90 each + fitting, whereas a set of new polybushes for both sides is around £50. I appreciate that there will likely be more labour cost involved, bringing it up to a similar price, but I am tempted to do it any way.

What are people's thoughts? I have been a bit disappointed with the handling of the Volvo tbh. Less sticky and almost as rolly as my previous Subaru but also less precise than my boss' old 2002 A4 Avant Sport (even with 180k on it!).

[msh]

Hi
Did mine also replaced the ball joints at the same time
Handles better and tyre wear reduced
The knocking at low speeds is probably the drop links
Mark

[SouthWestWanderer]

Sorry MSH, did you mean that you went down the 'new wishbone' route, or the 'Polybush the old ones route'?

I'm not sure the knocking is the drop links - i also get a loud bang if i have to quickly go from one direction to another i.e. - start to pull out of a junction and something comes round the corner so you tap the breaks at 2mph - BANG. This feels and sounds like the wishbones going from one end of the range of movement to the other.

[cheshired5]

If your wishbones are the cause of these extreme noises, it should be very apparent with a little prying around the bushes.
You don't state your mileage but a clunk when turning may also be your inner track rods.

[msh]

I used my old wishbones replaced the bushes and drilled out and replaced the ball joints at the same time due to the car having done 130k
also spray the wish bone so as good as new
Mark

[SouthWestWanderer]

Great, thanks for the info guys. I'm on 91k at the moment.

Guess I'll wait until it comes back from the body shop next week and then count the pennies to get it fixed.

When I say change direction in the post above, I didn't mean left/right, I meant forward/back. Could the clonk still be track rods or ball joints if the knocking is only in a forward/backward plane?

[Hoochienoballs]

Could also be a sticky brake pad/caliper, I used to get it with my last car, stripped and greased the caliper and the knock went away.

[SouthWestWanderer]

Sorry to drag this one back from the depths, but I have now got to the bottom of what is going on:

The car went into the garage down the road for them to have a look the other day. The mechanic agreed that it was definitely to wishbones making the noises. They were the worst ones he'd seen for a while. He has quoted £240 +vat to do both sides with Lemforder ones. £80 quid each + 80 quid to fit.

Having had a scout through the forums, several people reckon the Lemforder ones are not much good? Proper Volvo arms are £107 each, and he would still fit for £80 (£300 ish + VAT).

A full set of polybushes for the front is about £110 + Vat, and fitting is likely to be double the work (£160?). I would also do the ball joints at the same time, for the sake of £12 each side. Polybushing is therefore looking likely to cost £300 + vat ish.

I have been feeling a bit let down by the handling of the V50: even though my scooby was a forester and was knackered, it was far more precise.

Is polybushing likely to stiffen everything up? Has anyone ever had problems with them squeaking (plenty of people on the Focus ST forums complain of this - same wishbone issues there).

I'm thinking either go the Volvo arms route, or the polybush route, as they are both effectively the same price. What do folks think?

[Welton]

I've been running with my 'Firstline' replacement lower arms for 4 years now and they're still tight.

The handling of these cars is not pin-sharp and takes a lot of work to improve on. Poly bushing is reported to improve things up front but maybe at the expense of comfort and vibration.

It depends on what you're looking for but to really sort out the handling you need full poly busing, quality coilovers, adjustable rear camber arms, wider tyres with a premium brand, proper alignment etc......... then of course you've pretty much turned it into a hot hatch.

[Kizzer]

Did my fronts with Powerflex a few weeks ago. Was a pain to fit, but worth the upgrade.

Only squeaks a little when cornering hard, other than that I thought it would of been more harsh than it is. I have not lost comfort, or caused any vibration. Steering feels more 'connected' and precise, and thats what I like