960 Front suspension repair- results

Recently my 960 as squeaking in the front end suspension. It was most noticeable when going over speed bumps (wee-cawww wee-kawww). I sprayed some silicone in the suspect areas and it went away for a bit, but returned, louder, and now accompanied by a knock at times. I finally got it up on stands and got under the thing. Moving the front well fore and aft identified the problem right away. The lower (rear) control arm bushings (the cone bushings at the front of the "radius arm") were obviously dead. The silicone stopped the squeak but allowed the now worn parts to move and erase themselves against the front control arm. I got the urethane set. I knew that the sway bar links were also bad at both ends so I also ordered those.

The replacement process and diagnosis is well documented here:

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Symptoms that these parts need to be replaced (besides squeaking) can include brake pull, clunking feel or sound when at or near full steering lock (especially on dirt or gravel), excessive or uneven tire wear, low front end height (lack of ground clearance), body roll when cornering, instability when making quick right-left-right maneuvers, and a dead spot in the steering when cornering through long, sweeping turns at speed.

I can report that the car handles like new again. it was feeling very much like a big heavy car before the replacement, and now feels like a sports car again. It corners very flat (no body roll to speak of) and tracks like it is on rails. Additionally, the front end sits noticeably higher making the car quite level.

(About a year ago I replaced the strut cartridges, ball joints, and the rear shocks, so those are still in excellent condition.)

from Randy & Valerie __ __ \ \ / / \ \/ / \__/olvo 1993 960

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Randy G.
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