2000 X-Country Sway Bar Links

Sep 22, 2003 2 Replies

My wife has a 2000 Volvo Cross Country with almost 58K miles on it. On two prior occasions, the dealer replaced the sway bar links to solve a clunking sound when driving over bumps in the road. Luckily, both of these repairs were under warranty.



Now, I'm hearing the same sound again, and the dealer tells me it's the same problem. Their cost estimate as around $220 to fix this. Unfortunately, it's not covered under warranty.



A couple of questions:


  1. Is this normal?
  2. Is the cost reasonable? Can I save a significant amount of money by having it done by an independent garage?
  3. How important is this to get fixed right a way? Will the tire wear be affected if I put off the repair for a while?

Thanks, Mike Schumann


Mike -

Had the same problem on my 01 S60. It has 80k miles on it and all four links need to be replaced. I refused to pay the bill because someone mentioned to me that they've seen this problem before. I haven't heard from the dealer since...

Charlie

On my '98 V70, the sway bar links last about 30-35k km. I got 2 sets under warranty, the third set I paid for myself. So that seems normal from my point of view.

I would expect you can save yourself some money by getting this done at an independent garage. Or, if you own some wrenches and a socket set, you can do this yourself. It doesn't require any other disassembly other than removing the wheel.

At first, the only problem with the noise is annoyance. If you let it go too long, then the end of the link will come apart and you'll have a

10" long link flapping around attached only at one end. There's certainly no problem letting it go a couple of months if you can stand the noise.

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required