740 Estate - Rear Axle Bushes

Aug 07, 2005 4 Replies

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Steve Shuttleworth 20 years ago

I noticed over the weekend that my car tends to pull left under acceleration and veer to the right when I take my foot off the throttle. There is no movement of the steering wheel and the effect is very slight. The car doesn't change direction when braking. I have come to the conclusion that the rear axle must be moving around more than it should.

Having jacked the car up this evening, there's nothing obvious wrong with the bushes for the trailing arms, torque bars or panhard rod, but they do all look like they have been there for a long time.

Has anyone out there suffered from this problem and, if so, how did you fix it?

Many Thanks

Steve

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Peter K L Milnes 20 years ago

Renew all suspension bushings (front and rear) with Polyurethane bushings. If you are in UK (which I suspect by your addy) visit the following URL.

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this is the contact point for Superflex Polyurethane bushings.All the best, Peter.

700/900/90 Register Keeper, Volvo Owners Club (UK).

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Steve Shuttleworth 20 years ago

It dawned on me yesterday that the symptoms of this problem only began after I bought a new tyre (following a puncture). When I measured the diameter of the new tyre and compared it to the tyre on the other side, the new one was

6mm bigger (just from normal tread wear). Summising that if the car is fitted with a limited slip differential, under power the offside wheel would travel around 20mm further than the nearside, and under deceleration, the diferential would free up and remove the one sided drive effect.

So I swapped the front wheels for the back ones (fronts fitted as a pair and of equal diameter) and, hey presto, the problem has gone away. I would never have believed that such a small difference in tyre diameter would cause such a significant effect on the steering. Also, it turns out that I have a limited slip differential, which is nice!

No need to change the bushes after all!

Steve

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James Sweet 20 years ago

Your bushings are still probably shot, with good bushings you shouldn't get a significant effect from such a slight tire mismatch.

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John Robertson 20 years ago

Always make sure the tyres across front or back are equal with the same tread pattern and same pressure .Its wise to have the same pattern all round but if that's not possible the same pattern should be on the front wheels and same on the back wheels ,never mix tyres on the same axle.On new radials low pressure is not easy to pick but come a long hot run and any tyre thats been abused will blow out .

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