I'm interested in this as well. Hopefully someone can comment on the Koni's.

 

Installed Koni Special Active struts and shicks a week ago and am very pleased with the vastly improved ride without compromised handling on my RD XC60. Replaced the top struts bits too though they were fine at 77k miles.

I've also learned that I'm never going to ever change struts on a Volvo again.

 

I just did my second top bearing last week (other side last year) at 80000km. It was OVERLY shot. This is a issue with this car. If you are doing the replacement yourself, mark the top plate bolts to tower relation as there is a few degrees of play, if not an alignment will be needed - good idea anyways.

I cant offer much of an opinion on what shock to use, as there are so many variables. Where you live and road condition being the most important. In my neck of the woods, the roads are horrible, and a more aggressive shock valving would make my drive worse, so I opted for staying stock.

IMHO as licenced mechanic : the modern car (2000 newer) including my V60 has thousands of engineering hours of research into the suspension "quality" meaning all around comfort, control, longevity, and other factors are calculated and a compromise is determined for the market targeted. I do not believe the average joe can tweak the suspension by simply changing a shock without destroying other suspension qualities. If you need to improve a certain aspect like performance driving, it would take recalculating all four corners shock valving and spring rates, swaybars, and alignment specs (tire wear) if the suspension design will allow it. I haven't even thought of body flex and how this changes as the car ages and how suspension mods affect this.

The person driving mindset, placebo effect, has a real place in this. You cant imagine how many times people mod their cars and praise how much better it is. I get in and have a completely different opinion. For him, it's better, and it's his money, so that's all that counts.

What I did, made sure my steering/suspension/alignment is 100%, then put the absolute best tires I can afford. As it sits my car can handle anything I throw at it in the street, I am the week link. This spring, I will be looking at getting a slightly taller sidewall (and a tune for speedo) to try to make my car less harsh, for the road conditions in my area. With hard low profile tires, my car has a tendency to skip over potholes, scary when I am pushing legal limits.

But then again maybe I am nuts lol
Cheers, stay healthy

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I just did my second top bearing last week (other side last year) at 80000km. It was OVERLY shot. This is a issue with this car. If you are doing the replacement yourself, mark the top plate bolts to tower relation as there is a few degrees of play, if not an alignment will be needed - good idea anyways.

I cant offer much of an opinion on what shock to use, as there are so many variables. Where you live and road condition being the most important. In my neck of the woods, the roads are horrible, and a more aggressive shock valving would make my drive worse, so I opted for staying stock.

IMHO as licenced mechanic : the modern car (2000 newer) including my V60 has thousands of engineering hours of research into the suspension "quality" meaning all around comfort, control, longevity, and other factors are calculated and a compromise is determined for the market targeted. I do not believe the average joe can tweak the suspension by simply changing a shock without destroying other suspension qualities. If you need to improve a certain aspect like performance driving, it would take recalculating all four corners shock valving and spring rates, swaybars, and alignment specs (tire wear) if the suspension design will allow it. I haven't even thought of body flex and how this changes as the car ages and how suspension mods affect this.

The person driving mindset, placebo effect, has a real place in this. You cant imagine how many times people mod their cars and praise how much better it is. I get in and have a completely different opinion. For him, it's better, and it's his money, so that's all that counts.

What I did, made sure my steering/suspension/alignment is 100%, then put the absolute best tires I can afford. As it sits my car can handle anything I throw at it in the street, I am the week link. This spring, I will be looking at getting a slightly taller sidewall (and a tune for speedo) to try to make my car less harsh, for the road conditions in my area. With hard low profile tires, my car has a tendency to skip over potholes, scary when I am pushing legal limits.

But then again maybe I am nuts lol
Cheers, stay healthy

Sent from my SM-T590 using Tapatalk

Vehicle Dynamics is complex but thankfully aftermarkets (Koni, Bilstein, Ohlins, monroe, etc.) can do the math for you. Most of these companies have already built a shock with the valving for these vehicles keeping, corner weights, roll rates, pitch rates and other dynamic functions in mind.

As for the spring; my suggestion would be to replace them with an OEM part. Springs do wear. Over time they will undergo plastic deformation and perform differently (sag, lose spring rate). If you do decide on a different spring, it's worth contacting the shock manufacturer to understand what they suggest with the spring you've chosen.

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MecGen, I like your answer. :thumbup:

 

Salt is one of the big issues we deal with up North. It just sits there and corrodes anything exposed, especially in the wheel areas. It's not uncommon for springs to snap here due to corrosion.

 

+1, sadly. I had a spring snap on my V50 and my father had one break on his 9-3. I hate winter!