One other possibility is the rear front lower control arms need replaced OR if they loosened/removed them when installing the upper arms and torqued them in the air, it causes problems. The rear front lower arms MUST BE torqued with full weight of the car sitting on them. As Thermo has explained many times, worn ones will make the car feel like the *** end wants to "come around" on you when in a long sweeping turn while accelerating powerfully.

The correct adjustment in installing these retrofit arms has been exhaustively discussed IF, AGAIN IF you read the entire thread. Some need to modify as Thermo just said, others have not had to.

And remember, when doing a 4 wheel alignment on a Jag X Type (according to member, Brutal, a Jag Tech) you MUST align the rear FIRST and then front.

 

Ok. The garage took the nut off the adjustable upper control arm and camber is good. But, they can not get the toe set properly. They been working on this alignment for two days, with no luck. Any idea what could possibly be wrong? The toe was fine when I had the worn out uppers on it. Then the new adjustable ones were installed without taking off the nut, which made the arm too long as discussed above and gave the rear end a sliding feeling. They said they couldn't get the toe within specs(because the nut was not removed). This caused the toe issue and the car felt like it was sliding in rear. Now that they took that nut off the toe will not set, which seems odd. Was fine before. On a side note, the rear lower/forward arms were not replaced as I thought they were. I found them still in package in trunk/boot. They were supposed to have been installed back in Feb. but I guess they didn't think they were necessary. I am having them install them and see if it help the toe. Exactly how do you adjust the toe on these? Sorry for long post. But dang. Two days to install the upper control arms and align it. Somethings not right.

 

Jag!55pp, toe on the front or rear of the car? For the rear of the car, there are 2 adjustments on the center support bar where the long lower arms attach. You loosen the nut, you turn the bolt which has an offset washer on it and this causes the back/lower corner of the tire to move in and out. Once you get this set, then you would adjust the upper arm to get the caster correct. I guess I am not understanding what is so difficult about getting this done. Unless you have something else with lots of play in it, I would think this should be a pretty straight forward thing.

I have seen in the past where the rear will feel like it is sliding around (most noticeable when making a long sweeping turn and then applying a fair amount of power). This was caused by the fact that the rear lower/forward arms had play in them and this was allowing the wheel to move slightly under various amounts of power being applied. But, this should be something that is checked when doing the alignment of the car as this will cause the toe to jump all over the place and make it hell to get the toe good.

If the toe cannot be done on the front of the car, then the shop is worthless if you ask me. This is nothing more than adjusting the tie rod ends on each side while making sure the steering wheel remains in its proper position. You get some higher end tools, you can practically align this car at home. They make attachments that stick on to the wheels and you simply roll them to one position to do the toe, you rotate them 90 to do the caster. The big thing is getting an initial number to know how wide apart the laser indication should be.

I guess I feel your frustration. This should be a fairly straight forward thing for a shop that does alignments to do.

 

It's the rear of the car that they can't get the toe correct. I can't understand either. They have the adjustable upper control arm all set ( S40/V50 04-12, C30 07-13 PFS Adjustable Upper Rear Suspension Arm-Pair). camber is good, rear wheels are now straight. It should have taken an hour or so to install the new upper control arms. Then an alignment. Today they are supposed to install the rear lower/forward arms .that were supposed to be replaced already. Looks like it will be there till Friday now. Maybe I should take it to dealership? Will they do it with the Volvo adj. arms in back? They want $190 for an alignment so it would be my plan B.

 

Part of post #237 once more as a caution =

The rear front lower arms MUST BE torqued with full weight of the car sitting on them.

My latest 4 wheel alignment =

 

The only thing I can add to this is that the adjustable volvo control arms were the last thing I replaced on my car before I had an alignment. I had previously replaced all the rear control arms as just about every bush was absolutely shot after 90k miles.
If the bushes are gone on your large, lower (spring pan) arms - I would think this will seriously mess up your car's handling. I replaced every arm & bush (apart from the subframe mounts) and I never managed to get the car driving the way I wanted. The Volvo arms did their job and fixed the camber issues, but all my suspension components were replaced - including shocks & springs, before I got a good alignment. Good luck with it.

 

Good news. I got the Jag back yesterday and it drives perfect. They installed the rear lower/forward armsand toe is now good. Drove it in in snow on way home and it went straight as an arrow, no more rear end sliding around. I suspect my old rear lower/forward armswere wore out..The adjustable arms fixed my camber issue perfectly as well. Thanks for all the info and help. 194k and still going strong!

 

Glad you got it sorted! X-Types are great cars & 194k is very respectable mileage. I'd still be running mine if it had been possible to keep it going. Still miss the AWD.

 

I see you have an all wheel drive Xtype, do you know if this works on the front wheel drive as well? also I'm having trouble locating those volvo parts, parts companies want engine type and size, does it matter?

 

I see you have an all wheel drive Xtype, do you know if this works on the front wheel drive as well? also I'm having trouble locating those volvo parts, parts companies want engine type and size, does it matter?

 

Ray, it is my understanding that the difference for the rear suspension between an FWD and AWD X-Type is that you don't have the differential in the rear and the hub assembly is different. But, the arms should be exactly the same. So, I would tell you to look on e-bay or Amazon. This is where most people buy their arms from. Just do a search on "Volvo S40 adjustable arm" and you should see a bunch of these show up. Then it is a matter of figuring out who ships to where you live.

 

These are the ones I ordered :S40/V50 04-12, C30 07-13 PFS Adjustable Upper Rear Suspension Arm-Pair

 

hi there Thermo
ia there a recent link for this to be found ? For Europe would be amazing, also did you end up having any problems with this fix?

Many thanks Tony

 

I stopped counting at 30 (there are more) links for these parts included in this thread (& embedded links) including UK sellers.
And the other answer is NO!! This fix is now called "Thermo'd" arm fix.

 

I have a pair of the Volvo arms in the UK if anyone is interested; I sold the car before I got round to fitting them.
PM me.

 

Profiler, any store thta you can get parts from, can get the arms thta you are after. Just don't tell them that you have a jaguar, tell them that you have a Volvo S40. They will order whatever you want. You want to order via e-bay, just do a search and I am sure you will find lots of local people selling what you are after. E-bay not your thing, then you have Amazon. Amazon not your thing, then go to your favorite aftermarket parts place. There is nothing special about what I got. The big things are making sure that they are for the same year Volvo and that they are adjustable.

As for issues, they are a little on the long end, so, you need to make sure that your adjustment is dialed pretty much all the way in before attaching to the car. After that, should be golden. I think your hardest part will be simply getting the bolts loose from the years of corrosion building up. The arms go in pretty easy.

 

thanks for all the info yeah am getting a lot of sway when hitting the bends and will def need doing plus new springs and lower tracking arms should set it nice and toight 🙂

 

That sounds great ,
How much are you willing to let them go for? plus postage to italy obviously

Cheers

 

I like that 🤣🤣🤣
Btw I tried the links but they all seem expired,and looking online I was getting crazy prices like 200 and upwards.

 

@xtypeprofiler = just clicked on the link in your post #233 and it went straight to a UK seller.

Odd that "Btw I tried the links but they all seem expired" ?