2000 X-Country Sway Bar Links

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.