240 Do these Strut Bearings Look Ok?

1985 Volvo 240

I replaced the strut bearings about 1 year/15k miles ago. The rubber is separating as shown in the photo below. My assumption is that they are bad and need to be replaced, but appreciate other opinions.

Same deal with mine, roughly same mileage as well. There doesn't appear to be a decent strut mount out there that has rubber. I went with Ben's BNE select mounts for peace of mind. Just so you know the lux steer option is worth the extra cash.

I have some PNW cool weather actual old school Oe ones that don?t fail prematurely.

Just been using those with the 15A plates...

They are dead

carver said:

Same deal with mine, roughly same mileage as well. There doesn't appear to be a decent strut mount out there that has rubber. I went with Ben's BNE select mounts for peace of mind. Just so you know the lux steer option is worth the extra cash.

Click to expand...

My preference is to keep the car stock, but will consider this.

Kjets On a Plane said:

I have some PNW cool weather actual old school Oe ones that don?t fail prematurely.

Just been using those with the 15A plates...

Click to expand...

I will send a PM for more details.

Thanks!

Rusty_ratchet said:

My preference is to keep the car stock, but will consider this.

Click to expand...

Ben's are superior in every way.

Kjets On a Plane said:

Just been using those with the 15A plates...

Click to expand...

http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=344559

I really don't get why you guys panic and think the sky is falling and you need to buy a bunch of ben stuff (not that it isn't decent).

The early cars here have nice toxic rubber in the mounts that doesn't hardly go bad with real soft front springs, the 15A plates keep them in, add some clean grease to them and even in the AZ desert where all rubber expires and dies a horrible death they'll go a while, especially on a garaged car without a ton of UV on it and 150? pavement...

I've literally just been cherry picking used and skating by for a decade or more that way..

Didn't notice the sky falling when I installed them, I'll be sure to look up next time...

Don't expect the 15A plates to work with new OEM though, tried that. Nothing can save that junk.

I guess if you want to save some coin go used, nothing wrong with that. No need to denigrate those that are willing to spend a bit extra on their ride though. With the BNE stuff the cost only goes up over new OEM if you get the Luxe Steer option.

Kjets On a Plane said:

I really don't get why you guys panic and think the sky is falling and you need to buy a bunch of ben stuff (not that it isn't decent).

The early cars here have nice toxic rubber in the mounts that doesn't hardly go bad with real soft front springs, the 15A plates keep them in, add some clean grease to them and even in the AZ desert where all rubber expires and dies a horrible death they'll go a while, especially on a garaged car without a ton of UV on it and 150? pavement...

I've literally just been cherry picking used and skating by for a decade or more that way..

Click to expand...

carver said:

Didn't notice the sky falling when I installed them, I'll be sure to look up next time...

Don't expect the 15A plates to work with new OEM though, tried that. Nothing can save that junk.

I guess if you want to save some coin go used, nothing wrong with that. No need to denigrate those that are willing to spend a bit extra on their ride though. With the BNE stuff the cost only goes up over new OEM if you get the Luxe Steer option.

Click to expand...

Fact: The entire old volvo driving polulace wants to make their old noisy car noisier knowing it's the best race car ever!

Getting another easy decade+ from the car that was supposed to be dead at age 20-25 and using it similarly to all those nissan altimas/focii/model3s/take your pick/fill in the ____ that are strangely much faster is blasphemy. Unbelievers are to be stoned to death.

Who said it was difficult to do business with Ben in volume and/or respect the guy selling top-notch stuff?

Deepest condolences to Ben(and his past and future generations) doing a ton of work to 'help out' the starving & in need here.

If one is really a believer/devout member of the <s>cult...clan... group?</s>, it's clear that the like minded enthusiasts are dyin' to take out a 30K+ loan fresh outta 6 years of school as an engineer to 'help the cause.'

Breaking news: For reasons unknown, TB has no members in Seattle(ish), where, despite them being few and far between, if they're anywhere, there are low mile no UV parts cars in the noveau riche suburbs that just do little circles on cool smooth roads before returning to the parking structure/carport/garage with strut mounts in perfect shape.

/recommence ritual(s) whereby no good used parts worth more than 14.99 are to be procured from another TB member...

Stock vs. BNE is a bit of a tough decision for me. Stock parts have the rubber part. I assume this will help damp shock and vibration. Do the BNE result in more vibration in the car? Are there any negative consequences of using BNE that are not present with the stock part?

Cant really go “wrong” with the BNE parts.

In that particular location, noise has to make it thru the tires, shock and spring before it resonates in the body. The rubber is there to allow for slight changes in angle of the strut/articulation relative to the mounting place on the body as much as it is for noise.
Easier to vulcanize (spelling?) some rubber rather than pay for more for extra bearings and seals when you’re tooled up and stamping out 3 million of them, and a little quieter too, lasts the warranty/20+ years in a lot of Cases. It’s just all the thaiwan/chineseium doo doo rubber in the pipeline (including blue box) 25+ years later that’s messing the whole scheme up more than anything...

But if you just drive on the street like a normal person I sort of doubt you need more than the stock mounts, strictly speaking, either?
Having driven both they both work.
The BNE stuff isn’t horribly/hardly notably noisier on its own, the stock decent quality older ones last a long time in normal use with the 15A plates . Driving is otherwise a little crisper with better caster settings on the BNE on their “position 1” setting even with stock springs/all else stock otherwise etc.

I have had no additional NVH from using the basic mounts without lux steer. Ran them for a couple of years, and swapped out to some rubber mounted GT struts, and feel is less. I highly recommend. As always, YMMV.