Is this bad bushings or bodywork?

Alright, I have noticed this issue I have been having more and more lately and it has been driving me nuts because of lack of symmetry.

First things first, the passenger wheel seems to be pushed in more than the drivers side wheel, The front bearings were repacked not too long ago along with lowering the car and replacing multiple suspension components.

I got an alignment recently and they said the caster is off but the toe and camber are correct. It may be because of control arm bushings that need to possibly be replaced. This has been like this and an alignment has not fixed it.

Passenger


Driver




Next problem is this, can I adjust the radiator support so that I can fix this?

The hood is alligned with the cowl by the front window, the grill is slid all the way over and still wont line up and no matter how I adjust the headlights, I cannot make the gaps equal. Also the drivers side fender is pushed back by that small margin you can see on the hood.

Is there any way I can adjust the radiator support and front fender to fix this and if so how?






Any help?

Was this car ever repainted anywhere in the front?

It was hit in the drivers front a very long time ago and repaired professionally back when my dad had it in 1996 or so. The fender was replaced.

Leave it alone. I don't think there is going to be an easy fix for this. The radiator support is spot welded to the fender just under the headlights. It could be moved/ gotten a twist to it in the accident. The driver fender may have been replaced but not the support. Also this is a newer car so the openings for the headlights are also welded together not like the pre 84 cars that were bolted together. So if the problem is there you really can't shift anything left to right right to left. Leave it alone your mouldings look could and fit tight. You don't want to pop one off by accident and mess with that. Maybe , just maybe try realigning the hood. GL

Alright, what about the wheels?

Do those wheels use spacers / adapters? Have you measured them to make sure they are the same thickness? Just a thought.

Nope, they are all 5x108 ET20 also both sides are spaced out equally from the strut tube, it seems to be the strut tube or control arm that is causing the issue. Like the control arm is pushed too far in?

Could have a bent control arm, seen a lot of those on 240's.

Ok...

Bump again.

Replaced control arms with a nice used set with poly bushings. The bushings on mine were shot but the passenger wheel still seems to be sunk in a bit.

What else could there be? This wheel thing only happened recently really, the only other thing I could think of is that the bearings were repacked not too long ago and they may have put a different wheel bearing on one side than the other that moved the whole assembly out a bit?


Also you guys say that these are spot welded front ends?

Mine might be slightly different...

I'm not sure if this will exactly help you, Simi, but it may help someone else looking to do some front end work on their 240. There are a number of bolts you'll have to remove as well as 6 spot welds and about 4 rivets from memory.


With the headlight assembly removed, this is all visible. You'll have one bolt facing inward and outward. This will release the fender from the front end assembly. There are two red circles beneath the bolts, those are pop rivets you'll have to drill out or remove from memory. L&R are symmetrical.



This is where the headlight portion of the assembly is, looking down. You'll have 3 bolts facing down and one in front of the A/C pusher fan / condenser you'll have to remove. L&R should be symmetrical as well.


Now the spot welds. I'm not sure if this is the same on all volvos, it's best just to look closely. You'll see a small dot pressed in. There were 6 on my '91 245 (circled in green, no this is not my car). 1/4" drill bit was not large enough to fully remove the spot weld, I used a hammer and a large screw driver to remove the rest. This bent up the metal a bit, but nothing that couldn't be tapped back out.

I find these pretty efficient for spot welds.

Or....

harbor freight

Always much to learn here.

I think you need to take some measurements from inside the engine compartment. Make sure the cabin is square. It may be tweeked ever so slightly that you will never get it even unless you go to body shop with frame equipment.