Suspension: Parts maker choi: SKF vs TRW vs ....? Rear spring replaceme?

[Pashabg]

Hi guys!

Due to poor handling and control, I am planning on doing some major suspension work in the following days and need to order the parts, however, I am really struggling with making my mind about the manufacturer. I think the value for money option is TRW. The website (a certain German supplier with delivery to UK) however, offers SKF parts for about half the price ot TRW one. As far as I am aware, SKF is manufacturer with good reputation on bearings, but no info on other parts. The price difference is really tempting, but I do not want to make sacrifices with the quality.
Does anyone have any experience with non bearing SKF parts and would there be a significant difference in quality to justify the price difference? I am aware that Lemforder is great choice, but reason it is not in the list is that my research suggested that many of the parts are identical with TRW as both are part of ZF, and Lemforder is even more expensive than TRW.

The parts I want to buy are:

Inner tie rods;
Outer tie rod ends;
Ball joints;
Drop links;
Shock absorbers (TRW as the have very cheap offer for set of two, but would be more then happy to get an opinion);
Coil springs (planning on Sachs);
Strut mounts (rubber and bearing one - planning on SKF);
Engine mounts (no idea what to go for);

And couple of following questions:
Has anyone any idea how to take off the rear coil springs? Tried to look for a video but didn't get anything on S60. The clearance is ridiculously small.
And another one, there seem to be some lower and upper rubber seats for the springs (not talking about the struts top rubber plate), which are hard to find and very expensive for what they are. Is ot good idea to reuse the old ones or the performance of the new struts will suffer?

Any suggestions or opinion would be much appreciated!

The car is S60, 2006 (facelift), 2.0T with 124k mile on the clock. I believe the described parts are still the original.

Thanks!

[griston64]

Have you priced all that stuff from Volvo ?

[Pashabg]

No, I haven't contacted my local Volvo directly. I have checked the prices of Volvo branded parts on some websites and they were way too expensive, compared to what I could afford. I really doupt Volvo will sell me shock absorber for 45 pounds, or inner tie rod for 10.

[griston64]

Originally Posted by Pashabg

No, I haven't contacted my local Volvo directly. I have checked the prices of Volvo branded parts on some websites and they were way too expensive, compared to what I could afford. I really doupt Volvo will sell me shock absorber for 45 pounds, or inner tie rod for 10.

I doubt that as well. Trouble is if your handling is poor at the moment putting cheaper parts on isn't going to help. You could end up making it worse

[Pashabg]

Originally Posted by griston64

I doubt that as well. Trouble is if your handling is poor at the moment putting cheaper parts on isn't going to help. You could end up making it worse

Agree! However, I believe my handling is poor, because of shot shocks (124k miles on them), rusty springs, most likely bad stut mount bearings and bad tie rods (check them, there is movement as far as I am aware). All these lead to constantly driving without corect alignment, did it 3 times, after couple days max it was bad again, due to bad components. I expect huge improvement, even with the cheapest parts. However, I wouldn't consider TRW "cheap" manufacturer. As far as I know, S60 comes with Sachs shocks and springs, TRW, Lemforder and Sachs are owned by the same compony and many people online insist that many of TRW, Lemforder and Sachs parts are the same parts in different boxes and different price tags. Hence my question, is SKF on par with TRW/Sachs/Lemforder when it comes to ball joints and tie rods and can I save significant amount by going to SKF or, SKF is "cheap" part in this case?

[Paul240480]

SKF , I understand are/were the manufacturer for Volvo OE belts ,wheel bearings and pulleys on the cam belt and aux belts, so they can’t be bad.....

It’s a bit like Bougichord (sp) being OE for HT Leads, Bougichord being made in France , not by Volvo.

I’ve used SKF for bearings and cam belt Kits including water pump in the past and not had any issues at all.

I’ve not tried their suspension parts, but wouldn’t hesitate going on my experience so far.