Ok, here's my story.
I've had a 1996 850 wagon for about a year. Early this year I decided to have a vibration and alignment checked. The car vibrated badly at highway speeds, and drifted to the left.
I had the car aligned at a local tire shop, and they told me the car had 2 badly bent rims, so they would not balance them. After I left, I noticed that the car still drifted to the left, so I brought it back. They rechecked the alignment, and told me it was totally "to spec", and suggested that my old tires and bent rims could be causing the problem.
After a few weeks, I finally got some new rims and tires put on. The car drifted exactly the same, so I had alignment checked again. This time they said it came back with the passenger front being slightly "toed in" so they fixed it. I left, and eventually found that the car drifts to the left. This is most noticeable at highway speeds.
A week later I brought it back again. I got a different, more senior, tech to look at it, and it was out of whack again. I spent 2 hours at the shop while they would fix it, test drive it, and have it come back screwed up again. They finally told me that they fixed it again for me, and if it still was a problem to come back and get a refund for the alignment fee, cause they had no more ideas, since they had also inspected my suspension and found it to be sound. It still drifts to the left.

My question: What would cause a vehicle to repeatedly lose it's alignment like this? I don't drive in a city with huge potholes, only highway to and from work.
Should I bother taking it to another alignment shop, or do I have to have something else checked, like the frame? Or, could this entire shop, that does like 10 alignments a day, truly not know how to work on this particular model car??? Thanks.

If the bushings on the A-arm are bad, they can also contribute to your skewness in driving direction...

The tyre shop may not be able to tell unless they take it out driving, though.

Have that checked.

A bent wheel would defitely affect your drivability as well.

I did actually have them take the car for numerous test rides, and they did not mention any bushings. I also asked them directly about bushings, and they said it all looked fine.
I also had all four wheels replaced, and this also did not change the drifting issue.
Thanks.

an alignment shop wouldn't tell you about bushings they wouldn't change them, so they usually won't say so. they don't get to charge you for them. if you have a body shop close to you with a frame machine, have them take a look. but if the frame was bent, it would have been like that from the first day that you had taken possesion of your 850. have a mechanic check your driveshafts. here is a weird thought, are your brakes okay? i seem to remember as a kid that my parents mercedes had a the passenger front brake that would stick and that it caused the car to skew to the right. we couldn't figure it out. of course, we smelled it, but hey, my parents owned diners and didn't know diddly about cars, except that the cars ate more gas than my siblings did food :grin: keep us posted as this might be important to other members. good luck.

Hi there. I have had a simular problem for two years now .. also a 96 850. I have been to two volvo mechanics. Had the bushings replaced and numerous alignmnets ... and several sets of tires.
The alignment just will not stick.

I am taking it to a vovlo dealership next week and see if they have anything new to say.

Greek's call on the brakes jamming up, is a good possible call. If the brakes jam, of course your car will skew.

Cheers.

According to the alignment shop, they checked the brakes as part of the NY state inspection, and they're fine. I did explicitly ask them if the bushings looked OK, and was told that they are fine, and they did check them. I'm not sure if that's a canned answer or what....

The car has done this drifting since I've bought it, and I had just figured I'd have to get it aligned to solve the issue. I'm thinking I should try another shop, or a body shop to check the frame. I'll post the results.

Hey "850t wagon" had you had the car awhile before this problem hit? Also, I'll be very curious to hear what the dealer tells you...

Thanks.

Well, at least you got your refund back.

Keep us posted ya?
I'm interested to know what actually went wrong.
:)

I am curious as the findings people come up with here as well.

I have a 1995 950 turbo wagon, which very slightly pulls to the right, I dont notice it much though and alignments have not fixed that problem (although that is not the reason I had it aligned).

I also had 2 bent rims when I purchased the car, and it has a horrible shake at 45-55mph (this wa the reason for alignment and balancing).

Luckily I know a great guy for tires and wheel work. He setme up with all new tires, and alignment and even fixed my rims. However the shape at 45-55 mph did not go away (it was slightly better but still very bothersome and noticable).

I have not had my bushing checked or replaced (which I will do soon), but I have been told that the most likely culprit to my problems is that my CV joints are going bad, and I have some other bits of evidence to aid that suggestion.

So, I will soon be replacing both front axles in hopes that it will correct my issues. I will pot later once I have it done to let others know if this helps at all.

I am curious though if the original poster had his shaking issue corrected during his repairs or if it still exists a well as the pulling to the left?

Same deal for me as the others. I just bought a 1996 Volvo 850 and have a bad vibration from 60+mph.

First the front end vibrates from 60-65 and then the rear vibrates through the seat at 65-70mph. The front end is bad enough to shake the steering wheel and dash.

I found a badly worn left rear tire which is probably causing the rear vibration, but I am stumped on the front. According to the previous owner, the CV axles were just replaced. I replaced the upper torque bar bushing. I'll be checking the A-Arm bushings next in addition to getting new tires/alignment.