Re: (Big Will)
Re: Big Will and old AWD and Nivomats.
The original AWD system was launched in 1997 on a hand full of MY97 850 AWD wagons sold in Canada. US introduction was in the 98 model year on V70 AWD and V70 XC AWD. As you know, it utilized the technology of the times, the viscous coupling. Ironically, when the project was conceived, annual production was assumed to be 5000 AWD units. The eventual success of the XC concept surprised more than a few people at Volvo. But I digress. The most sensitive thing about the system was the fact that the tire sizes had to be identical. The cars had a special spare tire which was indeed a so called "tempa spare" yet had the same outside diameter as the regular tires. If a tire was replaced with the wrong size tire (happens more often than you might think), the viscous unit would be destroyed in short order. We responded by notifiying our dealers and tire companies that tire size matching was very critical on these models. The info was already in the owners manual, but relatively few people read that.
Nivomats. At the risk of dating myself, I was around when Nivomats were first introduced in volume on 760s, 780s and then 960s. They work great in that they are simple. Load car, car sinks. Drive car, Nivomats level car out. No extra pumps, hoses, etc. Completely self contained and VERY expensive to replace. Now, once the cars age and replacement is necessary, a common customer reaction was, "the rear shocks are how much????", followed by "is there a cheaper alternative?". Cheaper is a relative term as in the case of the Nivomats we actually did convince our colleagues at Volvo in Gothenburg to develop an alternative. The fix was not as easy as just replacing the Nivomats with standard shocks. No, the rear springs had to be replaced as well as the Nivomats provided a certain amount of lift all the time, so the rear springs on Nivomat cars were weaker. Removing the Nivomats and just putting in regular shocks resulted in a sagging rear end. So the initial expense was high for springs and standard shocks (though not as high as replacing the Nivomats) but subsequent to that, only the shocks would need to be replaced. Of course this type of fix is always complicated by the build plate under the hood which would describe what spare parts should be used....
Thus, there is some understanding of the request to replace 4C shocks with an alternative. In the discussion I had today on this subject, I learned that 4C is very integrated into the various systems of the car, especially in regards to all the inputs. They have promised me an answer, I will come back on this one.