I recently joined the forum as I just purchased my first Volvo. Our family had a single car and I wanted to get a car for myself that met the following criteria:
Same or larger than our 2014 Mazda3
AWD for the winter
Manual - I have never driven manual before
Leather seats
Fun to drive
Something I can tinker with (oil change, replace some worn parts) Since we have the second car I am OK if this isn't driveable for a few days
Originally I was looking for something like a Subaru Legacy GT or VW Wagon. I ended up stumbling across what appeared to me as a fairly well maintained V50 T5 AWD.
2010 V50 T5 AWD M66
207K KM
Passion Red (612)
Quartz interrior (I think that is the colour name)
I am not sure about all the options on the car but it does have the following (some may be standard, forgive my ignorance):
Heated Seats
Dual climate control
Auto-dimming mirror
Leather seats
Those funky auto-turning headlights
High-Performance Audio (USB, Aux-in, Sat radio)
Rain Sensor wipers
BLISS, Heated and Auto folding mirrors
It seems to drive nicely, I have had a few more experienced manual drivers try it out for me. I am still learning but can get around fine so far.
Some cosmetic upgrades I have or will purchase shortly:
Rear spoiler (Volvo)
Mud Flaps (Volvo)
License Plate Cover (Volvo)
Rear license plate mount (rusted)
Replace missing rear tow hook cover
Skid plate (engine cover, I purchased a plastic one for now. The car did not come with one which feels very bad especially with the salt here in the winter).
I would like some input as to how I can help maintain this car, preventative maintenance etc.
Timing belt was changed at 195K KM in Nov 2018 according to the sticker.
Oil was lat changed at 203K and looks clean still.
Items I think need replacing:
Engine Air Filter (Done, the old one was very dirty)
Cabin Air Filter (Not looking forward to this after looking at how it is done, should receive it next week).
I think the boost tubing needs to be replaced as the rubber parts are starting to shed rubber when rubbed by hand.
The boost hard pipe is corroded, not sure how cosmetic this is or if it should be replaced as well (do88? with new intercooler)
I think I may replace all the coolant tubes as well to silicone (IPD?)
Spark plugs? Or should I wait until I think something is wrong?
Passenger side motor mount is soft/squishy and needs replacing. I will purchase all 3.
There is some kind of shielding over the steering that is completely rusted out
The car came with "new" brake rotors/pads and tires (Uniroyal...) I took a look at the brake fluid and there is clearly some particles in there so they did not flush the system. I will do a brake flush.
Well the donor fender is also slightly rusted, not as bad as mine and I think I will use this as a learning experience.
The current plan is to cut this piece out of my fender and weld in the same piece from the donor.
I have no idea what I am getting myself into.. The lighter patch of red and that line was where the previous shop had painted over the clear bra/plastic on the fender. I removed it as I will need to paint the whole thing at this point.
I have a theory that all the silicone products for our cars are produced at the same place, and then they are just branded by where they go. They all are the same thickness and the same layer count, which is the first thing that clued me in. If you can find one available, I'd get it, even $30 more, they're well worth having. DO88, iPD, and one more escapes me but they all have the hose kits...
So it has taken a while... First time doing some what I consider major bodywork.
I used a product from Roberts Paint Care (bought last year to paint my tow hook cover). So just spray cans for all steps. I used one whole can of base coat, could have used a few extra passes in some spots though.
Welding/grinding new piece in place. I had help from a friend, I tacked it in a bit and practiced on another panel I have from the junk yard.
Bondo/Body Filler, There was some warping from the welding which was unfortunate:
I had a lot of orange peel, I wet sanded (not enough) then used a random orbital polisher/cutter on the panel:
Installed back on the car, I am quite happy with the colour match. Would have wet sanded more the base coat to get a better shine but I think it looks ok. I will wait I think a month they recommend before putting wax on it.
Nice job! Yeah, warping is common when welding sheet metal. Tiny "stitches" and patience to let it all cool in between each pass are critical, and even then, not always enough.
Thanks for the kind words, I plan to tackle the same area that you had under the door protector moulding LittleRedRidingHood.
Also last week got rid of two noises my car was having.
First was a knocking on the right side while moving slow/turning/braking, not major but very noticeable. It was the passenger strut, top nut was not tight enough and allowed it to move a bit on the mount.
Second was an issue I made another thread for. Sort of grinding/rubbing noise on the passenger side again. Happened only with wheels turned almost to lock and moving slowly. Was the dust shield with a weird bend in it at the bottom.
With the molding removed. I used the wife's hair dryer to slightly warm the moulding, prying it up from the bottom and unstuck edge as I went along:
After some grinding/sanding:
I will clean it up a bit more tomorrow and then body filler. It is nice that most of the spot is under the moulding so I don't have to worry about paint blending there, just along the bottom.
Made some minor progress then it started raining. Looks like rain tomorrow as well. I just need to sand that last coat of body filler then prime/paint etc.
Also, for those reading my long thread.. I have a set of D2S headlights that I cannot use. I read online about our cars using D2S and bought a set, turns out mine is D1S.. I'd like to offer them up free to whoever responds first to this, I will mail them out free of charge to anywhere in Canada/USA.
They have not been opened. I bought them on Amazon, arrived from some European country. They seem real, but this is why I am not selling them, just giving away.
Thanks for the advice! I have been watching a few videos etc for tips, I hadn't heard that term though but have checked out some videos on it. I will try and take some pics during the rest of the process.
Finished up on the side panel rust. Needs maybe a bit of wet sanding + buffing.
Also had some rust at the top of the roof and decided to tackle it. The seal seems very bad at the top, part of it just pulls out easily, and there is grime/dir/mud under it... not great I don't think.
Side trim installed. The colour is a pretty good match, bit of orange peel still.. good enough for me.
Top roof/windshield painted + clear coat. Sand/buff in a couple days. I didn't use any filler, so there are some spots noticeable through the paint, but again good enough for me right now.
So all the rust is gone now except for a spot of the passenger fender where it meets the plastic bumper.. may tackle it before the winter, not sure.
I did find out the seal/urethane holding the top of the windshield is completely gone. I need to get that fixed asap.
I could try to squeeze some stuff under the top, but I am going to hopefully get a new windshield next week. This one has a lot of pitting anyway. I have an old quote of $170ish for re-seal and $375 for replacement. They mentioned there is a risk of the glass breaking during a re-seal.
Nice color, i have the same on my 2005 V50 T5 AWD M66!
Is the color hard to paint? Did you just use the spray can or any fancy accessoires? My side moldings are in black plastic and i'd love to have them in passion red, too.
Found a set of again black moldings but thought about painting them in passion red.
I didn't find it too hard to paint, I just used spray cans. The only fancy accessory I'd say was a random orbital polisher.
The one thing I found with the red (and maybe my own mistakes) was that I tried to do light coats of paint so there were no drips. The lighting wasn't the best, and on the fender edges I actually had a few spots that were not 100% covered. The Red is a little bit see through, so just make sure you have good lighting and get good coverage.
The clear coat I think is the hardest, you want thick wet coats to reduce orange peel, but you don't want drips either. I found doing 3 or so coats of clear and then sanding with 2k and then 3k and then the orbital polisher worked OK but it is still not as good as the original paint job in terms of reflections.
If you take on the task, I would do the moldings first. Since they can be done off the car it makes it easier (no masking). You can always sand them back down if you mess up.
The paint I used was from robertspaintcare.com, it is is Canada so was relatively close and shipping was free above $80 or something. I did e-mail them and ask about paint for an HVLP gun, they do offer it as well if you have some fancy tools (I have a friend that does, but did not go down that route). This was my first time painting a car, I did show a more experienced friend (one with the HVLP gun) and he was impressed with the colour match of the paint and did say my clear coat at least on the fender was a bit dull (needed another coat and maybe wet sand to remove orange peel).
I also bought paint for my Mazda, but I haven't gotten around to that yet (some small rust spots forming on the roof from chips).
Interesting about no clear coat from the factory, seems odd. I assumed pretty much all new cars have a clearcoat for protection and shine. I do still have a couple of scratches down to a white colour on the hood as well as few chips so I can confirm the primer colour.
I think my biggest concern will be how long it lasts. Again referencing my friend he mentioned the clear coats that have a separate hardener used in the guns are typically more durable than from the spray cans. I will update here after the winter to see how well it is holding up.
Windshield was replaced today, nice and clear now without the pitting. They did confirm the entire top was no longer sealed, so I guess this is where the water came in when I last washed it (thought it might be sunroof seals). It was also raining today, so I got to test the rain sensor out and it still works.
I just have one spot of rust to fix before winter on the passenger side fender, or I could leave it for now and fix up the fender I bought from the junk yard and paint the entire thing then swap it out.
Also heard another clunk when pulling into the driveway, will need some more investigation on that.. possibly still the strut bolt still not tight enough (do not want to break it!). Normal driving/turning I don't hear anything but there is a big lip going into my driveway.
Installed the elevate springs today. Took me about 4 hours.
I did not have to remove the ball joints on the front which was nice.
I kept the AWD spacers on the front.
I haven't moved the car since I finished.. taking a break first. I think the car may settle a bit after a drive. The rear lower than the front, I also have the KYB shocks in the rear.
I compared my car to MNIWT video (). It looks like my rear is even lower than his for some reason, I didn't even remove the rubber spring seats as he did.
My front looks normal compared with his, I didn't remove the spacer at the top of the strut mount, and mine does look a bit higher than his in the front.
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