BLUE - 2017 Volvo V40 T2 R-Design Progress Thread

[Kev0607]

Originally Posted by Petey80

Ah was I. I went to Partington for them.

I have a really good wheel refurbishment place near me that I've used before so will be taking them there. It'll be £270 for all 4 and will be getting them done in some form of high power/bright silver.

The wheels aren't too bad, but not great either. Bad paint, few marks on them. I had every intention on getting them refurbed with new tyres before they go on the car.

The OE Volvo ones that are on at the moment are just 17 inch. Don't want to sell them, just in case you know and I might even throw some winter tyres on them????

Yeah, I'm happy with that MPG, like I said though, I was only cruising at 65mph there and back.

There's a Volvo meet in York on 26th May if you're up for a drive out?

Yeah, having a set spare for winter is no harm. They can get grubby and it doesn't matter!

I've already got plans on that date unfortunately, but maybe sometime that doesn't clash with something else. I went to a car show last year in Tatton Park, Knutsford (not sure if you know it). The show wasn't Volvo only though, but it was great to see all marques of cars. Some of the American stuff was stunning... the big Lincoln's and Chevy's. There were a few Volvo's too... 740's, 940's and Amazon's to name but a few. Awesome to see.

Blue is looking good as always.

[Petey80]

As per my previous post, I got a full set of rubber mats at a very decent price and hardly any wear on them.

I hardly have passengers in the rear so decided to just leave the cloth mats in there and clean up the front mats.



Out came the G101 all purpose cleaner and a detailing brush



All rinsed off and dried with a microfibre cloth



And looking as good as new.

Stuck them in the car and after fully drying, they looked a bit naff still..... So I made a slightly stronger dilution of G101 and cleaned them again, then gave them a coating of Aerospace 303 plastic and rubber protectant.

Let that soak in for a bit, then wiped dry with a cloth.

Finished and in

Passenger Side



Drivers Side



They turned out much better. Dead pleased with them.

[Petey80]

As the new to me 18inch Jag wheels don't have the same centre cap size as the Volvo wheels, I had to find some new ones.

Good old e-bay came to the rescue once I had a definitive answer on the dimensions of the Jag centre caps (58mm face and 50mm internal clip).

Sourced a full set of plain black centre caps for £10



They felt the same size when sized up to one of the Jag centre caps



Took one of the wheels out and stuck one in



Perfect, snug fit.

Then I had to source some Volvo stickers to go on the top of them. There were 3 different types that came out in the search, again on e-bay. A silver set, a black set from the likes of the V50/S40 & C30 and a newish style.

Didn't like the newish style as they were also black, and didn't like the older style as they were black and I'm going bright silver with the wheel refurb. So I decided on the silver stickers.



They were delivered today for the measly sum of £7.50 and are actually pretty decent quality. Slightly domed so followed the curve of the centre cap. Feel really strudy as well.

Got them stuck to the centre caps and again, they fit like a dream



Then of course, had to check them out on the wheels themselves, so unbagged one and





I think they look pretty darn good if I do say so myself. The stickers still have a plastic cover on them, hence the dodgy look to them. I won't take those off until the wheels are done.

I'm also contemplating putting a layer of resin over the top of them as the wife has recently started making things with resin. That would help keep them in good shape and add that little extra touch to them.

[Kev0607]

The centre caps look great!

[Petey80]

I had Blue booked in for her MOT this morning, so arrived promptly at the test centre



The owner came out shortly after taking the picture and got cracked on straight away putting her through her paces.

Had a bit chit chat with him whilst he was doing it, always good to be friendly with your local tester.

After about 30 minutes, it was all done.

A little bit of a hairy moment when he drove onto the ramp lift as I thought the splitter was going to catch the jacking equipment located in the centre of it...... thankfully it didn't....

"All done, beautiful, fantastic car you have there, lovely colour."

Why thank you Mr Tester, I KNOW!!!



Full clean sheet. Not a single advisory.

Asked if there was anything untoward or anything I need to keep an eye on and he said "No, nothing at all. Lovely and clean and I can see the discs and pads have been done. Tyres are all good with plenty of tread" etc. etc.

He expressed his pleasure at the fact he could sail through the test as it was in such good condition.

Dead pleased with the compliments and the outcome.

Also renewed my car insurance and it had only increased by £50!!???!! So a good day all round.

[Kev0607]

Congrats on the MOT pass. Its a great feeling when you tinker on cars yourself, or do as much as you can DIY without bringing it to a garage for repair and it sails through an MOT. It makes it all worthwhile!

[Petey80]

Not much has happened since the MOT, gave her a wash on Sunday night and then finished a few little bits on Monday morning.

Put everything away, then went back to the car as I had received these stickers



A bit smaller than I thought they were going to be. I maybe need to read the listing a bit better.

But anyway, I was presented with this monstrosity!!!



GROSS!!!! It was quickly removed and the window cleaned........

I then went back to finding a place to stick one of those stickers too...... and came up with here.



Didn't want to go mad and start putting them everywhere on the interior as there's enough R-Design stuff on the inside as it is.
I was hoping they were going to be maybe twice the size or so, I would have then placed one on the front splitter in place of the black "R" badge as that's looking a bit worse for wear right now. I do have another one as I did think it would become quite weathered being placed where it is, so will have to put something on it like laquer to see if it holds out a bit longer.

Along with those little stickers, I also ordered a couple of other bits.

Some yellow wheel nut covers for when I get those 18's sorted





Quite happy with these. They aren't a bright chrome yellow, a little darker but do have a little shine to the faces. 19mm and fit really well.

I then got some cloths as well.





Very strange material. Listing said microfibre, but they feel weird and are quite thin. Again, I didn't read the listing properly and thought they'd be a little plusher....... Only a couple of quid so no big issue really. Not found a use for them yet though. Will maybe test one out on the wifes car, see what they're like on the glass.

And another set of detailing brushes



Feel like you can never have too many detailing brushes.

And lastly.

Rear springs by Eibach.

I purchased some for my old V50 aaaaages ago when they were dirt cheap, but obviously never fit them as I didn't have any for the front and read up that it's not a good idea to just lower one end of a car. Stability issues arise supposedly.

I had a feeling that these must fit the V40 as looking at the Eibach web pages and comparing the V40 kit you can get against the V50, C30 & S40 kit you can get, they both had the same part number for the rear spring.

I also eventually managed to obtain pictures of the rear springs from other V40 members when they had removed them from their own car or had recently bought a new kit.

So, here are the springs that I have



Here is a picture of a set that someone had removed from their car



Here is a picture of a set that someone has recently bought and not yet fitted



As you can see, all 3 springs have the same 118400607HA part number. The only discrepency is the 2 letters after the Eibach logo further up the spring.

Mine are E/T, the ones removed from a car are G/T and the new set that was recently purchased by someone I know are K/M

So I've fired off an e-mail directly to Eibach to see if I can get some answers.

Hopefully I won't need to buy new rear springs and will just get some fronts in the future and I know which ones to get as they are weight dependent. There are 2 different ones available depending on required axle weight.

Ones with the same part number as the rears - https://www.eibachshop.co.uk/product...0-84-006-07-22 - that accomodate for a front axle weight of up to 1140kg and lower the car 30mm

And another set - https://www.eibachshop.co.uk/product...0-84-006-14-22 - that have the same rear spring part number, but a different front spring part number. These are to accomodate for a front axle weight of up to 1020kg and lower the car 30mm again.

I also plan to eventually upgrade all the shocks to Bilstein B6's and I already have new Bilstein front top mounts, so will just get the rear top mounts when needed. Pretty sure they are the same ones that fit a V50, C30 & S40.