XC90 durability?

[Roosterb]

I wash my MY17 XC90 most weekends. Yet the R Design wheels are already showing some corrosion see attached. The car is 19 months old with 22k miles.
Also, the piping on the seats is in a dumb place, ready to be worn away in such short time. The car goes in for service this week. Anyone else experienced similar?

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by Roosterb

I wash my MY17 XC90 most weekends. Yet the R Design wheels are already showing some corrosion see attached. The car is 19 months old with 22k miles.
Also, the piping on the seats is in a dumb place, ready to be worn away in such short time. The car goes in for service this week. Anyone else experienced similar?

I had similar corrosion on my Nissan Qashqai's wheel [only one of them] when it went in for its end of third year service in November. In fact I thought nothing of it and, having long experience of corroding alloy wheels, didn't mention it to the main dealer. They picked up on it and ordered a new wheel under warranty after taking a picture of it and sending it to Nissan for authorisation.
I've also got a top of the range C-RV which has just had its fourth birthday and its wheels are terribly corroded. Not so much the shiny diamond-cut bits seen in the picture and where my Nissan's problem was also, but more on the painted bits in between, especially the inner half of the rims and back of the spokes. The paint is coming away in sheets.

[4x4]

Diamond cut looks great when new and fantastic if you stay in Los Angelas or some other warm dry climate but sadly with the British climate and the salt spread during the winter months they don't last, better having a full powder coated wheel here in the UK

[Chief inspector]

My XC60 has similar piping and wheels, its nearly 3 years old, doesnt have either issue.

I just clean the seats with a damp micro fibre, and the wheels with nothing more than soapy water, the wheels are also coated with bilt hammer auto balm.

My piping does get discoloured from jeans etc., but gets cleaned off.

I would certainly raise a case on the wheels, I had an E class that looked like that very soon after delivery and I regret not getting it seen to as it just got worse.

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by 4x4

Diamond cut looks great when new and fantastic if you stay in Los Angelas or some other warm dry climate but sadly with the British climate and the salt spread during the winter months they don't last, better having a full powder coated wheel here in the UK

Its the powder coating that's coming away in sheets from my Honda's wheels. The shiny 'diamond cut' isn't too bad at all.

The best alloy wheels I've got are on a four year old Ford Ranger which look as good as new, and my 20 year old Land Cruiser which has lost some paint here and there but the alloy blends with the silver paint, so they still look fairly good.
I've never had any luck with Range Rover alloys. Those corroded like heck and so did the ones on the Audi Q7, which looked very shabby at six years of age.

The majority of alloy wheels just aren't made to last and look good for more than five years and many look bad by their fourth birthday. I was more than a little surprised when Nissan and the dealer volunteered to change my slightly corroded wheel. I was not concerned with it at all. However they refused to change the rear brake disks which were corroded beyond use at their third birthday and really had to be changed. By far the worse corroding brake disks I've ever seen.

[Quacker]

Thought you might like to see what exactly five year old alloys look like. These are on my Honda and have deteriorated drastically over the last 18 months. I'm half tempted to get them refurbished/resprayed. They were fine at three years of age.
I hope that Volvo wheels are more durable than these.

IMG_1608.jpg

IMG_1607.jpg

[Roosterb]

I had my last BMW wheels powder coated but not at 18 months!!

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by Roosterb

I had my last BMW wheels powder coated but not at 18 months!!

If you mean the ones in my pictures, they are five years old and looked OK until 18 months ago, from when they have peeled terribly.

I hope that the Volvo's wheels will look more like these Toyota wheels at the same age. These have only been periodically washed and the picture was taken when it was just over 19 years of age. I think you'll agree that they don't look too bad for their age.

DSC06836.jpg

20" Volvo wheels have the spokes forward of the wheel well, unlike 19" ones, which makes the 10 spoke Inscription standard ones more difficult to clean properly and possibly more corners where the spokes meet the rims for corrosion to start.

This is a picture of a Volvo 20" wheel. Its actually a stack of four wheels in front of each other, hence the multiple spokes in the background. The point I'm highlighting is that the well, which is the raised part where the valve is attached [seen at the bottom of the rim between the spokes], is not attached to the spokes. There is a gap between the spokes and the well which is virtually impossible to clean because the spokes are in the way. Also the back of the spokes are quite sharp edged and if corrosion starts to get a hold anywhere it is on sharp edges where the paint is thinnest.

What does this all mean? No idea except that they are unlikely to last as long as the Toyota wheels seen above but hopefully a good deal better than the Honda's, seen in previous pictures above.

P1020505.jpg

[vxf]

I have an 11-month old 2017 XC90.
I had to have the seats replaced due to premature wear.
The paint is very "soft" - for lack of a better word. So I have more chips and dents due to salt and gravel than on cars that were 10+ years old driven on the same roads.
But the wheels have held well. Go figure...

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by vxf

I have an 11-month old 2017 XC90.
I had to have the seats replaced due to premature wear.
The paint is very "soft" - for lack of a better word. So I have more chips and dents due to salt and gravel than on cars that were 10+ years old driven on the same roads.
But the wheels have held well. Go figure...

Odd isn't it. Mine is just coming up to a year old but only 12500 miles. Everything is like new but I have the standard Inscription Nappa seats with the later stitching type, which must help. Not seen a single stone chip on it yet.