BLUE - 2017 Volvo V40 T2 R-Design Progress Thread

[Petey80]

The fabric floor mats I ordered also showed up later today.







Not too bad quality. Don't feel as good as the OE Volvo mats, but I'm still happy with them. The Swedish flag gel badge is a nice touch. In its own mount so to speak and punched into the mat, so is nice and sturdy.

Had a bit of a shock when I saw just the holes in the mats. "Where are the clips??!!" Turned the bag over and there they were..... Phew!!



Put the clips on the mats and got to putting them in the car.

Passenger side rear



Drivers side rear before/after



Passenger side front before/after



Drivers side front before/after



Happy with those, so I'll keep them in until the wet weather starts and then the rubber floor mats I got will go in.

[Petey80]

The Volvo V40 Crew window decals were delivered today.



Of couse, as usual, I had to have them put straight on.

Gave the windows a quick clean with the Gyeon glass cleaner and set to putting them on.

Drivers side rear



Passenger side rear



Ideally I would've preferred plain white, but the group only did them in oil slick as that was the most sought after type when they were originally created.

They aren't too in your face though, probably because they are quite a thin pattern.

[Petey80]

Didn't have much to do tonight, so as the summer nights are so long I decided to again wash the car.
This was the 2nd time in a week.

It wasn't "that" dirty, just a bit of dried on dust & pollen along with bug splatter on the front end.

Was on my own so didn't have a time constraint, so did a bit more on the stuck on tar and hit the tailpipes again. They're pretty bad and I'm not sure if there's any coming back for them??? But I'll keep on at them, hopefully they'll come back to an acceptable level.

Anyway, no wash pictures just edited clean pictures this time.















Really nice car to clean, a lot easier that the V50. I keep seeing more marks on the paintwork everytime I wash it so it will need a bit of correction at some point. I am thinking about taking it a detailer at some point I think.

Back to work on Tuesday, so updates may be slow.

Nothing more ordered for her at the moment other than some black letters for the boot. I've got "V40" coming from Amazon, that's going to take ages as it's coming from China. I then saw a post on the V40 FB Group where someone had ordered letters from AliExpress. So, I thought I'd give it a go.
See how long it takes and what kind of quality they are. They didn't have T2 so I ordered "T3" and "D2" so will end up with "T2" and "D3". I might be able to sell the "D3" on to someone who has one??
For just over £8, hopefully they'll be alright. They're coming in a glossy black.

Another thought I have is to purchase a front splitter at some point. The Maxton Design splitter looks very nice, but with a £180 price tag, it's going to cost me some overtime to afford. I'll keep looking at possible alternatives, or might just end up treating her/me.
The splitter comes finished in gloss black, ready to go straight on, so that makes things easier.

Actually, I have ordered 1 more thing....... A set of heavy duty universal mud flaps.... They should be here the end of next week so will have them installed shortly after receiving them.

[Petey80]

After putting just the rear number plate holder on and seeing all the old sticky pads and glue residue behind it, I needed to order more Tar & Glue remover as I finished the Car Chem bottle getting almost all the tar and glue off the cars body work.

I opted for some by GTechniq.



I was already aware of this brand and had heard good things, so after a quick search on Amazon and this being one of the top results, I thought I'd give it a go. Can't complain for under £10 delivered.

So that's me well armed for when the insurance claim etc. is finished and I can put my personal registration onto Blue.

Also tonight, Blue got down to 75 miles to an empty tank and the light came on. Thought it was a good idea to put some in, so only put £20 in for now as I'm going to Ray Chapman's on Tuesday again, so will brim the tank then before I set off.

So, from last Tuesday when I went to York, up until tonight I got the below on a full tank, taking it fairly easy and changing gear when indicated to on the dash.

510 miles plus a bit more if I pushed it to a full tank!!???!! WOW!!



My V50 D2 didn't get that much.

Overall average miles per gallon was;



48mpg - happy with that and an average speed of 36mph.

Further updates will come next week now after I've been to Volvo for the brake fluid change.

Still waiting on a prancing moose badge/sticker, a keyring, a set of mud flaps and the glossy black lettering from AliExpress.

[Petey80]

The mud flaps I ordered off e-bay came at the end of last week.





Just standard heavy duty ones.

I don't like the molded type as they protrude onto the bumper and I don't like the thought of having water sitting in them on the paintwork.

The arches of the V40 look nice and flat so I hope to fit these nice and flush. Further updates when I get chance to install them. Might not be until August though when I have a few weeks off work.

I've already had a look and there's 3 arch screws that I'll use to fix them to the car and then decide whether I cut them down or use some form of self tapping screw the long elongated part that goes up the arch.

[Petey80]

After washing the car last time, it ended up lashing it down, so I thought I'd take the opportunity for some beading shots.

Just close up ones though.





Beading brought to you by SONAX Brilliant Shine Detailer. Quite a decent product to be fair so will get some more as I finished the bottle.

[Petey80]

I again this morning visited Ray Chapman Volvo in York for a brake fluid change.

It was picked up by the Health Check that there was a bit too much moisture in the fluid, so at £60, I thought I'd give them a shot at a little bit of work on Blue.

Got there at 8:20am and just over an hour later I was on my way.

Another nice leisurely drive down was had and when I got back I again checked the trip readings.

The overall left to the tank was more than last time by 30 miles;



Blue also managed an extra 3mpg on the previous journey;



Whilst I was waiting, I spoke to the parts guy and got prices on general service items and also sets of discs and pads



I feel the price of discs isn't too bad, but I've seen a nice set of Brembo's I might get instead. The rears are 280mm which is standard for most smaller Volvo's and the fronts are for the 300mm discs that Blue has.

The price of the pads though, I thought they were quite pricey. There are a lot of other, possibly better branded pads you can get that don't cost as much as that.

General service part prices are expected, except for the price they charge for 6 litres of oil.
Compared to the Castrol I bought, I'm a bit gutted I paid so much. 6 Litres from a dealer is way cheaper so I will probably just get future oil supplies from them.

I don't need an air filter ever again as I've got a Pipercross filter in. The oil filter is double the price of the alternative BOSCH filter I've bought. Again, the pollen/particulate filter is double the price of the BOSCH item and the fuel filter I haven't looked into yet.
And I guess the gasket is the washer for the sump. I might just buy a shed load off them rather than trying to figure out what size I need.

[Petey80]

I ordered gloss black lettering for the boot of Blue from Amazon and also AliExpress.

Fortunately they all showed up today, all at once, which was quite surprising as the AliExpress stuff stated the end of July and the end of August.

The first to arrive was the V40 from Amazon





This one even came with a little removal tool and also a little cloth, which I originally thought was part of the packaging.

And the pictures above were the last allowable ones to that account, even though it says you can have 1,000 and I've got 504 in it....
Not to worry, another e-mail account and Flickr account was created so I will carry on.

The AliExpress letters turned up shortly after the Royal Mail postie





I got D2 and T3 as the seller didn't have a T2 option. Not really an issue as they were all less than £10 delivered.

All of them together



They all seem to be really good quality to be fair. The V40 and T3 came in Volvo packaging and the D2 in its own.
Not sure if the former are official Volvo items, but I can tell the difference between them and the D2 as it's a little heavier.

The Volvo packed items have a plastic cover over them so I'm not sure if the glossiness matches the D2, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

Will get them all stuck on after the next wash...... or maybe later this afternoon...??

[Petey80]

As I didn't have to start work until noon, I decided to de-badge and re-badge blue with the glossy black lettering I got from AliExpress.

Before



Started with the "V40" first. Hit it with the hair dryer for a few minutes, then used the prising tool that came with my order



They popped off with ease. Bit of a naff photo with the blurry tool, wasn't in the shot when I took it...



I then moved onto the other side and gave the "T2" the same treatment





A little bit of glue residue was left over, which was expected. So, out came the GTechniq Tar and Glue Remover



I sprayed the entire boot area as there was still the odd tar spot on the paintwork and put a little bit extra over the leftover residue.
I then put some cotton make-up remover pads on, then soaked them in T&G Remover





Left that to soak in for 5 minutes, then wiped the area clean.



Blue was pretty much de-badged, except for the R-Design badge. Not really a fan of the fully de-badged back end on the V40. It just looks a little too bare for me.
I could maybe go as far as removing the model and engine badges, leaving the Volvo on, but with the car being the colour it is, I just knew I had to keep them, but change them to black.

What is usually considered a bit of pain, was helpful for me in this instance. After removing the chrome lettering, they had left marks on the boot as they'd been on for so long and obviously weathered the paintwork.
Normally, if you're fully debadging, it would be time to bring out the polish. However, I used the shadowing (or whatever you like to call it) in aiding me to refit the black letters in exactly the same place.



The only issue that arose was the fact that the black letters weren't spaced like the original ones. So I had to cut them down so they could be placed over the marks from the OE ones.





Just about managed to get all the letters in exactly the same position.

I hate to say it and you might be able to see it, or at least you will once I point it out.

The "2" is a mm or 2 too low to where the OE one used to be..... damnit!! Not to worry though, it's hardly noticeable...

After that I am now left with "D3" in black, so will try to give those away to someone with a D3.



Applied plenty of pressure to the new ones, left them for a while, applied some more pressure then took the covers off.



Really happy with how they turned out





Full rear end shot



I think it looks loads better with the black lettering. Happy to leave the chrome VOLVO on as well. Some have also gone black there, but black on black...... nar, you can't see it and I'm happy to display the VOLVO branding.

[Petey80]

A couple of things I ordered from a fellow Volvo owner/group member showed up today just before I left for work.

V40 Key ring and Moose badge







Fantastic quality and happy I received them. They were posted ages ago, 2nd class and took 2 weeks to arrive.......

The key ring is on and the moose badge will be placed next to the R-Design badge at the first opportunity.