C70 noob.

[Goit]

Hi All, picking up my first ever Volvo on Fri.

A 2007 2.4D C70

I know very little about these cars but have been trying to swot up on the forums.

Reading between the lines it looks like I would benefit from a few simple upgrades so I have a shopping list if anyone has any recommendations and where to buy.

Front strut brace
Tow bar (to tighten up the back end, not to tow anything dramatic)
Lowering springs (although I can see the consensus on these are the H&R springs, so a good place to buy from!)

And lastly but probably the most important and the first thing I want to do, is to get bluetooth into the car - primarily for hands free and playing music from my phone, I would still like to be able to use the steering controls to operate and don't really like parrot systems stuck on the dash. I don't care about satnav, dvd's, internet access etc Music & phone via steering controls, that's it.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

James.

[dme123]

The advice on a strut bar and tow bar related to the very floppy 1999-2004 C70, the 2006 onwards car is very stiff and doesn't need them.

Lowering and firming up the auspension is, IMHO, a fools errand on these cars. It is a diesel car that weighs 1800KG and has poor stiffness compared to a fixed top car. It will never be even remotely sporty, all you stand to do is make it less comfortable and capable on poor roads and consequently worse at what it is good at.

If it's done 90k+ replace the dampers. Consider a remap. Beyond that drive it and enjoy it.

[poiuytre111]

...and the audio mod is fiendishly difficult for the early cars - if not impossible. You could intercept the speaker wires via a changeover switch and fit your own kit but then you don't get steering wheel controls. To give you some idea, when I googled this, the most promising approach was to convert the audio signal to an i2s digital stream and insert it as if it came from the cd player.

[zapcity1]

I would concur on the lowering. DME is spot on as usual. Ride is hard enough with 18s. Can't imagine what it would be like lowered.

If you still want to lower, I'd consider changing the dampers as well. Standard dampers take a pounding, and aren't great with lowering springs. Best to get dampers specific for lowering but then you may as well switch to coilovers but that gets expensive!

I've used Eibach lowering springs in the past and they were very good. Damian @ DPM Perfomance really knows his stuff. Worth a call.

Some C70s come with a sort of strut brace. Its a device to damp out low frequency boom noise (to quote Clan), so cant see it bracing much as its very thin.

Useful thread here: -
http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...trut+brace+c70

You could always pick up one of these 2nd hand and fit, but don't know what it would achieve. Haven't seen a proper aftermarket strut brace for sale anywhere.

Can't help at all for bluetooth, I think its parrot or nothing. As poiuytre111 says, retrofitting is a nightmare. I love the old school feel!

Enjoy your car. You'll either love it or hate it. I love 'em!!

[phil1968]

I thought all 2nd generation C70s came with the strut brace? (correct me if I'm wrong). Also the C70 is already a very low car (try crawling underneath it ;-) lol), to lower it would introduce problems with ground clearance going over speed bumps etc. IMO.

[Goit]

Excellent, thanks for the replies - I could have been reading about the earlier models, as I said - no clue where to start. Wasn't lowering and stiffening for sportiness - just for ride quality and all the comments/reviews seemed to be ripping the handling of the car until they had these modifications done.

The stuff I had read was on about rattles from the front and a wallowy rear end.

I haven't even driven it properly yet, other than a long test drive. So maybe I should reserve judgement until I've actually driven it!

It has 52,000 on the clock so hopefully the dampers won't need touched

I did see a couple of options to replace the head unit like this: https://www.bluepower.se/en/product/...olvo/c70-2006/

Would be good to know if anyone has any experience of these - a bit pricey but I'm more concerned with fitting/reliability or even if there's a genuine Volvo option to install bluetooth.

[zapcity1]

Friend has a bluepower head unit in a V70.

It took some fitting and the bluepower support was very poor.

However, now its up and running its a very nice integrated system if seriously pricey.

[dcw]

Originally Posted by phil1968

I thought all 2nd generation C70s came with the strut brace? (correct me if I'm wrong). .

I think it was only the diesels (in which case the one mentioned by the OP should have one), which goes with Clan's explanation about it being more to do with sound deadening. My 2006 2.4 petrol didn't have one, and neither does my 2.4 (same engine) S40...

David

[poiuytre111]

My late 2006 T5 C70 has a strut brace. I read that Volvo later integrated the same strengthening member into the car's frame. My car doesn't need further stiffening so I would suspect the same is true of the later C70s.

[dme123]

2008 brochure shows the "rally bar" as standard fit on D5 and T5 only, and not in poverty "sport" spec.

An MTE remap transformed my manual C70 D5.