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New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

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Old Jun 28th, 2020, 22:33   #1321
Othen
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I have to agree Alan, the 18" wheels will be more form than function in many respects. One of the popular mods on the Rover is to fit the 17" wheels from the Vitesse Turbo model. However for anyone with even slight back trouble, it doesn't stay popular for long as the ride becoms harsh and choppy.
Instead of getting out after a long journey feeling like you've just got in, you feel like the first port of call needs to be a chiropractor followed by an undertaker!

Changing to 16" gives the opportunity to increase the aspect ratio and therfore the sidewall height which makes for a much more comfortable ride. Also 205/55/16 tyres are a lot cheaper than 215/40/18s or whatever they are on it (just guessing at the 18s size) so maybe finding a set of Skoda (or other VAG) 16" alloys would be a better option. Keep the 18s in case you sell it.

Just spotted your PS's, good news the bubble test found the leak, i thought it would be near some kerb damage. Moisture gets under the lacquer and paint and lifts it, corroding the aluminium underneath which then grows crystals causing leaks.

Good news on finding someone to do the job, how much is he charging if you don't mind me being nosey?
The standard tyres are 225/40R18, they look quite cool but are a bit noisy and, well, probably just too wide. I'm happy enough to get the wheels sorted out and re-fit them, generally I'm very content indeed with the car and I like keeping things the way the maker intended (even if the reason was more for looks than function).

The chap is going to refurbish the wheels for £160 - that is less than I paid for a set of wheels to be powder coated 15 years ago. I think that is a bargain - we'll see how well it turns out. I might go for a slightly darker colour (grey instead of silver).

I think it will be a good solution getting the 18" wheels properly powder coated (the original paint finish is rather poor and VAG wheels are known to suffer from corrosion), the tyres (all nearly new - I always replace them with original specification Continental) re-fitted and returned to the car for the summer months, whilst keeping a good set of steel wheels with winter tyres for Nov-Mar is a really good one.

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself for finding a really good set of steel wheels and winter tyres, plus dovetailing in the refurbishment of the alloy wheels (which I knew needed doing one day) and solving that irritating slow puncture all in one neat sequence of events. If all goes to plan the whole thing will cost just £220 (plus a bit of diesel and some of my time).

As I told John recently: being a tightwad is something to be proud of :-)

Alan

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Old Jun 29th, 2020, 09:43   #1322
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As I told John recently: being a tightwad is something to be proud of :-)

Alan
It wasn't a bad guess when i guessed the tyre size then.

There is an argument that the lower the unsprung weight and the shorter the sidewall height, the better the handling and roadholding. However life is a compromise and there is a point, often a very fine line between a harsh ride and a comfortbale one with good handling and roadholding.
If our roads were glass-smooth, 18" wheels wouldn't be a problem for you but as they're not, all the money VAG spent on creating the suspension system is nullified by the fact they've gone for 18s when 16s would give a much nicer ride.

That aside, i think this is the ultimate tightwad :


Start ^^^^^


Sanding down the front ^^^^^


More sanding ^^^^^


Tyre off and primed ^^^^^


Top coats inc lacquer and tyre back on, on the car ^^^^^


Part-way through centre cap refurb ^^^^^


The finished article! ^^^^^ Just another 4 wheels and 3 centre caps to do!

Cost so far, about £40 but i can use some of the materials on the other wheels so total cost likely to be about £60-80. The rest is my own efforts/time and the next wheel won't be sanded back so much!
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Old Jun 29th, 2020, 10:02   #1323
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Nice turn around with the wheels, they would have looked awesome if the alloy was polished and clear lacquered

This was an Audi wheel I did a few years ago with some kerb rash. Dry sand, wet sand 400/1200/2000 grade. Solvol Autosol then etch primer and lacquer
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Old Jun 29th, 2020, 10:46   #1324
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Nice turn around with the wheels, they would have looked awesome if the alloy was polished and clear lacquered
Thanks, that was my original intention until i discovered Volvo had rough cast them in the first place (hence the heavy coats of high-build primer then flatting originally) and if you look in my second and third pics above, you can see evidence of the rough casting (the mottled effect and various "scratches" across the surface) which didn't lend itself to mirror polishing and neither does the design of the Omega wheels.

No idea what sort of alloys Alan has on his Skoda but i expect we'll see some before and after pics - hint, hint Alan!
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Old Jun 29th, 2020, 13:54   #1325
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Laird Scooby View Post
It wasn't a bad guess when i guessed the tyre size then.

There is an argument that the lower the unsprung weight and the shorter the sidewall height, the better the handling and roadholding. However life is a compromise and there is a point, often a very fine line between a harsh ride and a comfortbale one with good handling and roadholding.
If our roads were glass-smooth, 18" wheels wouldn't be a problem for you but as they're not, all the money VAG spent on creating the suspension system is nullified by the fact they've gone for 18s when 16s would give a much nicer ride.

That aside, i think this is the ultimate tightwad :


The finished article! ^^^^^ Just another 4 wheels and 3 centre caps to do!

Cost so far, about £40 but i can use some of the materials on the other wheels so total cost likely to be about £60-80. The rest is my own efforts/time and the next wheel won't be sanded back so much!
I think that is an excellent job Dave - if you get the whole thing done for £80 that will be an absolute bargain - and might just put you at the top of the Volvo Forum Tightwad Table... at least for a while.

I'm guessing you have a friendly tyre fitter to assist?

Alan
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Old Jun 29th, 2020, 13:55   #1326
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Nice turn around with the wheels, they would have looked awesome if the alloy was polished and clear lacquered

This was an Audi wheel I did a few years ago with some kerb rash. Dry sand, wet sand 400/1200/2000 grade. Solvol Autosol then etch primer and lacquer
Well,that is remarkable indeed - well done.

Alan
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Old Jun 29th, 2020, 14:00   #1327
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Thanks, that was my original intention until i discovered Volvo had rough cast them in the first place (hence the heavy coats of high-build primer then flatting originally) and if you look in my second and third pics above, you can see evidence of the rough casting (the mottled effect and various "scratches" across the surface) which didn't lend itself to mirror polishing and neither does the design of the Omega wheels.

No idea what sort of alloys Alan has on his Skoda but i expect we'll see some before and after pics - hint, hint Alan!
My wheels are the 'trinity' design, here is a not very good 'before' photo from when I dropped them with the chap this morn::



He says they will be ready in 3-5 days, so I hope to have some nice 'after' photos by about the end of the week.

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Old Jun 29th, 2020, 14:11   #1328
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It wasn't a bad guess when i guessed the tyre size then.

There is an argument that the lower the unsprung weight and the shorter the sidewall height, the better the handling and roadholding. However life is a compromise and there is a point, often a very fine line between a harsh ride and a comfortbale one with good handling and roadholding.
If our roads were glass-smooth, 18" wheels wouldn't be a problem for you but as they're not, all the money VAG spent on creating the suspension system is nullified by the fact they've gone for 18s when 16s would give a much nicer ride.
I didn't bother weighing them, but I really doubt there is any weight saving between a 205/55R16 tyre on a steel wheel and 225/40R18 on an alloy one, so the unsprung weight issue will not be significant. The shorter, and therefore stiffer sidewall argument is probably valid, but the counter is that the very wide tyre acts like a drum and amplifies road noise.

I agree with you Dave, VAG would have spent millions tuning the suspension - and largely wasted it by fitting fashion accessory wheels. I didn't have any choice of wheels when I bought my Skoda (new) - it was the Elegance model and they all came with 18" alloy wheels and 40% aspect ratio tyres, but in hindsight (a wonderful thing) I'd probably have asked the garage to downgrade the wheels to 16" steel and had far fewer punctures, cheaper replacement tyres, better fuel consumption, a quieter ride, better handling and I wouldn't be paying £160 to have them re-painted now:-)
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Old Jun 29th, 2020, 14:29   #1329
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I think that is an excellent job Dave - if you get the whole thing done for £80 that will be an absolute bargain - and might just put you at the top of the Volvo Forum Tightwad Table... at least for a while.

I'm guessing you have a friendly tyre fitter to assist?

Alan


Errrrr, yeah - me!
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Old Jun 29th, 2020, 14:44   #1330
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I didn't bother weighing them, but I really doubt there is any weight saving between a 205/55R16 tyre on a steel wheel and 225/40R18 on an alloy one, so the unsprung weight issue will not be significant. The shorter, and therefore stiffer sidewall argument is probably valid, but the counter is that the very wide tyre acts like a drum and amplifies road noise.
Alloy wheels are a lot lighter than their steel counterparts Alan, i'll try and get out (without being blown away) later to weigh a steel rim and a corresponding alloy.

The other thing with very wide tyres is that they can "tramline" along ridges in the road easier than narrower tyres and are more susceptible to road camber changes.
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