Vague Steering on 2001 v70 with Almathea wheels

Hi all,

The steering on my car is driving me mad, it tries to drive around potholes, white lines, or dives into irregulaties. Sometimes whilst correcting this in one direction, it throws me of in the opposite direction. This is getting hairy down narrow contry roads, with lorries coming the other way. Before I get the Volvo Dealer runaround, what could be causing this. It has done 24,000 miles, and has got gradually worse as the tyres have worn. Oh, and it has Pireeli p6000, 225/45 on Almathea Alloys

Cheers in advance....

Stuart

Stuart,

Interseting to find your comments, above. Last month I picked up a 2001 V70 SE with the same wheels / tyres as you mention and I too think the handling is a bit skittery over uneven surfaces.

I think it's a characteristic of the tyre size and profile, my friend has a BMW 328i with the same tyre size (although different make) and it is just as bad. This rules out the front wheel drive and the tyre manufacturer as the problem, although Pirelli are not top of the list these days by any matter of means.

My previous V70 had 195/60 tyres which were half the price and nicer to drive on. The new V70 is completely useless in the snow.

In saying all this, the new car does handle like a train on good dry roads - until you touch that white line.

Another point I can make is the 5 speed auto box in the 2001 car seems to hang onto the revs too long - anyone else noticed this ?


Hoots

Angus.

[liuleichan]

>My previous V70 had 195/60 tyres which were half the price
>and nicer to drive on. The new V70 is completely useless in
>the snow.

Narrower is always better in snow.

>Another point I can make is the 5 speed auto box in the 2001
>car seems to hang onto the revs too long - anyone else
>noticed this ?

Is the new box totally adaptive (apart from the winter setting)? In that there's not the economy and sports mode selection? In which case it's probably trying to do it's best to fit in. It's often modifyable (that a real word?) by software.

Also, I gather when the engine is relatively cold, the software tends to make the shift points at slightly higher in the rev range (in normal use - not full throttle!) to get the car warmed up quicker.

Lei Chan

Hi,

the vague steering has improved with new tyres, but is still very skittery. This would cause me not to buy another one.... Perhaps I need to junk the 17" wheels and go for a higher profile.. Wish the volvo dealer had warned me before I bought the option, come to think of it, he threw them in as part of the package, still pay in the long run though.

Anyone bought an import? what is your experience with prices?

As for the trannsmission, I find it is adaptive, the less throttle travel I use, the lower the change up values chosen, the more sprited I get, the higher the change up values. It learns....

Can be very frustrating after 10 miles of gentle driving when I need to overtake quickly, literally leaves the engine changing early and bogging down. Now, I resort to manual selection to hold the gears. But you can't do this to make it change earlier after a bit of a gunning!

Cheers
Stuart

[liuleichan]

>As for the trannsmission, I find it is adaptive, the less
>throttle travel I use, the lower the change up values chosen,
>the more sprited I get, the higher the change up values. It
>learns....
>
>Can be very frustrating after 10 miles of gentle driving when
>I need to overtake quickly, literally leaves the engine
>changing early and bogging down. Now, I resort to manual
>selection to hold the gears. But you can't do this to make it
>change earlier after a bit of a gunning!

I guess that's progress for you.

Personally I prefer the switchable modes, and semi-adaptiveness of the previous auto, as in my S70 (98 model).

Having the choice between the economy mode or the sports mode seems to me to have that greater degree of control for the driver - there's still some degree of interpretation by the 'box given the ruthlessness (or lack of) the throttle input.

I guess with the adaptive transmissions, you are always relying on the generosity or the cleverness of the gearbox ecu to correctly interpret your intents, from your throttle usage.

Just out of interest, how does your auto cope with long downhills? I'm sure I read something from a brochure (may have been from an 850 brochure, though - mind you, I thought that used the same auto box) that suggested that when in economy mode, the gearbox was supposed to detect downhills, and if appropriate select a gear that would provide some degree of engine braking. Personally I can't say I've noticed the phenomenon, although I don't often have it in economy mode for long periods (although I sometimes prefer it for more urban driving - less harsh if giving it some gas on roundabouts!), but to be absolutely fair, I'm not definitely sure it applies to the auto in my car.

Lei Chan

I certainly agree that the economy and sport modes were a better set up. I'll drive gently for a few miles and see if this improves things.

Another annoying difference is when sitting in traffic and edging along, the drive take-up seems to be in two stages. When sitting in D with your foot on the brake and you want to drive on, there is definately a slight but discernible clunk when the drive kicks in and then a second slight clunk after a deley (small but again noticeable) when you touch the throttle and the car moves off - normal or not ? The classic V70 auto just crawled off when the brake was released.

This vehicle has only covered 13k, maybe time for Volvo to have a look.

What kind of tyres did you put on, Stuart ?

Hoots.

[pettaw]

>Hi all,
>
>The steering on my car is driving me mad, it tries to drive
>around potholes, white lines, or dives into irregulaties.
>Sometimes whilst correcting this in one direction, it throws
>me of in the opposite direction. This is getting hairy down
>narrow contry roads, with lorries coming the other way. Before
>I get the Volvo Dealer runaround, what could be causing this.
>It has done 24,000 miles, and has got gradually worse as the
>tyres have worn. Oh, and it has Pireeli p6000, 225/45 on
>Almathea Alloys
>
>Cheers in advance....
>
>Stuart

I would definitely get the suspension alignment checked. You need a proper 4 - wheel system. One thats actually dynamic. Even the laser ones are taken on static readings. The only system I know that uses a dynamic system is the Hunter system. I don't know how you could find out which places use the Hunter Wheel Alignment, but if you're anywhere near NW London, Northway Tyres uses it.

Andy

Just done 10 miles in traffic testing this on the way to work, I only get a clunk shortly after the footbrake is released, I do not get another when the throttle is touched. Mine has done 26K.

However, when stationaery in traffic in Drive with the footbrake depressed, I do get a slight but dicernable clunk every 30 seconds as though the gearbox selects drive and then decides not to, a sort of routine test....

Having complained bitterly to Volvo about the steering, they said the tires were knackered and could only investigate if new but original spec tyres were fitted, so I went for Pirelli P6000 again. Guess what, the situation improved slightly, but the garage then said, yes they all do that, its the low profile you know.....! Wish I had tried something else now!

This really would put me off buying another...

Stuart

[liuleichan]

>Just done 10 miles in traffic testing this on the way to
>work, I only get a clunk shortly after the footbrake is
>released, I do not get another when the throttle is touched.
>Mine has done 26K.
>
>However, when stationaery in traffic in Drive with the
>footbrake depressed, I do get a slight but dicernable clunk
>every 30 seconds as though the gearbox selects drive and then
>decides not to, a sort of routine test....

Stuart / Angus

Regarding the auto behaviour in stop / start traffic - mine (AW 50-42LE, 4 speed auto in 98 S70) doesn't do any of that sort of thing with my foot on the footbrake.

It may be a feature of a newer gearbox, perhaps. I've driven other autos that do what this appears to be - ie when in drive, with the footbrake applied for a period, the gearbox "decides" to disengage the gear - odd, really. They seem to cite fuel economy as the reason - which seems odd, really, 'cos surely at idle (or a little over) there's not much being used. And from what I understand it's better for the health of the gearbox for the torque convertor to be swishing, rather than the gearbox moving from drive to neutral, and back again (where I gather much of the wear comes from - after all, this is when the internal clutches will be used).

All that's happening if you hold an auto in drive (assuming it doesn't "intelligently" engage neutral) is that a bit of heat in generated in the transmission fluid - assuming healthy conditions, and not being OTT for periods, there's nothing worrying about that.

What gearbox is fitted to the newer models? Do you know the manufacturer and model number? Is it still an Aisin Warner?

>Having complained bitterly to Volvo about the steering, they
>said the tires were knackered and could only investigate if
>new but original spec tyres were fitted, so I went for Pirelli
>P6000 again. Guess what, the situation improved slightly, but
>the garage then said, yes they all do that, its the low
>profile you know.....! Wish I had tried something else now!
>
>This really would put me off buying another...

Volvo? Or car with lower profile wheels / tyres?

Lei Chan

My 2001 V70 T5 has exactly the same problem - it has only done 13k miles and the problem appears to be getting worse as the car ages. I have found that running the tyres at higher pressures does help a bit - I now run them at max recommended (41psi). I spoke to the Volvo dealer about this and they say that they all suffer from this problem. I'm not so sure I'd agree, because I never noticed it on any of the cars that I test drove before I bought this one. I do feel that a change of tyre may (or may not) help a lot, but I'm not prepared to shell out for four new tyres just yet. When I do, I think I'm going to give Michelin Pilot Sport A/S a try - they get good mentions on some other Volvo forums.