after a few days of severe rainfall, i noticed condensation on the inside of the windshield. along with that nice mildewy smell. i felt under the drivers mat to a soaking wet floor. the next stop was the dealer on the way to work and he told me the details of clearing the clog. i let the dealer fix it, not having time or knowledge to do it myself. i left with a verbal quote of a couple hundred dollars. knowing when a dealer says, couple hundred, they actually mean 280-400. when i picked the car up yesterday, i was pleasantly shocked when the cashier asked for $95 and change. she must have read my face and thought that i was unhappy with the charge. i didnt question her, paid the bill and left pronto, not wanting it to be an error.


also, i just replaced my michelins cross terrains with the same. i got a little over 50k on the first set. is that about normal?... i read that these xc90s chew up tires like the ole ballplayers chewed tobaccy. by the way its a 04 xc90 t5 with approx 51k on the odometer.

 

Alignment. There are lots of folks that make alignment way too difficult. My advice is to make it easy on yourself and your XC. Personally I woudn't have the dealer do my alignment service. Alignment for the dealer is just part of his over-all business and not his life-blood. Yes, you may get a proper alignment, but how much did you just spend for your tires and are you willing to take that chance? The very best thing you can do is to take your vehicle (and that applies to ANY vehicle - they all have to go down the road the same way) to an alignment only shop. A shop that lives and dies by alignment will know exactly what it is doing, certainly more than a part-time shop. And stay away from one with a laser machine. There is nothing wrong with a laser machine and you may get a proper alignment, but remember, 1/16 of an inch at the front axle can be 3/8s or more at the rear because of the distance. In truth - ask any alignment specialist - alignment can be done correctly with a string line and a plumb bob. Within a couple of days of buying my XC new a year ago I took it in for alignment. Both the front and rear needed a little tweaking, nothing major, and the cost was about $50 for both axles. At 17K miles the OEM tires are just beginning to show signs of wear, and all four are wearing smooth and true. It looks like I'll get about 60-65K from them.