I live a half hour from Norfolk. I'm assuming you're talking about Phillips Volvo? My father in law bought his S80 there and I have a good friend who sells cars there. They have a good reputation. Do you know which location the car is at? If it's the Hampton location I can have my buddy take a look at it for you. He's an old school Volvo guy and will give you the straight scoop. He autocrosses an old brick. If the car is at the Virginia Beach location I don't know anybody working there, but I can still have him call over and get the scoop. I'll be by the computer til 5:00 EST, if you reply by then and want me to make the call, I will.

 

Where do you live Octane? I live in Rich, VA. JimKW, I didn't think they made white R's, but I could be wrong. Tech, I am the same way, I can't get a car in the driveway before I start modifying it.

 

Jim, do you want us to comment on your last paragraph or should we just let it ride.........................
Lastly, hurry up and purchase an auto..................its like waiting for the other shoe to drop............or your bride to drop you.

 

Yes they did make White 850R's you can tell it is an R because the bottom of the trunk spoiler has a Grey section.

 

They made white R's in 96 and 97. I have looked at several of them on Autotrader. If I don't buy a car tomorrow something is really wrong. I am flying in to Norfolk, but the dealership is the one in Virginia Beach. I will have a choice between the white one and a black one. He said the white one is the better of the two, but (always a but) it does not have R wheels. It has 15 inch wheels, and my son said that is not an R unless it has R wheels. That's what makes it an R. Now the black one has the R wheels, and the dealer said don't even try to talk him into switching the wheels. Now I do have a set of 4 94 850 Turbo wheels in the basement, but I don't think I want them on my R either. I don't know what I will do, but I know I will be trying to get some better wheels on it if I can. I guess I should take my laptop to I can keep in touch with you guys. NOT.

Now what's bugging me is that AutoTrader said it was 434 miles away, but when I map it on Mapquest, it's telling me 614 miles. That's a hell of a difference.

 

That sucks that the white one doesn't have the R wheels. I bet the white with grey wheels looks good. I agree with your son. My favorite part of the R was always the wheels and colors. Tech said the 18" R wheels are pretty cheap though (although I don't think the 18's are grey), you could get those and maybe even try and get him to cut a deal on them since your buyin a car and flying out there. I asked the parts dept. here and they said $305 a piece, I saw his cost was like $250 a wheel. Does that sound right Tech? I would expected them to be cheaper from what you were saying.

 

This guy told me there is a place in Eerie where you can good deals on the Volvo wheels, or on E-bay. He also said he knows a guy that has a set of them he took off his R and is keeping them for his next car. He was going to call him and see if he would sell them. I told him I don't want to buy other wheels I want to swap whats on there for ones I like. So I have already greased the skids so to speak on the wheel situation.

 

I had to replace one under warranty about 6-8 months ago and it was like $160.00 a wheel.
The price must have jumped big time.We were even joking about it in the parts dept.We said you can buy 2 R rims fro the price of the regular 17 wheel that came on the S60.

 

Damn!!!, if I knew that I would have bought a bunch of sets for myself and eBay!!!

 

I hear you but in never really came up till now.

 

Ok I bought the white 1997 850 R, but you guys are nothing but trouble makers!

I got a good deal on the car for $6500 w/o the R wheels. Then his buddy comes over with a set of R wheels with Yokohama tires on them with less than 5,000 miles. The wheels look in real good shape too. He was in a hurry and would not take any less so I asked him to leave them there and they will either be there when he comes back or there will be a check for $1,000. Then my son called me and I could hear was you got to get the wheels, and then Knight Rider saying I agree with you son about it not being an R w/o the R wheels. I bought the wheels too. I just got home and cleaned both my Volvo's all up. My son is one his way over. I'm having him put the new wheels on. I drove it home (603.5 miles) with the 15" wheels on it. It's a really nice car and it drove great.

 

Sorry to be an instigator Jim, but I gaurantee you will be happy everytime you walk up to unlock your car. The wheels just set the car off. I bet the white w. grey rims looks great. Are they the 5 spoke or 7 spoke? Post some pics. I think you got a good deal with low mileage tires. Glad you got yourself a goof car. And I assume the wifey is ok with the color. How is the performance compared to the other 850 you had? How does the suspension feel?

 

Yes it looks great, but I am having some trouble with the brakes. When I came home I heard some growling sound with vibration. Now that we put the R wheels on it, it seems worse. I read some other older posts on this board where other people had the same problems. The problem is nobody every posted what they did to fix it. It seems like Tech thinks it's a rotor problem. Mind seems to coming from the rear of the car and it's like running over rumble strips. When you step on the brakes real hard it does not do it, but you have to step on them lightly to get it started then it will keep on doing it. There is some brake squeaking also. It's almost almost like baas through the whole car.

 

When you get a chance look at the pads and see if it has the half shims on them.If it doesn't buy a set and put them on.If that doesn't fix it it is rotors.
It only does it when it is hot?

 

I don't know if it's only when hot or not. I'll try it tomorrow when I first start out. It does not do it all the time. How do I look for shims? I have new front and rear pads for the 94 that I never put on. Are they the same pads for the 97 and 98? I don't think the pads come with shims and I looked at the pads and do not remember seeing shims. Would they be obvious?

 

The shims are used only on the rear pads. If you purchased aftermarket pads then you did not get new shims. If the previous owner replaced the rears with aftermarket, he/she probably through away the stainless steel shims. Volvo sells them.

 

The shims go between the back of the pad and the caliper.
A new set of pads will come with a full set of shims but you will need to try the half shims.
You will have to buy a set to install.
Yes the pads are the same between the 94 to the 98.

 

Tech, do you take the full shims off and put in half shims or do you both? I talked to the guy I bought it off of and he said to have the rotors turned slightly mainly to remove the glaze and if that doesn't work he will hook me up with new rotors that he will send to me. I told him I have a son that can put them on. I will probably buy the half shims and have the rotors turned at the same time.

 

Congrats on the purchase Jim! Post pics!!

Knight Rider, I'm in Portsmouth.

 

You remove the full shims and install the half shims.
If the rotors are Volvo DONT TURN THEM it will make them worse.