I recently noticed something odd on my 850. There is a 1 inch gap
between the bottom of the corner light and the fender on the passenger
side, but on the driver's side the corner light extends clear down to
the fender. Also there is a 1 inch gap between the little trim pieces
(below the headlights) and the bottom of the headlights on both
sides.
Are the fenders on the 850 also used on another Volvo model?
It looks like the trim below the headlights and the corner light
on the driver's side came from another Volvo model(?).

John

 

Hi John,

As to the gaps, it's hard to tell without a photo. I could very well be a wrong part, or there could be a misalignment somewhere. If the color is a perfect match for the rest of the body and if you don't see any trace of body work around there, it may just need to be aligned.

It seems like the pax-side corner light lens assy may be changed with wrong parts, if the driver-side is flush, measure them to see if they are of the same dimension. If you can find a junk yard near you and can find a 850, that would be great but my local junk yard only has very old Volvo only.

BTW, the front bumper on my black 850 is fading in colour. I spray-painted it with Duplicolour (not a recommended product), polished it with plastic polish but the spray paint seems to have been of lesser quality, so I'll have to try different brand next time.

Best regards,


JPN

 

Hi JPN,

I'm not sure what has been changed on this car. Dr Frankenstein
might have been the previous owner- maybe I should call it
"Frankenvolvo".
My best guess is that it has the wrong driver side corner light and
the wrong trim pieces under the headlights. The photos I've seen
show the bottom edge of the corner lights to be even with the
bottom edge of the headlights.My driver side corner light is larger
from top to bottom and extends below the headlight. I know the
headlights are correct because I had to replace one.
I think the trim pieces below the headlights are supposed to
wrap around the sides of the car and cover the gap below the
corner light- I just haven't found a close up photo where I could
verify this. Actually the larger corner light looks pretty good, if
you could install a headlight assembly that matches it would
probably look great.
I ordered a product called "Forever Black" that I found mentioned
on various forums. It is a carbon black based dye that is supposed
to be pretty durable. I was going to try Duplicolor sprays but I
wasn't sure about chipping/peeling in the future. It looks like most
of the other plastic restoration products wash off with the first
rain or deteriorate in a manner of days.
I don't know if a restoration product is actually necessary if you
can find a way to clean the plastic and rubber trim. The oxidation
should only be a thin surface layer in most cases, with fresh
plastic or rubber beneath it. I tried detergent on the black portion
of my front bumper using a scrub brush. This helped a lot. Then
I tried denatured alcohol, which did a better job. I followed that
by polishing (burnishing) the plastic with a dry paper towel.
This brought the black color back most of the way and it
hasn't oxidized back in a 4 week period. The only problems
with this is that you can't get down in little crevices in the plastic
and the denatured alcohol can impart a slightly whitish haziness
on the surface. I haven't had a chance to experiment any further
but the right cleaning product it might do the trick.
I saw a metallic burgundy 850 wagon the other morning with trim that looked like it had faded to a medium gray color. With that color
of trim and the sun shining on it the whole car just glowed. It really
stood out from all the cars around it.That was one of the prettiest
and classiest cars I've ever seen.

Best regards, John