Hi all, I've recently purchased a 2008 C30 1.0, and I'm looking to start modifying it. I'm very new to part buying, so any advice is welcomed. Per the title, the first things I want to modify are my wheels, tires, and intake. I currently have 17x7 wheels, and I want more contact patch so I'm wanting 17x8 or possibly 18x8 wheels. Enkei VR5's are the wheels I'm primarily looking at, and they're 17x8 so I'm fairly sure they will fit. Will 18x8's fit? I do love these wheels, and the prices are really good on them. I'd like to wrap them in some quality Pirelli or BF Goodrich rubber as I've had good experiences with both on my last car. Other suggestions are appreciated though! And third, I'd like to get a good intake setup. I've seen online it can be kind of a pain to swap the intake, but not impossible. Primarily looking at Elevate for this, seems like a really good brand. Again, suggestions welcome! After doing these first initial mods I'd like to look into exhaust, a tune, headlights, mudflaps, blow off valve, and body kit.

I'm trying to be aware of how new I am to actually shopping for and modifying cars. I've owned a car since 17 (22 soon) and never took the dive into modifying as it wasn't worth it on a Mazda 3. I feel like it'll be very worth it on this car, super excited, just want to make sure I do it right. Thanks in advance!

 

Check out wheel-size.com. You will see for the C30s factory rims as big as 8x19 with a 48ET so you can be pretty confident an 8x18 will fit. The question then becomes the tire size. The site shows 225-40-18 or 215-45-18 as appropriate sizes. Just pay attention to the the offset and new wheel's center bore. Volvos are hub centric, meaning the center of the rim aligns the wheel not the bolts so you want to find something with a 63.4mm center bore. You can buy larger but those would require hub centering rings. You may find some nice 18" rims that are OEM from other volvo models. Check out hubcaphaven.com for some ideas on OEM options. As to intake airboxes, my opinion is there's probably no bigger waste of money unless you are building a 400+ HP engine. Wheels are a good first choice, then I'd look at heavier sway bars, ECU tune (assuming you have a turbo) and perhaps a downpipe and larger intercooler. Oh and mudflaps...

 

This is super helpful, thank you! I've had my eyes on putting in a rear sway bar, I just forgot to mention it. After wheels it'll definitely be the next upgrade. After that exhaust, brakes, and tune. So I definitely want to keep the wheels light, stock wheels from what I've seen are around 21.5 pounds, correct me if I'm wrong. I've heard it's very important to keep unsprung mass low, so I'm looking at keeping the weight in the same range.
A local wheel shop contacted me about some wheels similar to the Enkei's , but about 5-7 pounds heavier. Would this have a large impact on performance?
Also how easy are mudflaps to install? I looked briefly and jt didnt seem as easy as a sway bar.

 

yes lighter is better, but keep in mind OEM wheels can take a pounding many after-market rims can't. When you start getting down to a 40 profile tire, there's not much sidewall to protect against pot-holes. It sucks to get a side wall blow out, it sucks worse to get a bent rim. The other thing to consider is damping. If your car is getting near the 100K mile mark, the shocks/struts are probably starting to soften some - even if they aren't losing oil. A good time to upgrade to some Bilsteins or freshen up with OEM Sachs (don't go cheap here if you expect to keep the car for a few years)