Hello,

Found our first Volvo this weekend, 2009 C70, and picking it up today...one owner, pristine exterior/interior visually, 13K miles. Only a couple issues to get fixed, and I'd love some advice/guidance on them before we take it to the shop:

- shimmy/vibration over 40mph...we assume this is tire related. Just got alignment, but it has the original 18" MIRZAM Alloy Wheels and Pirelli tires. Several rims with wear, and one with a mall dent. From what I read online, others ave had issues with the Mirzams and tires. Any advice on what to replace them with for a smoother ride?

- heated seats don't get very hot...is this a Volvo thing to just be slightly warm or more likely a short fuse?

- good source for after market parts? We need to replace two headlight covers with cracks, and possiby an aluminum center console.

Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum,I am new aswell. I just recently bought my 1st Volvo, an 06 c70 with 39k. I have some of the same question you have, my seats do not get hot at all just warm where my other cars when i turn them on after a few minutes will start to burn. I dont have any vibrations while driving but it has brand new tires on it and I am wondering if they put new tires on it to sell the car, because I have read online that these cars will eat tires like crazy. I think it has to do with rear tire camber, being set alittle to agressive from the factory. It may just be an 06 thing and not an issue for the 09.
The biggest problem I have so far is the low beam head lights are very dim, the brights are great. The seem to be pointed at the ground and does not appear anyway to adjust them up a little bit.

 

Congrats on the C70. I have had my 07 about 15 months. I like the car, but like you, I had a terrible tire vibration. I have the 18 inch wheels also. The car had some off the wall tire. I replaced them with michelins and replaced the rear upper control arms to correct the excessive rear camber. Ever since I did that, its like a different car. So much smoother. I did find out something, the rear upper control arms are cheaper through Ford. I got mine from Volvo, I crossed the part number on the new arms, and they were the same as a Focus, the price was half of volvo.

 

Greetings. Bought my wife's 2008 C70 5-cylinder turbo last October. I would like to do simple maintenance. Mostly change oil and various filters. My current questions are about the frequency of oil changes. Just did an oil change at about 4,000 miles. We will drive it about 10k annually with 75% being long-trip. When not on a trip we use it about 2 times per week averaging 100 miles per week. Rarely need or use the turbo.

First oil change 3 weeks ago I went with a synthetic motor oil--Mobil 1. The manufacture calls for about 7500 miles between changes. I talked to some Volvo mechanic who thought 3 to 4k was the optimal oil change interval. So my question is what oil change intervals would be reasonable given 90% of our driving is 65 mph with no driving at all for 250 days of the year. I can't see why the intervals the mechanic recommends are so much more frequent than the manufacture. Altho I wouldn't doubt mechanics are biased low because oil changes are a big revenue maker. Comments? Suggestions?

Also what about synthetic oil versus non-synthetic? How much of difference does that make?

 

I noticed that Volvo shows 7500 oil change intervals. I personally go 5000 miles. I do 5k oil change and rotates. I believe the volvo techs would recommed 3-4k due to the fact that people go 7500 miles end up with stopped up oil seperator and have oil leaks. As a matter of fact, volvo put out a warranty extension on the oil seperator because it is such a large issue. I personally run synthetic blend in mine, which most oils are now. Changing so often, I don't see a need in the higer priced oil. If you run mobil 1 all the time, 7500 would probably be a ok service interval for you. However, if you did 5k oil changes, you are only talking about 2 oil changes a year.

 

My 2002 C70 listed at $48,750 new. Why don't you take it to a good Volvo dealer and get it checked our from top to bottom; probably cost you aroun $600-$1,000. Then you'll have peace of mind and the backing of your Volvo dealership. Don't nickel and dime yourself, especially on initial evaluations of what you've bought.

 

Good rule: 6 months or 7500 miles synthetic oil/filter change. Sped related vibrations: spin balance all tires, inspect suspension parts each wheel.

 

Parts:www.volvopartswebstore.com
FCP
IPD
Look @ sticky, alot of recommendations for parts!

 

VolvoMac09
I bought my C70 in 2006 and it was the first one off the boat per the dealer? Dont know the accuracy but anyways. The seats dont get as hot as other cars I have had. 06 Jeep, 09 Jeep, 2002 BMW 325CI, 2004 BMW Z3, 2005 BMW SUV(cant remember-not that impressive) all got hotter but then I would turn them off and forget. The C70 I can leave on and drive forever, comfortably.
The shimmy, wiggle is most likely a worn tire. The Camber on the rear end is too steep and the dealers will argue it is within standards, but I have gone through 1 set of pirelli's(original), 1 set of michellin, 1 set of goodyear and now on Yokohoma. I have decided to buy an adjustable camber replacement arm for the rear end (aftermarket) and have my GM dealer install it. Volvo wont. I'm 130 miles from nearest volvo dealer anyway.
The dim low beam, yes that is my complaint still. I had the xenon lights on the BMW which blow the lights on the Volvo away. I'm installing some white eurolight bulbs when I get back from trip this week. Will let you know how they work. Dont want to mess with things right now, due to some alternator issues I fixed today. Want to see if all resolved. I update in future post.

 

just got a 2008 c70. gorgeous car - top up or down.

great visibility (tried a saturn sky and at 6ft the top of the windshield and rear view mirrors totally obstructed my view - felt unsafe to drive). the c70 is like a normal coupe. great rear seat space - felt better back there than in the 4 door is250.

decent power (coming from a 4 cylinder subie) but not quite as planted in the twisties as the subaru. curious about the polestar upgrade but cost:benefit not quite there at over $1000.

agree the heat warmers are not scorchers but definitely functional enough.

just ordered a bunch of parts including all weather floor mats, brake pads, oil/air/cabin filters, wiper blades ($37?!) and some lubricant for the seals. everything is 20-50% more than for a toyota/honda but i expected that. fcpeuro and amazon are what i used.

also ordered some phillips crystalvision h11 bulbs to see if they will improve night vision over to stock.

at 28k on the original michelins it does have a rumble shimmy under 30mph that's annoying - is fine at higher speeds and still decent tread so will try to hold out another 10k before spending $1000 on some bridgestones or continentals.

 

What's the deal with the seat heaters? I don't want to get burned by my seats. They usually do not come on unless the interior of the car is under 56 degrees F.

The car should be an I5 (5 cylinder).

 

the lower setting of the heater is pretty weak... barely noticeable, can leave it on and be in 80 deg weather and not really notice. but the higher setting definitely gets warm and warm enough to turn off after 10-15minutes in cooler weather

 

Update for my issues with my c70. The dim low beam headlights, come to find out that the head lights are adjustable. The adjusters on the head lights are a little hard to find but they are there. The rear camber, I took the advice from some people on the forum and bought adjustable rear control arms and had the installed. The total cost of the job was $340. The tech that did the work said the camber was at -2.5 degrees, which he moved it to -1.0 degrees camber. He said that was still with in spec of the car. The seat heaters, still don't get hot. I have put 10k miles on the car since my first reply to this post and still love the car. just another bonus is it also gets very good gas mileage, best tank is 33 mpg.

 

how did you adjust the headlight low beams? can you post a pic? since my passenger side was significantly lower than driver's side, i resorted to putting a few pieces of the soft half of velcro tape under the passenger side headlamp to "prop" it up and get the beam to closer match the driver's side.

that's great about getting your camber adjusted. hopefully that increases your tire longevity.

i'm getting new tires and alignment today so am eager to find out what my camber is set at - tire wear has been pretty even so i don't plan to put on adjustable rear control arms until it becomes an issue.

may be a loose connector under the seat if your seats aren't getting hot - i think someone else had the same problem and the dealer fixed it. mine definitely get hot on the full setting.

my commute is almost all city so I get like 200miles between fillups, pretty poor (around 20mpg) but i'm a lead foot and really test the traction of my tires ;-). on longer highway trips it definitely heads up to 30mpg territory.

besides tires, my next major upgrade is a beefier rear sway bar (25mm vs 19mm stock from elevate) - look forward to less body roll and less understeer.

 

I will try to post a pic of adjusters for head lights. I dont ever have any luck posting pictures. But they are on each side of head light, you will need a long extension and I think its an 8mm. When i was looking for them, it took me awhile to find but I was staring at them the entire time but did not realize it was the adjusters.