Hello everyone.
I will start off with a quick introduction. My name is Phil, I am 18 years old, and I live in beautiful South Florida. I purchased my amazing 2006 Volvo s40 2.4i in July of 2006. So far, I have had nothing but great expieriences and times with my car; I actually just got home from my 7,500 mile complimentary service. I have been reading this forum, as well as a few others, since I got my car, but haven't decided to actually register til' now. Their are many great members here that share very helpful information; this is a very nice bulletin board community.
I have a few basic questions:
1) I love spending alone time with my car and cleaning her. I consistantly wash my car every week, and wax every month. What car products are you using to make your car look great (soap, wax, tire shine, tire cleaner, seat cleaner, dash cleaner, etc.)?
2) I know the minimal fuel requirement is 89 octane (regular) for the S40, but I read on the pamphlet that it "reccomends" 93 octane. Is there much of a difference in ride quality and fuel economy between the two different types of gas? Price of each is nearly the same, so I want to put what is best for my car in.
3) I have different wheels/tires that came stock on my vehicle, but they are still infact fromt he Volvo dealership (you can see the model in photos below). What is the correct PSI for optimal ride quality?
4) When I finish waxing my car, I usually get a little bit of wax on the bottom plastic molding of the car. It ends up looking like white spots on the molding. I have tryed a few different products, but have lots of problems removing that wax spots; what should I use to clean that?
On to the photos. Photos are from about February of 2007.

 

1. Welcome

2. On my s70 and both my parents Volvos I use...
a. Right now using up some old Turtle Wax brand soap and some Armorall Soap
b. MOTHERS California Gold Clay Bar system
c. Mequiars Deep Crystal Polish
d. MOTHERS California Gold Carnauba Cleaner Wax

I used to do it all by hand and here are the results of doing it by hand...




*I have a white Volvo s70. The pictures below are of my girlfriends moms Eclipse that I detailed for her.





*Again I did all the detailing by hand.

Currently I am using a Craftsman 10" Polisher/Buffer unit. Makes the process go much quicker and I love the results just as much.

3. I use Regular in my 1999 s70 all the time. I got about 20-25 MPG. Currently I am running 93 Premium as I wanted to see if there was a big difference. I can tell you this, my car runs smoother on 93 then on Regular. I haven't gone through a whole tank of Premium yet but I would guess that I am getting the same MPG or better.

4. Check the inside of your gas door. It should tell you what PSI to put your tires at. If not it should be in your manual.

 

Oh and a good way to keep from getting wax and or polish on the trim is put some painters tape over the first few inches of the trim and when your done just peel it off.

 

congrats on your new car

 

Nice car man! Volvo for life!

 

great car..... I use nothing but Macguire's, they have a special one called "conditioner" lol i guess like hair shampoo conditioner... same for wax.... thenI finish it off with a spray called "ice" made my turtle wax....Wheels I use "Black Magic"-i think thats what its called, one spray for the rims, and then the deep wet black loook spray... and for the windows I use "Invisible Glass"- its a foam spray works really well


I use nothing but 93...but I own a T6, I notice a significance performance difference!