All the leather door panel upholstery in my 1998 S70 is bubbling and coming apart. Is this a common problem in Volvos? Someone once said something about Volvo using an inferior glue to seal the leather to door panel. Is there a fix? Is it expensive? Can a regular upholsterer tackle the job or will the dealer need to? Help!

 

Very very common problem. I have read about people injecting glue through the upholstery and then using a hair blow dryer to get it soft and push it back into place. Not sure if it worked well or not. I have also read where people tried everything and ended up buying new panels. A while back there was a thread in the S70 or V70 (same door panels) forums that talked about people trying different things.

If you find something that works, PLEASE let us know what you did.

 

The door panel inserts on cars with the leather interior are vinyl not leather. I have the problem on one of my cars. An auto upholsterer can fix it but that's probably quite $$$. I decided to buy some good used door panels from Erie Vovo ($100-125 each).

http://www.erievovo.com/

 

I have the exact same problem with my 98 S70 glt. The front pasenger side pannel is "bubbling" and coming apart as well, im glad to hear this is a common problem, but at the same time not so glad. If anybody knows a quick fix, please do share...as for myself, i think the pannel needs to be replaced, hopefuly there is a cheaper alternative.

 

I had the same problem as well, I replaced the panels from different car.

 

I searched mathews and volvospeed and did not find a solution. One guy suggested taking the panel off, peeling back the vinyl, spraying some strong 3M adhesive under the vinly and then pressing it back on using a hair dryer to soften the vinyl. Almost everybody replaces the panels though to be honest. Luckily my 98 V70 only has one little bubble on one of the back door panels.