Hello,
I just bought a Volvo V50 the other day with 129,000 miles. Car drives great but i'm a little concerned with a burning rubber smell from my back passenger tire. I was driving down the freeway after a 40 mile journey when i started to smell a burning rubber smell inside the car right before i arrived at my destination. It seemed to be coming from the air vents inside so i let it cool off for about 30 minutes before driving again. No smell but inside anymore but i did notice it was more pungent behind the passenger tire. Brake pad and rotors were replaced less than 3000 miles ago. After about 2 hours i could still smell it slightly.
The only thing i could think of was that i put premium gasoline in this morning before starting my journey. No issues braking or veering when doing so. If anyone has any knowledge as to what this could be please let me know.
Thank you!

 

First, it's not your fuel. Premium is the right thing if your V50 is a turbo, and a total waste of money if it's not.

My guess is that the brake is the problem, whether it's the emergency brake or the "regular" rear brake. The easy way to check is to drive the car a few miles at a decent speed and see what's getting hot. If the rear rotor on one side is obviously hot (be careful - don't touch it with your finger until you know it's not sizzling hot) then you know you have a dragging brake. Alternatively, you can jack up each rear wheel (assuming it's FWD) and see if it turns easily. A tiny bit of drag is normal - having to put any real force on the wheel to turn it indicates a draggy brake.

The fact the brakes were replaced recently is your red flag. That could mean "there was a problem, and they didn't find the actual cause" or "the mechanic (or PO) didn't install the brake properly" or even "they were selling the car so they used el cheapo parts that are now failing".

OTOH... if it is a tire rubbing, it's going to be VERY obvious. You just need to look around and see if there are signs on the tire and fender liner of contact. It won't be remotely difficult to find.

 

Hello, thank you for your quick and detailed response!
Turns out the parking break was sticking. Pumped the breaks a few times the very next morning and haven't had the smell since.
Definitely won't be using the parking break again since I don't live/use the car on any hills.