Hello all!

I've got a '00 V70 XC with about 150k on it. I recently put new tires on the car, and since then have a weird problem where the tires seem to skip when I'm doing hard turns (like a K turn or pulling a U turn). I thought maybe it's the alignment but wanted to check if anybody had further thoughts...

It's weird because sometimes it gets really bad for a day or two then kindof fades away some times.

I checked to make sure they put the right size tires on the car (they did).

Think this is just an alignment issue? Weird thing is that this wasn't happening at all with the old tires. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

 

I believe it is due to new tires. What you have to remember is the car is an AWD so when you turn the rear drive is pushing as well.
The tires are new the older ones were kind of worn on the edges and when you made the sharp turns the tires kind of slid rather than grabbing like they are now making it jump.

 

Yeah I thought about that, but it's really pronounced. When you're doing a K turn it's kindof uncomfortable it's so loud & stuttery. The car literally jumps as it stutters. Not a lot, but enough that it's definitely weird. Also there's no way the car was doing this when it was on the dealer lot with brand new tires in 2000, you know what I mean?

It definitely feels like something related to the AWD, but I can't figure out why it would have suddenly appeared when I put the new tires on...

 

I know what you mean I would also bet alot of it is coming from the driveshaft.

I will bet the boots or torn or pretty much gone and the joints are dirty and thats what it making it feel that bad.

That is another very common problem with the AWD cars is the driveshafts go bad and it is around 1K for a new one.

 

hmmm that would be bad. I'm not sure though Why would it suddenly start happening when I put the new tires on?
Is there any way I can check to know for sure if it's the driveshaft?

 

Pretty much the best way is to remove the driveshaft and drive the car.

But if you look where it attaches to the Diff you will see in there that there is supposed to be a boot there.

 

So I took the car to a local Volvo guy and he put it on the lift, and it looks like the transfer case leaks & all the oil was out of it, hence the problem. He was able to find a good used one to replace it for $600 + labor, but after reading some other posts it sounds like maybe I can just remove it & convert the car to FWD? That would be totally fine with me, since I live in Southern California and it doesn't snow too much around here...

Any thoughts on this? Is it relatively simple to do?

 

Yes you can remove it and drive it as a front wheel drive.

 

That sounds like good news to me! He wasn't sure if he'd have to take out the transfer case as well as the driveshaft do you know if it'll be ok to just remove the driveshaft?
Seems like it's a lot less labor to just do that if that'll solve the problem... thanks for your help by the way!

 

You can just remove the driveshaft if there is no chance the angle gear will lock up.
I would make sure it is full of fluid and remove the driveshaft and make sure there is no noise when you drive it.

If I ever bought an AWD car that would be the very first thing I would remove on the car.

 

Any updates on this story? I sent you a PM, I am having a very similar problem with tight, slow turns, and was also told my transfer case is leaking. Did you take the driveshaft out? I appreciate any and all info on what you did and how it worked