What the hell is with Volvo and their love of rivets? Riveted in fender liners. Riveted in car speakers. Rivets, rivets, rivets. smh

There is a replacement rivet product that has been recommended before on here. I can't recall the name but it's frequently mentioned in the Dynaudio threads when owners are seeking advice on replacing their fried speakers.

 

You need the correct size rivet in order for it to expand. Either from Volvo or find some close at a hardware store.

Rivets can be annoying but they are easily removed in a few seconds with a drill. I'd rather drill out a rivet that deal with plastic clips that shatter when they age or screws that seize up or rust and also need to be drilled out. At least with a rivet, it will always be the same. Removing fender liners and speakers isn't part of normal maintenance. It's kind of a maybe-one-time annoyance thing.

 

Rivets are PN 979878, might be 4.0x21mm.

 

They are 4 mm Diam., with 12mm Flange Diam.

There is a seller on amazon.

 

Here's some rivet notes from generic_volvo_driver in the main "What did you do..." thread that may apply here as well, FWIW. I believe the discussion was on mudflaps, but I'm guessing it's very similar situation.

The Volvo rivets are 2$ CAD each.
I used these in no specific order instead:
Widest head and longest rivets from Lowes (they dont have them online but exist in store - same length as Volvo rivets + wider head)
Aluminum rivet backing plates from Canadian Tire (damages plastic less vs OEM rivets when the rivet is sinching up)
Princess auto "BMW" plastic rivet kit (exact same dimensions as Volvo but plastic): https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/plastic-hand-riveter-kit/A-p8599052e

Don't feel bad if I damage one vs the Volvo rivets and have plenty for future jobs.

 

Thanks for finding this... I forgot where I had posted it!

If OP is in the US, here is the equivalent kit: https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-riveter-with-40-industrial-strength-poly-rivets-97757.html
From my research, it seems most manufactures have switched to this style of rivet for areas they used to use aluminum rivets.
Very easy to work with, very quick to install + remove.
They spread out a lot behind, spreading out the load on the rear hole.

This is what it looks like spread out:

I like the Lowes Al rivets I found better than the OEM ones. Much wider head. With the backing plate I dont have to worry about damaging the back hole so much - the force on the rear is spread out by using the backing plate washer.

I ended up also doing the front bumper cover as well as I had to take it off to get to something (so I basically ended up re-riveting the fender wells).
I used the wide-head Lowes rivets for areas that seemed to be under more stress and were easy to place the backing plate (ex the bottom holes) and the plastic ones for lesser stressed spots (like the 2-o'clock position rivets).

So far both the plastic and metal rivets been holding up my mudguards great + the front fender liners.

 

You bet! They were good recommendations. It didn't occur to me that Lowe's sold rivets; I'll be keeping an eye out the next time I'm there.

Does anyone have any secrets for removing rivets? When I had to remove the handful to install mudflaps I tried drilling them out but once the bit sunk in, it would just spin the rivet. It was frustrating to say the least.

 

I tried drilling them out but once the bit sunk in, it would just spin the rivet.

The rivet must have been pretty loose, or you fed the bit in too fast. Either way, if you can get to the back side and grab it with pliers to keep it from spinning, try that. Otherwise, sometimes you can cut the head off a loose rivet with a sharp pair of diagonal cutters ("dikes").