Beautiful car! I really like the custome paint work on the waterfall. Looks sharp!

 

Really, really, really sharp. Sporty, yet classy and tasteful. Very nice, very Volvo.

Congrats and enjoy in good health!!

 

Looks great! I really like the grill treatment and the suspension drop. Glad to hear the suspension isn't too stiff.

Tastefully done! Cheers!!

 

I love this C70 so much!

 

Love the mods on your car. I do have one question... how do you keep your seats so clean? I have the same the same colorinterior and it just seems to get dirty even when no one is sitting in it.

 

My dealer just detailed it when they had it and I have to give them the credit. I try to keep my car as clean as possible but they do seem to have a real knack for bringing this color leather back from the dead. I wish I knew their secret as well ... I'd share it with you .

Thanks for the kind comments all .

 

gorgeous car!! and nice photos.

the drop and 19" wheels looks so right... minimal gaps just looks so buttoned down. i wish my roads were better so i could do the same because it looks amazing. great to hear about the wonderful performance and comfort of the bilstein b8/h&r combo. have to admit i shied away from bilstein mostly because of concern for comfort. their reputation is certainly solid for performance and reliability.

definitely beautiful interior detailing and unique color match for the waterfall. but i really like the widened volvo logo on the rear. did you do that yourself or the body shop? i seems easy enough, and something i' try...i just don't know exactly how to re-attach (glue? tape?) after removal.

with the suspension upgraded and brakes soon you're definitely ready for a tune - polestar or others. your c70 will be the better the inscription volvo sells!

 

... i really like the widened volvo logo on the rear. did you do that yourself or the body shop? i seems easy enough, and something i' try...i just don't know exactly how to re-attach (glue? tape?) after removal.

I simply pulled off all of my old emblems, sanded them, painted them, and reattached them myself with 3M body molding tape (that foam stuff you can buy in any automotive part supply store). Since I had the rear bumper repainted I had to pull the C70 and T5 badges anyway. I used a picture, some painters tape, a ruler, and a pen to line them up and apply the VOLVO emblem. I have no idea how close they are to the actual spacing of the new models .

I used an exacto knife and some paper templates to cut the tape and apply it to the back of the newly painted emblems. It was quite easy to do ... just took a little patience.

 

Those mats are new ... I use the new Calcite mats in the summer and swap out the Umbra mats that came with the car now in winter.

Thanks for the compliment on my ham-handed photography .

 

Well, feeling guilty after reading this thread, I had "Icy" clayed and waxed today. I cleaned the leather just a few days ago, so she's looking pretty good(I'll not show her the pics in this thread ). New kicks should be in the next few weeks. I DO miss the Celestial Blue; but I'll say the Ice White looks darned sharp when freshly detailed !

 

QB - looks great. The blue waterfall, door handles, etc. are very distinctive and classy, and that grille looks way better than the factory black. You definitely got the rear badge V O L V O spacing right - the L is centered with the high-mount brake light, with the O and V on either side, inside the lens. I am not sure but I think the size of your badge letters is just a tiny bit smaller than the size on my 2011, but I can't really tell.

If you don't mind, keep us posted on the rotors & pads install. I'm still under safe and secure and will likely need brake work in my next maintenance visit, but would be curious to learn more about non-OEM alternatives.

 

Haha, Sadie guilted coachrick into a detail ... and I agree as I have seen several very nice ice whites at the dealer. The only colors on this car that do not appeal to me are the Zanzibar Gold and the Red for some reason.

Yes regtor, I thought I was close on the letter spacing ... like I said I just reapplied my original emblems after I painted them and simply worked with a picture to place them. I observed the same thing; that the O and the V on either side of the L seemed to sit just inside the edge of the brake lamp, then simply spaced out the letters on the ends the same distance. I noticed the same thing about the letter size over the weekend and I do believe you are correct ... my factory 2008 letters are slightly smaller than your updated 2011 ones.

As far as the brakes there are a couple of really useful threads over in the S40/V50 forum about our P1 cars being built randomly with 300 or 320mm front rotors. You will see references to both of these sizes on any site that sells brakes for our cars. Strange as even though my car came with the 17 inch wheels from the factory, I have 320mm rotors. They do not correlate to VIN's or anything and even the dealer had to look mine up somehow and confirm by measuring.

Originally after doing a little digging I was going to go with a full pad and rotor kit from from Powerstop, figuring matched components would be better. I was unfortunately able to dig up several unfavorable reviews on the products I was looking at (not specifically for the C70 though) and decided that putting together my own "kit" of matched components from Stoptech was probably going to be the most economical and reliable solution. I actually sourced parts from 2 different places as Tirerack had the best prices on the rear rotors ... which were out of stock at Rock Auto which is where I sourced everything else. There is no reason the brakes should not go on like any standard install.

I really wanted ceramic pads and could not find a source for the 320mm fronts. After ordering the Stoptech para-aramid pads I see that IPD has Akebono listed with a fitment for that application. Strange though as the Akebono site itself only shows fitment in ceramic pads for the 300mm derivative.

I really want to see if I can go more that 15 or 20 thousand miles before getting rotor vibtration again. If that is the case then aftermarket brakes could be considered superior to the factory units IMHO.

 

Quick Brick, i ordered the same shocks and springs as you based on these pictures and your brief review.

have you had the alignment done on your car since lowering? i am wondering if i need to order the SPC rear camber arms to get a decent alignment.

thanks!

 

Quick Brick, i ordered the same shocks and springs as you based on these pictures and your brief review.

have you had the alignment done on your car since lowering? i am wondering if i need to order the SPC rear camber arms to get a decent alignment.

thanks!

Your car will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS require an alignment after a drop. That being said the camber arms will definetly NOT BE REQUIRED. I did purchase a set of Eibach Pro-Alignment bolts, part number 5.81310K (+/- 1.0 degree) to allow for some additional adjustment, but the dealer did not need them to bring the car back into spec. You should be able to find a set for 20 - 25 USD just to have during the install for precautionary measures. If the drop were more radical they also offer bolt part number 5.67420K (-1.50/+5.0) but this would only apply to somebody cutting coils or going with a coilover setup. I would not recommend either on this car for street use. I think the first number will accomodate any aftermarket spring you would care to purchase for this car as they all seem to indicate a 1.2 to 1.3 inch drop.

Be sure you order the B8's and NOT the B6 variety of Bilsteins. These shocks are specifically for lowered cars (the B6's will work with the OEM ride height). I would suggest FCP Euro for the rear shocks specifically as they can be hard to find and some of the listed prices on other sites are rediculous. I had to wait several weeks for mine but I think Bilstein shipped in a batch. In talking with these folks last week they had them for 150 USD each and had them in stock, part number which is specific to a lowered C70 only is 24-142199. I sourced my H&R's (29115-1) and front Bilstein struts (R = 35-110774, L = 35-110767) from Tirerack.com . Hope this helps.

 

that's impressive you were able to get alignment in spec with the stock camber arms. are you close to an extreme (ie. -2.3-2.5)?

i guess i could've tried stock but didn't want to pay labor twice and folks seemed to suggest adjustable camber arms would be needed.
so got the massive system arms - given i'm going for minimal drop i probably could've saved $175

 

Sorry, I did not get the alignment readout from the dealer but will ask for it when I go back to have my brakes done. You can pass judgement for now based on the pics above. I certainly don't notice extreme camber but will wait to pass further judgement based on tire wear. That may not be a really good method either as the car corners terrifcally now and I am having fun using that new feature . We may go through tires a little more quickly now as a result .

I did specifically ask about the alignment and the need for additional parts because Brian and I discussed bolts versus arms up front, and he was even able to return the bolts to me when the job was complete stating they did not need to use them. I know a lot of the S40 / V50 guys need the adjustable camber arms and in the grand scheme of things 175 bones is not a bad investment in precaution. Far cheaper than having to go back and implement a solution after an already costly installation.

 

your camber looks great and based on how the car is handling, it sounds like you're in good shape!

 

Gorgeous!!
I've really got the itch to get into one of these some day. Slammed on coilovers of course.

 

just re-badged the "volvo" to "v o l v o" following all the excellent tips.

floss alone wasn't working so i added blow dryer and that got the emblems off.

goo off worker great to get the area clean. exacto knife to scape away old tape. scissors to cut little bits of the 3M tape to re-apply.

took some time but satisfying time killer.

 

just re-badged the "volvo" to "v o l v o" following all the excellent tips.

floss alone wasn't working so i added blow dryer and that got the emblems off.

goo off worker great to get the area clean. exacto knife to scape away old tape. scissors to cut little bits of the 3M tape to re-apply.

took some time but satisfying time killer.

Pics please .

 

love tapatalk, much easier to post pics!

 

quickbrick, did you ever get those new rotors/pads? any reviews?

my rears are worn to 20% according to the dealer... replaced at 17k and i'm at 37k now. looks like the oem only last about 20k. dealer also said i needed new rear rotors. didn't mention anything about my fronts.

how often are you running through the front pads?

 

quickbrick, did you ever get those new rotors/pads? any reviews?

my rears are worn to 20% according to the dealer... replaced at 17k and i'm at 37k now. looks like the oem only last about 20k. dealer also said i needed new rear rotors. didn't mention anything about my fronts.

how often are you running through the front pads?

Here:

http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?195945-Sadie-s-last-expensive-toys-for-the-season-...-I-hope-(brake-judder)

... and I am not a fan. They are dusty and noisy ("whoosh" when brakes applied). They function very well so no complaints there and they look good.

If I had it to do over again I woulf have gone with the Centric high carbon smooth rotors and some Porterfield pads. Would have been quiet, effective, and dust free.

I got about 20K per set of brakes with the OEM setup as well so that seems pretty consistent.

 

I have heard the rears wear faster on our cars.

 

This is such a beautiful car. One of my favorites on SS. Thanks for sharing.

 

Beautiful. Thanks for the inspiration. Your photos remind me that I've just totally neglected my C70 for months. Been working on the old 240 much more lately. Maybe I will try to detail the convertible this weekend.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Matching the interior trim to the body color looks absolutely exquisite. Especially with the white leather seats. Really nice job!

 

Thanks . It seems to be REALLY durable too. After all the abuse my original aluminum trim took and as battered as it looked, I have not changed any of my habits and the painted trim doesn't have a scratch on it.

 

Just came across this thread and I gotta tell ya you did a great job. My wife has a white/black 2010 C70'with 85k miles and it is in need of some tlc. One thing that has bothered me it the drivers door pull. Her rings has scratched the pull to death...did your has same?

 

While the aluminum was fragile, once again, the painted body color ones look like the day I installed them. Automotive paint is quite strong. These just pop off so you could get the aluminum replacements if you wanted from Tasca let's say, and be on your way in less than 5 minutes.

 

Looks AWESOME! Enjoy!

 

I have flamenco red and believe that it would not carry so well as the light blue on interior trim pieces. Black, white, maybe.

 

I think it would depend a lot on your interior color ... photoshop is your friend .