Re: Tire Noise...Rear Wheel Camber (dpugh72)

My stiff 225 summer tires wear badly on the inside edges and tend to have a growl. My 205 winters wear perfectly even and are quiet. I believe the car is set up to compensate for soft tires and poor suspension geometry.

If you change the camber they will wear more even in the straights and run quieter but you will loose the cornering advantage when they flatten out in a lean. Stiffer springs will help. Louder exhaust helps. Louder music and flip the tires on the rims when they are half worn is my preference.

The only real fix is to replace the cheap McPherson Shrit suspension with a proper double wishbone or multi link. Something hard to find on cars nowadays.

 

Re: Tire Noise...Rear Wheel Camber (VictorVDC)

I was having a lot of rear wheel noise. Had the dealer check it a few times. I replaced tires which seemed to help some. Later figured out that it was a bad rear wheel bearing. It is much quieter now but still has some noise which I attribute to the car being a wagon which would have less noise isolation from the rear wheels vs a sedan. I have also wondered if the IPD sway bar with the harder bushings may transfer more of the noise.

Stan

 

I had originally suspected the wheel bearings. Had very similar sound with a Pontiac GrandAm and both rear wheel bearings were bad. Have had dealer check them twice and they claim they're OK. Volvo has well-known problems with the XC90 rear wheel bearing, but no so much with S40's.
Dave

 

Re: Tire Noise...Rear Wheel Camber (dpugh72)

My 2005 V50 T5 AWD has the same issue. I am 100% sure that a rear wheel bearing is failing but my mechanic was unable to isolate which one (?). I also have tire noise.
Makes for a noisy drive. A wagon sort of amplifies sounds from the rear of the car making it hard to tell where it's coming from.
How hard is it to replace one on this car?

 

Re: Tire Noise...Rear Wheel Camber (mgc)

Wheel bearing noise is usually louder on one side then the other when you slalom hard in a parking lot.

 

The rear alignment is different then the front and the tires on the rear wear so that they get cupped. You need to get the adjustable rear camber arm and correct the rear alignment or just don't rotate the tires.
It's definitely the alignment not a bad bearing. My 2 S40s had that problem.

 

Re: (Silver T5)

WORD!

 

Re: (dpugh72)

Quote, originally posted by dpugh72 »

I had originally suspected the wheel bearings. Had very similar sound with a Pontiac GrandAm and both rear wheel bearings were bad. Have had dealer check them twice and they claim they're OK. Volvo has well-known problems with the XC90 rear wheel bearing, but no so much with S40's. Dave

I had the dealer check mine 4X before they acknowledged it. They were checking them using a stethoscope. When I found that out, I asked them to take the car for a test drive and run it 40 - 65 mph.

Before this I was considering getting a rear camber kit. My camber is right at the max of spec range. No need now, all is quiet.
Stan

 

Re: (AutoGeek)

right, but the volvo spec is complete and total BS

It WILL hose the tires...

 

Yes the volvo spec is way off. Plus dpugh had the noise go away once he put new tires on. It wasn't till after he rotated the tires after 6k miles. This is because the tires on the rear get screwed up from the bad alignment.

 

Re: (Silver T5)

I still may add the rear camber kit, especially if I see the tires wearing oddly. I've got 18K miles on them so far and they still look good. I don't like operating anything at the extremes of the spec.
Stan

 

Re: (AutoGeek)

noise starts before visable inside cupping...

 

Re: Tire Noise...Rear Wheel Camber (dpugh72)

Ditto, the rear(s) howl. Pushed me into a $500+ set of new tires 2 years ago only to have them howl at 12,000mi. When the tires were rotated last go, the rears were unbearable when placed on the front (noise). Put them back on the rear and they're "tolerable". Car is smooth on the hwy but wildy loud on blacktop at any speed over 30.

Still have the slight vibration upon easy acceleration at 40-60+mph, unk if it's related.

 

Ok, maybe this explains something. I have an 07, with 17,000 on it. Everything was fine until I had the 15,000 service. Tires got rotated and now I here a whirring, especially noisy when I am getting up to speed.

I thought maybe my wheels were loose!

Damn what is a way to fix this, other than new wheels every 20k? I don't know what a chamber is.

 

The guy I go to for repair work on my car is a Volvo certified Master Tech and worked for Volvo for over 20 years. He says they know that the S40 has this issue of wearing out tires faster than normal, and that they would always tell Volvo's engineers that something needed to be done. Maybe on the newer 08 or 09 models they fixed this...

 

Re: (carreragt7)

Yeah but just because someones master certified doesnt make them a good tech. I had a master tech bring his S40 in under warranty certain of a wheel bearing, verified it was tires after rotating them and he got pissed and said i didnt know what i was talking about

moron.

Wheel bearings are very common which will cause a growl and will vary when the car is shifted side to side like mentioned. Cheap tires also have more road noise. As far as the alignments go id say have your car aligned at least every year. Toe kills these cars and i rarely see an issue from camber, especially at stock ride height and i probably do at least 1 or 2 alignments a week. Its always toe thats causing the tire wear... negative camber causes wear over the life of the tire but doesnt scrub the tire like incorrect toe.

 

Re: (ForceFed Motorsports)

Quote, originally posted by ForceFed Motorsports »

Yeah but just because someones master certified doesnt make them a good tech.

I agree completely. But luckily for me this guy has a huge amount of experience and is very reasonable. When I was trying to decide where to get my springs installed I got quotes from a bunch of places and they all ranged from 500-800 and I would've had to buy springs from most of them to do it, they wouldn't install springs obtained from other sources. This guy quoted over $200 less than anywhere else, and when I mentioned this he said he would rather keep his customers happy by charging less on this sort of thing because if he had charged for the actual time he spent on it then it would have been a couple hundred more.
On the other hand, I have seen some guys that think they are all that who are full of themselves. Nothing is scarier than when you call the dealer service department and they have no idea what you are talking about and start making up bogus explanations (happened to me when I called about an open recall on my car). lol.

 

Re: (ForceFed Motorsports)

Quote, originally posted by ForceFed Motorsports »

. Toe kills these cars and i rarely see an issue from camber, especially at stock ride height and i probably do at least 1 or 2 alignments a week. Its always toe thats causing the tire wear... negative camber causes wear over the life of the tire but doesnt scrub the tire like incorrect toe.

Well IMO, it is the -2.1 degrees camber that is killing my tires and I have a stock suspension.... you can claim toe all you want, and it has been claimed before. I say it is camber and the only fix are the adjustable rear arms. If guys listen to you and others they will be out a set of tires and soon... If they listen to me, they will be all set.

 

Re: (Oldman)

Thats fine, i cant argue with opinion but from personal experience as a TECHNICIAN at King volvo who does all of the alignments i have done enough cars to know that volvos eat tires due to incorrect toe.

I also have a good suspension book that talks about suspension geometry. Camber merely moves the contact patch of the tire to the inside or outside of the tire depending whether its positive or negative cmaber. Negative camber will move the contact patch to the inside so over time YES the tires will wear more on the inside.

I was just stating that if your wearing tires at an alarming rate its more than likely due to incorrect toe as it scrubs the tires always while driving. Also because a lot of volvos are AWD they tend to wear tires faster as well.

Not trying to argue so im done, just my .02 http://********************/smile/emlove.gif

 

Re: (ForceFed Motorsports)

and as a human looking at the strange wear on ONLY the inside of my near zero toe Volvo over two sets of tires... I can assure you it is camber that leads to the wear and the wear leads to the noise and if you don't fix it BEFORE you put new tires on you will just destroy another set of tires. And yes my dealer charged me um $70.00 to reset my car and I was ASSURED that this would take care of my noise issue... which it did NOT... LOL

So guys get the camber arms and save yourself grief or learn the hard way. LOL

 

I definitely have to agree with Oldman here. My rear tires were eaten up because of negative camber. This was confirmed from the alignment specs. I got a print of the of the alignment before and after. The toe was fine before the alignment. It was the negative camber that was way off.
Which "volvos" are you speaking of when you say that volvos eat tires due to incorrect toe? S40s, S60s, S80?

 

Re: (Silver T5)

S40's S60's S80's and XC90's, if AWD then they really eat em up. Because camber isnt adjustable on MOST cars on the market you kinda gotta take what you can get. But since there is an adjustable arm available you can choose to do it if you want or not. These cars have high cost of ownership in comparison to most so gotta be prepared for it i guess.

Only problem i see is that because its not a factory setting an alignment shop may charge extra to adjust it

 

Re: (ForceFed Motorsports)

Volvo Tech Info shows a new alignment spec dated 12-1-2008 (RTJ19674-2008-12-01) and appears to apply to our cars. Anyone know what changes? I'm too cheap to pay the $6 for the download.

https://www.volvotechinfo.com/...tsnew

 

Re: (AutoGeek)

If its a Tech Net Note i can login and check for you if you like...

C30 (07-)/ S40 (04-)/ V50 (05-)/ C70 (06-)

Camber measurement per side
Front Rear
Degrees | Degree minutes | Degrees | Degree minutes
S40/V50/C30 std and
dynamic-0.6° ± 0.7° -36' ± 42' -1.52° ± 1° -1° 31' 12'' ± 1°

S40/V50 AWD -0.68° ± 0.7° -40' 48'' ± 42' -1.52° ± 1° -1° 31' 12'' ± 1°

S40/V50/C30 ECOCH
(Driv-E)-0.75° ± 0.7° -45' ± 42' -1.72° ± 1° -1° 43' 12'' ± 1°

Caster measurement per side
Model Front Variation right/left
Degrees Degree minutes Degrees Degree minutes

S40/V50/C30 std and
dynamic 3.6° ± 1.5° 3.0° 36' ± 1°30' 0° ± 1° 0° ± 1°

S40/V50 AWD 3.7° ± 1.5° 3.0° 42' ± 1°30' 0° ± 1° 0° ± 1°

S40/V50/C30 ECOCH
(Driv-E) 3.8° ± 1.5° 3.0° 48' ± 1°30' 0° ± 1° 0° ± 1°

Toe measurement across both wheels, front
Model Control value Adjust value
Degrees Degree minutes Degrees Degree minutes

S40/V50/C30 std and
dynamic 0.2° ± 0.2° 12' ± 12' 0.2° ± 0.1° 12' ± 6'

S40/V50 AWD 0.2° ± 0.2° 12' ± 12' 0.2° ± 0.1° 12' ± 6'

S40/V50/C30 ECOCH
(Driv-E)0.2° ± 0.2° 12' ± 12' 0.2° ± 0.1° 12' ± 6'

Toe measurement across both wheels, rear
Model Control value Adjust value
Degrees Degree minutes Degrees Degree minutes

S40/V50/C30 std and
dynamic 0.3° ± 0.2° 18' ± 12' 0.3° ± 0.1° 18' ± 6'

S40/V50 AWD 0.3° ± 0.2° 18' ± 12' 0.3° ± 0.1° 18' ± 6'

S40/V50/C30 ECOCH
(Driv-E)0.3° ± 0.2° 18' ± 12' 0.3° ± 0.1° 18' ± 6'

Thats a copy and paste, unfortunately it pasted like a damn mess. I tried to break it up as best as possible. The specs are listed in a row in pairs in order from Left:degress, degree minutes and Right:degrees, degree minutes.

Modified by ForceFed Motorsports at 8:00 AM 12-5-2008

Modified by ForceFed Motorsports at 8:01 AM 12-5-2008

Modified by ForceFed Motorsports at 8:02 AM 12-5-2008

 

Re: (ForceFed Motorsports)

Cool!