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Little Red Wagon - '97 960

I Has New Wheels

Will be there!

I was hoping for some nice wheels for it by then, but that's going have to wait for now. 15" Altairs on it are pretty bland, and the 195/65-15 Yokohama YK520's aren't anything special either.

Update!!
I have wheels. And Riken Raptors. :-D
Perfo's FTW:

Perfo_12_09_03.jpg


Perfo_12_09_02.jpg


Perfo_12_09_01.jpg


Thanks, Shellshock!
See ya'll tomorrow!
 
Pete,
I just got a 1997 960 (my first Volvo): 123,000 miles, white (not as pretty as yours). Needs front control arm bushings too.

What brand did you get. I am trying to decide between the Scan Tech and Febi brand that eEuroparts sells. I had read that some people have concerns with Scan Tech. What's your opinion/experience.

Also, I am wondering if the Oil Trap needs cleaning/replacement. Have you had to work on the crankcase vent system?
Thanks.

Pete (peteco)
 
good to hear you figured it out. I hate shady people

Ahhh! The nasty head of the crooked mo' fo' Volvo mechanic rears it's ugly face again.

After replacing nearly every front end part to rid the car of a nasty wobble when braking, I found that the 'new brakes' this car had done to it just before I bought it, and done by the crooked dis-honest Dallas based mechanic, did a piss-poor job, used s&**ty aftermarket parts, and was the result of all the wobble.
I pulled the calipers apart and found they were never lubed, the pins were dry and binding, pads were cheapo's, no shims, and the rotors were made in China garbage.

So the reciept says......$135 ea for Volvo rotors......$78 Volvo for pads, $12.95 for 'special brake lube.....ect. What crook. He even charged $15 to apply the 'special' lube that never got applied. I got a feeling this isn't the last thing I'll find. I spoke to a friend this morning who has had a lot of problems with his '93 850, and same thing happened to his car after a brake job. I told him about the crooked mechanic, and he asked "was it the guy at..........? I said yes, unfortunately that's him. I'm going to help him un-fix his brakes thie weekend.

Anyway, I took the rotors to get turned and they had a buldge in the orig surface which was causing the discs to act like they were warpped, but could not see any warpage. A few skin cuts and $20 solved that problem, and some syl-glide lube on the pins fixed the brake chatter and wobble.
Done and works great now. :-P

So this brings me to my next modification to this car: 12" brakes up front.

Since the rotors are not up to my standards, they'll have to go sooner than later, and the calipers have 166k on them, so by looking at the pin wear, will probably need calipers & brackes soon. Instead of putting in the stock 11" replacements, I thought I'd go with the 12" disc's and adapter bracket from the 850/S/V70. I think the '95-up sedan w/16" wheels had 12" brakes, but my wagon came with 11"
Need a trip to the P&P :)

Oh and on the bushings, Volvo all the way, as mentioned Tasca is your friend.
I just pulled the flame trap & cleaned it, put tie wraps on the hoses, good as new.
 
Clean car. It'll be interesting to see if the s/v70 brackets work. I know 850s and 960s share the same front rotors, but the calipers and possibly brackets are different. Wondering this myself since I just picked up a Black 960 wagon a month ago.
 
As mentioned in another thread, the 850/S/V70 12" brakes will fit 700/900 cars with the bracket and 850/S/V70 calipers, as long as you use 6.3 mm spacers on the bracket mounting. Well this would be for pre-'95 700/900 that used wheels with a 20 mm offset and deeper rotor hubs. On the 95-up 960 that uses the FWD offset, I think it's as simple as using the 12" discs, bracket, and calipers. There's talk of needing longer brake lines, but looking at the 960, it doesn't look like that's needed. I'm going with new stainless braided lines anyway.
 
New Shoes on the Red Wagon

Haven't posted much on this car in a while, so since I just got a new set of Michelin's, thought I'd ad to todays fine offering of 960 wagons:

50 miles on the Michelin Primacy MXV4 215/55-VR16's. They are about the smoothest tire I've driven on.
960Michelins_003a.jpg

960Michelins_001a.jpg

960Michelins_005a.jpg

960Michelins_002a.jpg
 
did you ever do the brake upgrade? Car still looks great!
 
OK so I got new Michelins, or should I say had new set of Michelins.

After riding on the Primacy MXV4's for 300 miles, the very soft and compliant tires really annoyed me. On freeway seam bumps at 70 mph the tires bounced so badly that the car started rocking in a synchronized pitch front to back, like a car with really bad shocks, but these are new Volvo dampers on all fours. On one occasion, the front and rear of the car bottomed out as the rocking increased like it was being magnified by the tires bouncing on a section of Interstate I've traveled before, doing 75 mph, never experienced this type of pitching on any other tires including a wornout set of 195/65-15 Yokohamas that came with the car. I had to slow down to under 70 to stop the bouncing, it kept going and going, and going, like the Energizer Bunny!

I never experienced anything like this except on big old American cruisers, like the ex's '77 Delta 88 that sorely needed shcoks. I upped the tire pressure to 38 psi and it improved but was still there in a bad way.

The 960 suspension is so compliant that the addition of tires that are themselves even more compliant, the combination was unsettling to say the least. I would even say it was unsafe. On a car with solid stiff suspension I suppose the Michelins can improve the ride a lot, but for the 960, it is the wrong tire.

So I went back to Discount Tire and asked for a set of Bridgestone Potenza's like I've had on the 245 for years, the RE 960 Pole Position. These are nla, but replaced by the new RE 970 Pole Position, and by my account, a much improved tire over the 960.

The 205/55-16 91W rated Bridgestone tires were a dollar for dollar swap for the expensive H rated Michelins, and with the stiffer sidewalls and W speed rating have none of the aforementioned bouncing the Michelins had, nada, not even a hint of instability. They not only handle better, (even better than the RE 960's) but are noticably smoother lower rolling resistance tire than the MXV4's. The bumps are now blips without notice. I am immensly satisfied with these tires.
 
+1

Best tire hands down for what you need.

meh, The Bridgestone's rate higher for an UHP A/S tire. And they are about the strongest sidewall tire out there, damn tough tire.

Read:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=147\
Watch:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/videoDisplay.jsp?ttid=147

Every Conti I've had developed sidewall bubbles in 10k or were the worst wet hydroplaning tire ever. No matter how great they say they are now, I will never.......!

Btw, I've had a set of the Pirelli P-Zero Nero's on the V70 2.5T and my experience with them was equally as good as the Bridgestone's, they were my second choice, and before I saw the test vid, I knew they were second best from my own experience.
 
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I absolutely love Bridgestones and might not ever buy anything else. I had Potenza G019 Grids on the stock wheels on my 960 for a few years and I loved them. Bought them new. I liked those Bridgestones so much that I bought a set of Blizzak WS60 snow tires just before the winter of '09-'10 and they have been fantastic! This coming winter will be their third season and I'd say they have another two seasons left in them before they're too worn.

I love my Bridgestones, and everyone I know that has ever had Bridgestones on a vehicle has loved them, also. Good choice, my fellow 960 friend!
 
Congrats on owning the rarest of the rare - a red 960 wagon. The Perfos look great, although 17's would look better.
i've never heard anything good about Primacy tires. Michelin generally makes a really good tire with that exception.
 
meh, The Bridgestone's rate higher for an UHP A/S tire. And they are about the strongest sidewall tire out there, damn tough tire.

Read:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=147\
Watch:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/videoDisplay.jsp?ttid=147

Every Conti I've had developed sidewall bubbles in 10k or were the worst wet hydroplaning tire ever. No matter how great they say they are now, I will never.......!

Btw, I've had a set of the Pirelli P-Zero Nero's on the V70 2.5T and my experience with them was equally as good as the Bridgestone's, they were my second choice, and before I saw the test vid, I knew they were second best from my own experience.

Well, I've got 10k on two and they're still perfect. They outperform any all-season I've ever driven with. It absolutely excels in the rain, exhibiting near 0 hydroplaning.
 
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