New to Volvo & 2008 S60 D5 SE Sport......

[wisc]

Hi Brendan,
Do you think the standard oem brakes would cope with a stage 2 remap? I don't mean track or heavy racing, just motorway or duel carriage way 'bmw-audi' bursts
the car has 18's as standard.

I normally always put braided hoses on as I have found they make a decent bit of difference tbh, but I am not sure if I can buy them for the S60 and whether it's needed? I don't know how good the standard ones are. Obviously I intend to ask all of this stuff to Tim.

[wisc]

Interesting info on this post: http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/archiv...p/t-97371.html

I see I can get a braided hose kit for the s60 d5, great.

[Brendan W]

I'm probably the last person to ask as you can tell from my disc life they don't get used much.
In my experience most vehicles original braking set up in proper order can outbrake the tyres. The benefits of upsizing only coming into their own when your foot is hard on the pedal more than half the time such as on a track or towing heavy on long descents.

[outnumbered]

You can go to 336 mm but that's the limit for in balance
To do that you will need the caliper cariers from the xc90
You will have to drill out the holes to 14mm in the hub carrier holes to take the larger bolts
There are some members who have done this I have upgraded to 320 mm
Mike

[steveyorks]

Aside from "feel" to bigger brakes make that much difference in normal road driving? I can understand on a track or on a police car where its making repeated braking from high speeds and may fade but in normal driving? With a remap 40 mph is the same as 40mph without one so I am not sure about the advantages of expensive brake improvements for normal use.

[outnumbered]

At the end of the day its horses for courses, i have done the upgrade because i can i also tow a 1700 kg caravan and when you have a numpty that takes your braking space because he has to get in front of you i feel that the expense is justified
thanks
Mike

[wisc]

Originally Posted by wisc

my car is now booked in with Tim @ formulacars for the 5th Jan.....let's see what belts/tensioners need changing then.

disks are pretty bad on all corners, as to be expected I suppose. Is there an upgrade front kit (did I read the xc90 somewhere?) or just go for new oem spec disks and braided hoses if they do them for the S60 busbarge smoker?

I suppose Tim is the best guy to ask about this next week? He sent me some nice informative emails answering some of my questions.

Well just picked up the S60 from formulacars, I have to say I am very impressed with both the service and knowledge from Tim, Craig and the other guys. There was another very knowledgable guy there but didn't get his name. Made me feel very welcome indeed. Got a loan car provided for free which is always good.

After they checked, it appears that my car has had belts and tensioners changed which is great.
NSF front shocker leaking, other front misting. Rears ok but with very slight misting iirc, Craig reckoned the rears would be ok for 2-3 years. So just waiting for Craig to get back to me with a price inc fitting & 4 wheel laser allignment,vat etc for this job. Buying them direct from Monroe at a much cheaper price than the main stealers would charge, and I bet probably better fitting/setup than most main stealers could offer anyway.

Usual front lower arm bushes worn & bottom torque arm worn also. Will get this done in with the suspension. edited to add - just not sure which way to go here, police spec arms, poly-bush, normal...hmm. I started off thinking polybush but not sure now after considering everything.

Front & rear discs poor (as I already spotted), but pads ok. This can wait a few months then.

Swirl arm broken, so they have performed their 'fix' for this and strengthened it, which is great.
Centre exhaust bracket missing. Looks like the hanger will have rusted (common failure I believe) So will be getting a new one fitted.

Apart from a few bulbs and 4 new wheel studs, the car got a clean bill of health. Nothing showing code wise and running lovely. To be fair it did seem to be running well anyway, but as it's my first volvo I have nothing to compare it against.
Very impressed with the price I was charged, I won't quote it on here, but I was very happy.
However I know the next bill for the suspension will be considerably larger....gulp....

[wisc]

Originally Posted by pphilpot

And how did you find it to drive. Nice? Quick enough?

Originally Posted by wisc

very smooth, steady on the road, very good quality switch gear and interior, great handling for a barge although I didn't push very hard tbh as I didn't want to break anything miles away from home......not sure what state bushes are in, no knocking anyway.......went through its MOT with no advisories.....
power.....yes pretty nippy, decieving because it doesn't feel that quick until you look at the speedo.....not sure if it's running at full power for 185bhp? I think it is.....feels 'torquey'......
I love the sound of that 5 cylinder btw.....beaufitul....it does not sound like an oil smoker does it? I have never had a 5 cylinder before.....

edited - feels like it is opening up ok....no throttle/engine suppression or flat spots etc

just thought I would come back to these 2 posts. After getting the car back from formulacars my S60 seems a bit quicker. Craig told me that the swirl arm was broken and did their 'fix'. Unfortunately I ended up talking to Tim too much about cars in general (old cars we both had etc ) and also about other volvo stuff, so I didn't spend enough time talking with Craig (sorry Craig) who actually fixed it, amognst other things.
I presume that it was affecting power to a certain extent as it is definetly feels quicker.

[wisc]

Originally Posted by wisc

Very impressed with the price I was charged, I won't quote it on here, but I was very happy.
However I know the next bill for the suspension will be considerably larger....gulp....

well I am getting 2 new front active 4c struts fitted (when Monroe have them back in stock, looks like end of Jan at the earliest) and calibrated, VIDA, 2 new oem wishbones, yeah I know, to poly or not, decided after speaking with Tim et al at formulacars to stick with standard. I mean I won't be doing any track days. 4 wheel laser allignment & a loan car also, all for the princely sum of:
£941 inc fitting & vat.

Now I think that's a good price. I actually rang Monroe up and they offered me the shockers for £300 inc vat for a pair fronts (and £300 for a pair of rears, although I am not doing the rears yet. I know most people already know but the info for these shocks is: fronts C2502 & rears C1502), so Tim at Formulacars said he would do the same price & he is ordering them (that's very good service imo, no markup on parts). Same goes for the wishbones, genuine volvo ones.

by the way, my first bill for:
taking cam cover off and checking all belts/tensioners
running through VIDA
full check around car, suspension/brakes/exhaust etc
supply/fit 4 bulbs
supply/fit 4 wheel studs
fix & strengthen swirl arm
with a loaner
£126 inc vat (wow)

[wisc]

Just to explain something. We rent our current house and it has no parking/driveway or even parking outside the house, as it is straight onto a road. So if I want to do simple jobs that I would normally do myself, I would have to go in the village carpark in winter.
To make things worse I have just treat myself to a halfords pro socket/spanner set as they were half price...& I can't use them yet, arrghh

I don't want you all thinking I am useless and lazy. I am quite poor also, so obviously would love to do some of the jobs myself. It's our only car also, so we can't afford to have it off the road for a few days.