Early Impressions

[familymangreg]

Totally agree with neon and nu11eaf's points above. Having had my car for nearly 4 months now, I don't find myself upset quite so much by the road noise, I think I've partly got used to it, and also know that Volvo have taken the issue onboard and will hopefully be able to improve things for me in the future.

I will update my original 20" Wheels - excessive road noise at some point:

- It is absolutely linked to road surface. We've had certain sections of a local A road we drive regularly properly re-surfaced (rather than top dressed) with very quiet tarmac and when you hit them at whatever speed the car is beautifully quiet and relaxed, but on the majority of normal UK roads, there is a lot of noise.

- The window blinds in the back let too much noise in from the rear doors.

- When we're 7 up in the car, its better, the mass of bodies obviously soaking up some of the sound.

- I've concluded that lowering tyre pressures from 38 to 34 PSI has not made any difference, so I've put them back up to 38.

:wq

:wq

[nu11eaf]

Originally Posted by BTXC90

When you say Extra sound proofing for B Posts, I wonder what exactly have they done? doesn't sound like a simple dealer job. Was the car sent back to the factory? how long did it take?

Just curious to know

No the dealer had the car for the day, (they gave another new XC90 for the day) its not a big job, the trim is removed and the insulation strip fitted and trim replaced, you cant see any signs that the car was worked on. the noise from that area is not as bad now but that cabin road noise is so so bad for a car marked as a premium brand and at this price, I hate it.

[BTXC90]

Originally Posted by nu11eaf

No the dealer had the car for the day, (they gave another new XC90 for the day) its not a big job, the trim is removed and the insulation strip fitted and trim replaced, you cant see any signs that the car was worked on. the noise from that area is not as bad now but that cabin road noise is so so bad for a car marked as a premium brand and at this price, I hate it.

Thanks for that nu11eaf,

I understand this is a company approved fix, does this need to be informed/noted with the insurance company? as a modification? (of course nothing is visible)

[nu11eaf]

Originally Posted by BTXC90

Thanks for that nu11eaf,

I understand this is a company approved fix, does this need to be informed/noted with the insurance company? as a modification? (of course nothing is visible)

No this is not a mod its a dealer fix to a nown problem,

[BTXC90]

Originally Posted by familymangreg

Totally agree with neon and nu11eaf's points above. Having had my car for nearly 4 months now, I don't find myself upset quite so much by the road noise, I think I've partly got used to it, and also know that Volvo have taken the issue onboard and will hopefully be able to improve things for me in the future.

I will update my original 20" Wheels - excessive road noise at some point:

- It is absolutely linked to road surface. We've had certain sections of a local A road we drive regularly properly re-surfaced (rather than top dressed) with very quiet tarmac and when you hit them at whatever speed the car is beautifully quiet and relaxed, but on the majority of normal UK roads, there is a lot of noise.

- The window blinds in the back let too much noise in from the rear doors.

- When we're 7 up in the car, its better, the mass of bodies obviously soaking up some of the sound.

- I've concluded that lowering tyre pressures from 38 to 34 PSI has not made any difference, so I've put them back up to 38.

:wq

:wq

Thanks for that tip on tyre pressure. I was considering lowering the tyre pressure on my next motorway trip. Will wait and try that later.

Little one has caught chicken pox so its not a great mood in the camp these days and haven't driven at all in the last week

There are a few noisy patches on the M25 for us on the way to Heathrow and opposite side as well. Itching to go and check them out sometime soon. with and without tyre pressure changes

[AB-UK]

Originally Posted by tankplanker

Without going too far off topic, the UK lacks any sort of long term planning for all forms of transport, mostly because nobody wants to pay for it.

We do pay for it. Years ago, the AA published figures which showed the Government take in £40 Billion every year from all forms of transport related taxes, including billions from fuel taxes and "excise duty", but at the time was spending only £1 Billion a year on transport, including roads.

Over the years we motorists have probably paid enough VAT and taxes on fuel, road tax etc to pave over the whole road network many times, but the money has gone into "black holes" such as the NHS, Social Services, and MPs expenses.

[nu11eaf]

Originally Posted by BTXC90

Thanks for that tip on tyre pressure. I was considering lowering the tyre pressure on my next motorway trip. Will wait and try that later.

Little one has caught chicken pox so its not a great mood in the camp these days and haven't driven at all in the last week

There are a few noisy patches on the M25 for us on the way to Heathrow and opposite side as well. Itching to go and check them out sometime soon. with and without tyre pressure changes

The first option Volvo offered was to lower tyre pressures, even though in my mind I thought it was not worth trying because that just puts more rubber on the road and creates more noise, anyway I tried it and as expected it did not make it any quieter, and as I thought, in my opinion is was worse, so put pressures back to 39psi, I also explained to Volvo that this could not be a solution to their problem as some of us tow heavy caravans or trailers and tyres need to be at the higher pressure for towing.

[neon]

Originally Posted by BTXC90

Thanks for that tip on tyre pressure. I was considering lowering the tyre pressure on my next motorway trip. Will wait and try that later.

Little one has caught chicken pox so its not a great mood in the camp these days and haven't driven at all in the last week

There are a few noisy patches on the M25 for us on the way to Heathrow and opposite side as well. Itching to go and check them out sometime soon. with and without tyre pressure changes

Are you not noticing any road noise on standard roads. I would not try roads that are known to be noisy with basically any car.

What I do not understand is when Volvo know that the Continentals increase the problem why do they still keep fitting them for the UK.

[tankplanker]

Originally Posted by AB-UK

We do pay for it. Years ago, the AA published figures which showed the Government take in £40 Billion every year from all forms of transport related taxes, including billions from fuel taxes and "excise duty", but at the time was spending only £1 Billion a year on transport, including roads.

Over the years we motorists have probably paid enough VAT and taxes on fuel, road tax etc to pave over the whole road network many times, but the money has gone into "black holes" such as the NHS, Social Services, and MPs expenses.

As you say problem is that money and more is already spent every year, so the £10s of billions needed annually to invest just isn't available and highly unlikely to be.

Hence new taxes would be needed as they aren't going to cut the big ticket items like state pensions (£108 billion per year), NHS (£143 billion), education (£85 billion), Trident (£40 billion) as that would be suicide at the next election. If they did a 10% cut on those then they could just about fund a "HS2" a year assuming it didn't over run on costs.

[neon]

Originally Posted by tankplanker

As you say problem is that money and more is already spent every year, so the £10s of billions needed annually to invest just isn't available and highly unlikely to be.

Hence new taxes would be needed as they aren't going to cut the big ticket items like state pensions (£108 billion per year), NHS (£143 billion), education (£85 billion), Trident (£40 billion) as that would be suicide at the next election. If they did a 10% cut on those then they could just about fund a "HS2" a year assuming it didn't over run on costs.

Now if we start getting into politics this thread will just explode.