XC90 First Edition for sale...already!!!

[Dutchbird]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

I've driven both air and standard and thought both were extremely good handling our wonderful/woeful British roads. I had the standard suspension car for 3 days on all types of road.

You must have a very generous dealer to let you have the car three days. Which models did you test ? And what size wheels and tyres were fitted? We have had our 90 D5 Inscription P* fitted with air suspension for nearly six months now and we have covered about 6500 Miles across Europe as old age travellers.

Your test car must must have been a unique specimen , as a fair amount of the actual owners of the D5 Inscription model have been reporting their dissatisfaction with the car fitted with the 20 " wheels with Continental tyres and the noise they produce.

The Volvo forum and Swedespeed are only a few of the sites where the problem is highlighted.

Volvo know there is a problem with the ride as their new XC90 "Excellence" model will have better sound insulation and will ride on the Pirelli Sound Cancelling System tyres.

MY16 XC90 D5 P* Inscription & MY 15 S60 D4 P* Se Lux Geartronic

[RoyMacDonald]

This black one with standard suspension for 3 days.

The silver one had air suspension and the heads up display and I just had a long test drive.

They seem to be selling quite well around here as I've seen five or six on the roads already.

[Philip Fisher]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

This black one with standard suspension for 3 days.

The silver one had air suspension and the heads up display and I just had a long test drive.

They seem to be selling quite well around here as I've seen five or six on the roads already.

Thanks Roy. Mine is ordered on standard suspension. I was starting to get a bit wound up as everyone is going on about how you have to have air suspension, but then perhaps there is not that much experience behind their opinion.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

Thanks Roy. Mine is ordered on standard suspension. I was starting to get a bit wound up as everyone is going on about how you have to have air suspension, but then perhaps there is not that much experience behind their opinion.

The Rear suspension does not use conventional steel coil springs it uses a revolutionary Composite Transverse Leaf spring which is quite compliant , first used on the .................................................. ................1988 760 !

another piece of classic volvo non ford technology in this car

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by Clan

The Rear suspension does not use conventional steel coil springs it uses a revolutionary Composite Transverse Leaf spring which is quite compliant , first used on the .................................................. ................1988 760 !

another piece of classic volvo non ford technology in this car

The yellow bars in the photos.

[Philip Fisher]

Thank you Roy and Clan for the information. With the T8 starting at £60k and then with the extras I wanted I was pushing right up to my limit on the monthly rental so I couldn't quite stretch to the air suspension as well.

I am happy for a more compliant ride with a bit more body roll than a stiffer ride with less roll. Hopefully the standard suspension will suit me fine.

Out of interest, does air suspension replace the shocks or the spring or both?

[kentishdriver]

Originally Posted by RoyMacDonald

The yellow bars in the photos.

Come 3 to 5 years time I reckon there will be a lot of posters on here complaining of cracked, brittle, and degraded revolutionary Composite Transverse Leaf springs.

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by kentishdriver

Come 3 to 5 years time I reckon there will be a lot of posters on here complaining of cracked, brittle, and degraded revolutionary Composite Transverse Leaf springs.

This isn't new technology. They outlast steel springs / torsion bars from my experience.

From Composite Technology....

The Chevrolet Corvette has been fitted with leaf-style composite springs since 1984 the likelihood that composite leaf springs that debuted in the rarified reaches of high-dollar 1950s-era sports cars will reach commercial production in everyday automobiles has, after 50 years of composites research, never been higher.

ZF Friedrichshafen AG (Schweinfurt, Germany), a global supplier of driveline and chassis technology, is taking it one step further with the development of a wheel-guiding transverse leaf spring. The system is designed to perform spring, antiroll and wheel-control functions. This leaf spring, however, is manufactured via heated compression molding, with an epoxy-based resin system and continuous glass fiber reinforcement.

Composite leaf springs are up to five times more durable than a steel spring, so when General Motors (GM, Detroit, Mich.) switched to a glass-reinforced epoxy composite transverse leaf spring (supplied by Liteflex LLC, Englewood, Colo.) on the 1981 Chevrolet Corvette C4, a mono-leaf composite spring, weighing 8 lb/3.7 kg, replaced a ten-leaf steel system that weighed 41 lb/18.6 kg. This reportedly enabled GM to shave 15 kg/33 lb of unsprung weight from the Corvette, yet maintain the same spring rates. The leaf spring was transverse-mounted; that is, it ran across the car’s width at each axle. This eliminated the coil springs that sit up high in a spring pocket on the frame. Thus, the car can sit lower to the ground, which improves car handling.

Today, GM continues to employ transverse GFRP composite leaf springs on the front and back of its Corvette models. The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe includes a double-wishbone suspension, which, at GM, goes by the name short/long arm (SLA). SLA refers to the fact that the upper control arm is shorter than the lower one. A transverse composite leaf spring presses against the lower arm and spans the width of the car. In fact, the spring is always loaded against the subframe. This design directs shock loads into the frame side, eliminating the standalone rear antiroll bar that must be incorporated into models with standard suspension packages. The spring’s camber curve also is said to improve tire contact with the road during cornering.


According to ZF, the loading on the spring is complex, making process control, in terms of fiber content and orientation, a key to success. The spring’s design eliminates a number of conventional steel components — an antiroll bar with mounts, two antiroll bar links, two control arms and two conventional coil springs. ZF reports that the composite leaf spring suspension system is approximately 12 percent lighter than a conventional MacPherson strut suspension, approximately 10 percent lighter than a conventional twist-beam suspension, and can be as much as 60 percent lighter than a steel multileaf spring. Key to precise wheel control and desired spring rates is the design of the leaf spring cross-section and the placement of the mounts. ZF’s design is targeted to the compact car class, and the company is expecting first production applications in 2014.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by kentishdriver

Come 3 to 5 years time I reckon there will be a lot of posters on here complaining of cracked, brittle, and degraded revolutionary Composite Transverse Leaf springs.

Hardly , these have been tested on the volvo 760/960 cars for the last 27 years with no problems at all !

[4candles]

Aren't the Mk6/7 SWB Transits on composite mono leafs?
Albet in normal fore/aft position.