BLUE - 2017 Volvo V40 T2 R-Design Progress Thread

[Petey80]

I got married yesterday.

Of course Blue had to be there and part of it.

All cleaned, hoovered out and prepared for the big day

[Petey80]

On Wednesday morning I took a trip to Utopia Tints to have the front grille surround wrapped.

They use 3M gloss black wrap and had it done and dusted within 30-45 minutes. I went to McDonalds for breakfast and when I returned it was outside ready.

Here's a couple of pictures of it on the day





Really chuffed with the new look of the front end. Just a front splitter to add now and that will be it.

The wrap looks and feels great quality and the fit is fantastic.

Later that same day, I had to go somewhere and parking charges are extortionate so I managed to park on my friends driveway.

However, I misjudged the length of my car and the size of his drive.....

The parking sensors didn't beep as fast as they usually do when you're close to something.... so..... I bumped the wall....

Hit it with the rear bumper, the bit just above the number plate







It also damaged the lower tungsten trim section as well



Gutted is an understatement....

Really took all the shine away from getting the grille wrapped.

Then of course the other day there was all that dust/sand that got mixed in with the rain and now the car looks dreadful.
Hopefully tomorrows forcasted thunderstorms should wash all that away.

With regards to the bumper, I have a company called Vehicle Smart coming to the house to fix it next Wednesday, so hopefully she'll be as good as new.

The number plate also took a hit and is quite cracked and broken, so that's my excuse to now put my private plate on Blue as well.

[Shay40run]

Car is looking really good. I had a D4 in blue until June. I do like those puddle light projectors.

I’ve just had my grille on the XC60 wrapped and it makes such a difference.

I didn’t do as many mods as you but one thing I did have fitted was a front & rear camera installed by an auto electrician. Link below. It’s out of stock at the moment though.

https://www.in-car-install.co.uk/sho...-2015-to-2018/

Hopefully the repair will be as good as new.

[Petey80]

So, today was the day that Vehicle Smart got my car to repair the damage I caused the other week.

Originally they were going to come to the house to do it, but the guy called me and asked if he could take the car away and do the work at the bodyshop.

I said that would be okay as I thought and he said, it would be a better job being done inside as opposed to outside. He took the car just after 9:30am and returned it just after 4:30pm

He parked the car up outside and the first thing I noticed was the silver/tungsten part on the rear valance was a completely different colour. It was lighter than the original colour.

Here's a comparison shot



Fortunately I don't actually mind it, what I didn't appreciate was not being contacted about the fact he/they were unable to colour match it and would like to change it's colour.
Just spraying it a different colour and hoping I'd be totally fine about it is quite unprofessional.

It was a different guy that dropped the car off, so I had to call the guy that originally picked it up and did the work.

He said he ended up painting the entire bumper rather than just the mid section where the damage was.
Upon removing the registration plate and plate holder (as I put my private registration plate on when the car was returned), I noted he had in fact painted the whole bumper. What he didn't do was remove the old reg plate sticky pads, he just painted over them



I understand it was a "smart repair" and didn't cost as much as a professional bodyshop, but come on, a bit of pride and professionalism in your work wouldn't go a miss.

The actual area where the damage is now looks totally fine



You can see all the old sticky pad residue that's been painted over.......

Overall, the back end really doesn't look too bad now. Having the repair done it has actually fixed a few other scuffs and marks that the bumper had and I don't actually mind the lighter silver trim



The finish in places is also a bit orange peelie, which, after speaking with my detailer friend is because it's a smart repair and time isn't spent wet sanding and perfecting the finish as it would have been done in a professional bodyshop.
The area where the damage was is also a little dull towards the drivers side end of the damage.

The colour match seems spot on, which is one good thing at least. The painter said I shouldn't wash it for about 48 hours, so I'll give it chance to cure and harden properly, give her a wash and a further inspection.

One main thing that I'm not impressed with and that has prompted an e-mail to the company for an explanation and some form of further assistance is the below





Overspray on the very underside of the valance. This bit is pretty shocking and shows either pure lazyness, lack of good workmanship or I guess could've been an oversight when he taped the area up.

In any case I've e-mailed them expressing my concerns about the work so will wait to see how they respond and what they offer.

As I said, I've now put my personal registration on the car and they look really good. They are "4D" plates so I've also put the Volvo plate holder on the front of the car to match the back at long last.
The rear one I salvaged from my V50 and noted that it was actually made by the same company that wrapped my front grille surround. However, I bought it off a guy that I'm sure doesn't live round here???? How strange.
The front one was made by the local detailing shop and has a more rounded edge on the font, but you don't see front and back together at the same time so I didn't mind that.

[Petey80]

And looking at that last picture, it looks like there is a bit of paint run as well.......

WOW......

[Petey80]

So, I fired off an e-mail to the company that did my rear bumper and they called me on Thursday morning as soon as they'd received it.

Could not have been more apologetic about the concerns I had over the work that had been done and said the painter would be out to my house that afternoon to fix the issue. Stated it would be between 1pm and 2pm and he turned up about 1:30pm.

I highlighted a couple of the issues on the bumper itself, but he actually saw most of them himself as the car was parked backwards on the driveway, in direct sunlight to help highlight the issues.
What he didn't realise and was quite gutted/surprised at, was the overspray I highlighted on the underside of the valance.

He checked that out, then said "I'll give you a shout in about 30mins". I begrudgingly went back in the house (but luckily I have a fantastic security camera).

I proceeded to watch him clean up the valance and then bring out a DA or rotary polisher and correct the bumper.
His application of the polish was something to be desired as he just squeezed it straight out onto the car, rather than applying it to the polishing pad.

He spent a good 30minutes working on the bumper, then hit the doorbell.

I went out and the bumper was loads better and much more satisfactory.

The orange peel, dull spot and overspray had all been sorted.

The bumper at last looked as it should have the first time. No excuse, but it turns out he had 2 jobs on at the same time, which I thought would've been the case, so he obviously couldn't do 100% on both jobs.
At least they came out straight away and sorted it.



There's the bumper all done and dusted. I do actually like the brighter silver strip on the lower valance. They got lucky there.

[Petey80]

Just a quick one.

When I was doing the interior the other day, I had the mats out and noticed this on the drivers side mat





A hole had been worn into the mat where my left foot sits/rests.....

A quick message to the e-bay seller and no warranty is offered on wear, even though I've only had them since the end of June. They weren't bothered in the slightest so I replied with a message that basically said your mats are garbage, I've learned again that if you buy cheap, you buy twice.

So, I may very well go to carmats4u as they have a wide range of mats that are all custom made for whatever car you have. Watch this space.

[Petey80]

The other day I was passing through my local town and thought I'd pop to the local car care and detailing shop



Wax Worx Car Care & Detailing, located in Darlington.

Great little shop. Loads of different brands of all the products you could ever want or need.

Johnny, the owner, is a great guy. Super helpful with any queries you might have and has no issues about giving you advice and/or recommendations on products to go for.

I was only after a couple of products this time though (pay day isn't for 2 more weeks!!).

As said, I asked him about clay bars and clay cloths and he recommended the Bilt Hamber soft clay to reduce marring so I got one of those along with some snow foam.



I haven't used the clay bar yet, as that kind of cleaning takes pretty much a full day. I'll save that for when I'm off for a while in a week or 2. The paintwork on Blue is rough as hell.

Now, back to the rear bumper.

After washing the car and having Vehicle Smart out to rectify the issues, the near side corner of the back bumper looked awful again.

I tried to get a couple of pictures outside the shop, but it was hard to capture, but clear as day to the naked eye





Some of the marks are reflections from the white van and shiney alloys that I was parked next too. However, you can see what I can only describe as streaks across the corner of the bumper.

As I previously said, I attacked this area with some Meguiars Ultimate Compound and thought I'd fixed it. Granted I only used a sponge applicator pad, which obviously didn't work the polish anywhere near good enough.

So, I turned to Johnny for some advice. He put his eye to it, explained what he was seeing and going off what I told him I already had product wise, he gave me some advice on how to tackle it.

He adivsed I use my White Hex Logic pad and some Menzerna 2500 in the first instance. If that didn't work, hit it again with the 2500 and another pad, then if that needs refining, 3000 and a finishing pad.

Low and behold, that advice was spot on. I spent about 10 minutes polishing the area with my DA and the above combo (2500 and white pad) and it got rid of the marks. Happy days!!
There is still 1 little mark left that I missed, so will fix that in the very near future.

For now, I'm finally happy (honest) with the rear bumper and as it rained, Blue got a another bath so here's more clean shots!!





















Starting to appreciate the look of the wrapped grille now as well.

Then of course, it rained through the night, so that meant only 1 thing.....

Beading shots!!!





Beads of water brought to you by Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer.

That'll be it for Blue for a little while. I'm working nights next week, have a few things on, but then I'm hopefully off for 3 weeks so intend to do some maintenance work and hopefully clay bar the car, polish and wax it too.

Quick list of plans;

Order new pads for front and back
Order new drop links

Install pads and discs all round (ATE Discs and ATE Pads)
Install drop links (Meyle HD)

Paint calipers silver

Paint front bumper plastic trim in black to match grille.

Service at Volvo (mainly for software update/check and Volvo assist)
Install previously purchased spark plugs shortly afterwards
Possibly order and install new cabin/pollen filter so full service can be ticked off before the winter months.

Clay the entire car. I want to say full detail, but I'm not a detailer, but I am fully aware of the entire process and have all the gear to make sure the car is hopefully marr and swirl mark free once complete.

[Petey80]

As it was pay day, that only meant 1 thing..... Order some stuff.

Got some microfibre cloths and a tyre cleaning brush.



The scouring sponges are for the kitchen/house though. Can't seem to get decent ones from general shops anymore, so thought I'd try some from Temu. All the above are from there and cost just under £10 for all of it.

The tyre brush is pretty good. Fairly stiff bristles. The grey cloth is double sided, the other being yellow. There's 3 of them altogether and they're very soft. Not as thick as I'd hoped but will still be put to good use when cleaning the car.

My Amazon order just arrived and in that was



More microfibre cloths, 36 to be presice. Good quality Kirkland cloths, which should last me quite a while.

Some Autoglym High Performance Tyre Gel. I'm running out of the tyre dressing I currently have, so needed something. I wanted one that gave a wet look and it was between the AG stuff and the Meguiars stuff. After watching a few videos on You Tube reviewing a number of different products, the AG one came out on top so thought I'd give it a try.

The Sikaflex is going to be used to glue the front splitter I've ordered to the bumper (along with screws). I remember using it back in my Mk4 Astra days and it is some of the stickiest stuff I've ever used.

And lastly, a pollen filter



There were 3 different types of cabin filter and I got the middle one that was "Activated carbon foul-smell protection". Others were "Standard" and "Anti-bacterial and against foul-smell".
The former filter is the standard, run of the mill one at just over £13 and the latter one is the all singing, all dancing one at just over £20. I opted for the one I got as it's the usual one and it was cheaper than the standard one....????

At first glance it doesn't seem too awkward to get to the pollen filter. Granted it's still behind the glovebox and right next to a large fuse box, but there does seem to be enough room to change them over.

I'm taking the car to Volvo on Tuesday for a minor service, oil and filter, software update and will then change the filter and the spark plugs shortly after at home.
I don't usually do main dealer services, but as the car hasn't been in since 2019 and I know I took it there when I got it for a software check, I don't know if they actually did check for any updates, but at least it's definitely done during a service.
Plus I'll get Volvo Assist for a year, which is pretty good as I used it a couple of times when I had the V50.

[Petey80]

I'm not a huge fan of plastic parts on cars. They do have their place, but generally after a while they start to fade, go grey and usually look terrible.

There are products that you can use to bring them back to life a little bit, but they either get washed away or don't last 2 minutes.

On that note, I decided I would paint the front bumper inserts.

These bits



I knew they were just clipped in place, but damn did I have some issues getting them off.

A few posts in the FB V40 group and I was advised to start at the thin end, that goes round to the edge of the bumper.

That advice was spot on and I removed the drivers side one first



I managed to prise it off with ease all the way round until the area that is behind the number plate. For the life of me I couldn't get it off, no matter how hard I pulled at it. I didn't want to pull too hard in case I snapped it.
I got the top 2 clips out, but the 2 closest to the intercooler grille just wouldn't come out. I attacked it from different angles, sliding it back and forth to see if it had some kind of extra space, nothing, it wasn't coming off.

Then I noticed this



The 2 clips on the left of the insert, those were the 2 that were causing all the problems. Who would've thought they would be that way round. They were the same orientation as the 3 on the right. All the other clips going round the insert were the way you'd expect them to be, just not those 2.

When looking directly at the car, the 3 on the right make sense. The pointy bit on the clip is on the topside, so that would click into place on the bumper, so surely the bottom 2 would be the opposite way round..... No, they were the same as the top ones, no wonder I couldn't get it off easily. Eventually I managed to prise them just right and it popped off.

Quick picture of the part number as well



The other side is the same just ending 87

Took me a while to get the passenger side one off as it started to rain shortly after I removed the drivers side one. But eventually they were both off and left me with this



I then cleaned the inserts with some APC and a cloth, then gave them a wipe over with some white spirit to make sure they were nice and clean. Then the priming began



As I had to wait for a while to get the passenger side one off, I started on the drivers side one first. I eventually got them both the same with the same amount of coverage.

Then on went the matte black paint



Once that was all dried and hardened, I put a few layers of matte clear coat over them



Let that all dry for a good few hours, then I put them back on the car.



And would you believe it!! The area that I struggled to remove them from, was the area I struggled to get them back in.
Pushed a bit too hard and the paint wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and I did this



Big dirty thumb print where I'd pushed too hard. The screw holes above on the bumper itself were inflicted by other people/garages when putting plates on. I'll never understand that as there's 2 really good screw holes right in the middle of the bumper.

Fortunately, those screw holes and the finger marks I caused are all covered up by the number plate holder/plate



Quite happy with the result. You can't see a lot of difference in pictures, but in person they are a lot blacker and look a lot better than the standard plastic that they used to look like.

Here's hoping they stay like that for quite a while.