Crazy tire pressure from the dealer

My new 2007 XC70 Volvo came complete from the dealer with 31 psi in the driver’s side tires, and 47.5 on the other. I only found this out after having driven it on the interstate, where it shimmied all the way. The next morning I checked the tire pressure and that’s when I got the bad news. Now the car still shakes over 60, and that’s after a 4 wheel spin balance. Has this dealer-error damaged the car or tires in any way? Thank you. Aggravated-beyond-words-in-Santa Fe.

I don’t see how that could damage the tires. I think what probably happened was you had the left-side tires on the rear of the car, the rights on the front, and the dealer neglected to pay attention to that orientation when putting them back on the car. Annoyance aside, I don’t think that is the cause of your shimmy.

Argh, can’t edit posts, HATE this BBS so much!

Anyway, I see that it was new from the dealer in that condition. I still think this car had its wheels off for some reason, might be time to go back and rattle some cages to figure out what happened before you took ownership. It’s pretty late in the year to be buying a 2007, so that car has been on the lot for a while…

That depends on how many miles have been put on those overinflated tires.
A few weeks no problem, but 7 or 8 months and 10k miles it might be.

Overinflation leads to severe wear in the middle of the tire. Once back to normal pressure the tire contact patch is on both sides of the tire and this could cause a shimmy or wallowing.

The preview reply button works well and has an edit button if you don’t like the preview.

If it has, the dealer is responsible to fix it under warranty anyway. Keep all your copies of the shop orders and demand that they correct the shimmy.

By the way, I read somewhere that new cars are shipped with the tires overinflated intentionally and the pressure adjusted down during prep. It sounds like they missed your right side during prep. And I seriously doubt if that’s the cause of your problem.

Isn’t the XC70 AWD?

If so, couldn’t the drivetrain have been damaged?