The dealer has been working on this problem starting at 12,000 miles.
The vibration starts at 30 mph and is more noticeable at 50 mph. The car came with Pirelli Scopion tires, and were changed at 26k for the same tire. The dealer insisted that it was the tires. The problem was still there. At 54k miles tires were changed for Michelin Destiny tires. Still same problem. I just checked run out on the face of the rims at the tire. this was .020 to .048 with a dail indicator. What should this dimension be? Has anyone else had this problem, if so what was the solution?
This isn’t a spec that is published. The wheel maker’s quality control people would know the answer, but that’s about all. If all the tires have been replaced 2 times and the problem persist, it isn’t the tires. It certainly could be a bad wheel. Not easy to trouble shoot. You need a known good wheel and tire of the same size for your car. Then you switch the know good wheel/tire one at a time with your current wheel/tires until you notice the vibration is gone. If the vibration remains after all 4 wheels are switched then the wheels/tires are not the problem.
The Volvo has a drive shaft for the rear wheels. It is a complicated drive shaft with joints at each end and one in the middle. It could be a bad driveshaft. These are about $500 bucks each (I bought one once) and I don’t think the dealer has a spare known good one to test. There are also CV joints on all 4 axles and anyone of them could be bad. Lots of stuff to track down.
If the car is still under warranty, get it fixed before the warranty expires. If the warranty is over now, you’ll spend a bunch of money and may never figure this out. If there is no longer warranty coverage your options are limited; live with it as it is, spend money and start replacing driveline parts until you finally get it, or trade it in.
An '07 Volvo out of warranty is a car that needs frequent and expensive repairs.
The right drive shaft has been replaced, under warranty. The dealer is giving me a real song and dance. The wheels bolt circle was changed on the new ones, so he can’t swap with an instock car. Thanks for the comments.
Please be as specific as possible as to the location of the vibration.
I cannot tell where it is comming from. It is more a seat of the pants feel. It is not like a tire out of balance. More of a shake you feel in the car.
Does the vibration change if you (carefully) put the transmission in neutral and coast while going 50 mph?
No there is no change. This is true for all speeds.
Does anything you do, besides changing speed, affect it? Brakes? Turn? Anything?
Nothing seems to make a difference. The vibration is just there. The dealer thinks I’m a nit picker. I did drive a friends car that is the same model and year and his was fine. He also drove both cars and felt the vibration in mine. It goes into the dealer tomorrow and after that I’m just going to drive it and when something fails I hope it solves the problem.
The drive shaft I referred to runs right down the center of the car from the front to the back. If this shaft is bad it would result in a seat of the pants feeling. When mine went it resulted in a groaning sound taking corners at slow speeds. If one of the 3 joints in this drive shaft is tight or frozen it would make the shaft vibrate. Also a imbalance in the shaft would result in a vibration. The dealer won’t want to replace it because it is expensive and kind of a bear to remove and replace.
First, your symptoms do not indicate a wheel end related vibration. The fact that you have repeated changed things on that end with no change supports that.
The symptoms DO indicate a driveshaft issue - and in partuclar, u joints.
Thanks for the reply’s, at this point I’m driving it until something fails. This is my last Volvo, the Chinese now own the company.
And there are plenty of other choices.
I’d ask the Volvo mechanic to put the car on a lift, then have him feel how each CV joint (U joint) acts as someone rotates each wheel. He should be able to find the bad one. This is almost new.