Picked up this beautiful S 70 T5 last Saturday and it is essentially perfect except for the puckered door panel material. I know Volvo did replace these, but is this still a viable option?

dick

The only 70 models that don't pucker are the R models, which use suede leather rather than vinyl. MIJ is right, the only way to "fix" it, is to take the panels off and bring them to an upholstery shop and ask them to replace them. The same goes for the 960/S90 with the puckering at the window sill.

Klaus
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(V♂LV♂s 1995 854T, 1998 V70R)

The velour door panels don't pucker, either.

The "suede" stuff on the R models is a synthetic Italian material called "Alcantara" http://www.alcantara.com/.

That might lead one to conclude (since both the velour and Alcantara are OK after all these years) that rather than just the eco-friendly/owner-unfriendly glue, it's the interaction of the eco-friendly glue and the cheap vinyl fake leather that Volvo used in the door panels.

In any case on the ones I've seen, the vinyl shrinks and gets hard as nails, there is simply no solution other than replacing the inserts. I've noticed that my wife's and kid's Hondas both have cloth inserts but that they're glued directly to the door panels rather than onto a thin layer of foam like the Volvo's. That should be a piece of cake for most upholstery shops and make it look all nice again. The repair should last longer than the rest of the car.

-BTC

'98 V70 T5 5-speed, 169k mi, velour cloth seats, front IPD stabilizer bar, rear factory HD bar, Bilstein HD, Volvo strut tower brace and skidplate, e-codes, XC grill, Lidatek LE30, V-1, Mobil-1 since new. Goal: "Moonshot" (227,063 miles at it's perigee)

"The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair." -- Douglas Noel Adams (1952-2001)

Dick,
This is a common problem discussed on several other boards. Evidently Volvo used to have a core replacement (still expensive) but quit doing it. You'll be hard pressed to find good replacements on eBay, etc. Volvo used an environmentally friendly glue and this is the result. The passenger side on my S70 is just starting up and I assume like most others it's a matter of time before the other 3 will start to pucker too. The best solution I've heard it to take the panels off and let a good upholsery shop put another covering on them. This way you have a choice, such as swede and it could look really nice. Probably cheapest this way too. Good luck.
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1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic, 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red, Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon. My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.

Thanks---right now just preparing for our trip to MN, WI and MI. Believe we are in order and door panels will wait--

dick

The infamous lousy door panels! The infamous lousy environmentally friendly glue! Some people had the panels replaced by Volvo if they were still under the original warranty. My V70 (only 40,000 miles old) was just out of warranty and Volvo NA behaved like a real shit about the panels. I ended up buying two for the rear doors at about $300 and having a body shop install them. They told me that there is no way to repair the old ones, such as injecting glue or anything like that. I hope you have more luck with Volvo NA (if you are in USA) than I did.

By the way, BMW had this glue problem with their E36 (3-series) and E34 (5-series) cars. These models showed just how much they could cut corners, and for the subsequent models, they upgraded the interior materials.