Thanks to all for the information. I didn't know any of that! I'm probably a pretty bad Volvo owner as usually I just buy one per decade for a few thousand and run it until it quits. I change oil and other fluids and when things fall off I put *something* back on ... usually. Anyway, it sounds like I should think about properly maintaining my steel wheels so I'll look into that. One other thing that I probably should not confess: figuring I would soon buy alloy, I put 1/3 can of fix-a-flat in the two wheels (tires) just to see if that would 'solve' the problem. I know I shouldn't a done it but for $7.50 it really fit into my budget. Also, I figured that the goo might be the perfect way to fill in the little gaps - actually a decent solution.


So, will I need to pay horribly for this act of cheapness? I did it because once I had a VW Bug with a flat and the cheapo repair outlasted the car so what the heck.


Also, just for fun I calculated roughly my purchase price(s) distributed over the usable life my past cars.

Purchase date(below)

-1984- a 1976 264 (paid maybe $1000 or $1500, can't recall) $250/yr

-1990 a 1987 740 ($2500) : $192/yr

wait... I sold it for $1000 so I guess that makes it just $115/year !

-2003 a 1994 940 ($3500) : $318/ yr (still running)

That also means that for 30 years of driving I paid $7500, but not all at once!
(well, I admit I'm ignoring repairs, etc. but that would take the fun out of it).

Volvo has to be the best deal around. I'm actually going to start spending some money on this last one since it has only 104,000 on it.

Also, I am wondering what my next Volvo should be - maybe I'll need it five or seven years hence. Are there any as good as the 940?

Uncle Horatio,

All these points are good.

The roads in the DC area are pretty awful, yes? With the pot holes that can eat a car rather quickly?

I'd go with an extra set of the 15" or 16" steelies like what your 940 has now unless you have the cash to:
- Buy new alloy wheels.
- Buy old or used alloy wheels and send them to a wheel service center that can test for true, inspect for fractures and cracks, and have the machining and kiln to repair the wheels. Of course, they'd sand or (better) bead-blast the wheels and repaint with several layers of powder coat on all surfaces.

You'd buy new tires to mount on these wheels. You know your budget.

Whether alloy or steel rims, both wheel types can form:
- Corrosion at the tire / wheel bead interface, fomenting tire pressure loss.
- If the wheels were painted or powder coated over the bead . tire interface on the wheel, repeated tire mounts / dismounts or pothole / curb strike can damage the coating, foment leaks at the bead.

If you go for used Volvo steel wheels, used you'll want to check for straight and true.

You can mount the rim on a hub and spin it and through visual inspection the wheel may appear straight. With a good tire quality, like Michelin, and a good high speed spin-balance, the your Volvo 940 should move quite well.

It would be best that you have a wheel shop check the used Volvo steel wheel for straight and true, make corrections, bead blast, and powder coat to endure your East Coast salty Winters.

Also, if collecting used Volvo steel wheels, try to collect a matching set by:
1. Part number stamped on the wheel
2. Manufacturer date
3. Manufacturer country

Number 3 is the least important, but it is best you get a matching set. Same is true for used Volvo alloy wheels.

Used alloy wheels are a higher risk choice. Volvo, as do all auto manufacturers, can use rather varying alloy formulations and casting methods whether they fabricate the wheels themselves or they (more typically) outsource the wheel fabrication.

With any used alloy wheel, you'll want to at least (like steelie wheels, yet more critically):
- Check for straight and true, including the rim edge and wheel / tire bead interface
- Check for fractures
- Inspect state of coating and nature of corrosion

A pothole or curb strike may or may not appear at the wheel edge, yet can form fractures at the wheel hub. Also, some not too bright people use the wrong method to apply torque when mounting the wheel to the hub and can form micro-fractures that only get worse.

Some poor quality tire stores or the misguided home mechanic may aggressively apply torque to the wheel lug nuts. A wheel can form features if this happens to often. Like mounting a cylinder head to an engine block, there exist a preferred pattern to apply torque to lug-nuts whether alloy or steelie wheels. There is also a critical upper limit how much torque you apply to wheels; more critical with alloy wheels.

A quality wheel shop can recondition a used wheel, if they are repairable, for maybe around 50$ to 150$ US. Much less for steel wheels. Call around and verify the wheel shop does well.

It may help to purchase a set of five wheels so you can have five matching tires and can rotate all five tires including the spare tire. Some will keep a spare tire of the same diameter on a steel rim in the spare tire area and that spare tire only sees the ground when you have a flat tire, of course.

If you can, you can have a set of winter tires on the steelies and Summer tires on Summer alloys. Please keep in mind the consensus one finds is to replace tires every seven years or so, no matter the mileage. Sooner if you park the car outdoors. The rubber compounds deteriorate slowly on tires.

For tires, I'd suggest Michelin on your Volvo.

Later 700 series wheels will fit as I think it has something to do with the size of the front brake caliper. The 960/S90/V90 wheels can fit save for the last two year as they used the same wheel offset as they FWD/AWD Volvo. Please research it.

This iPd article on rear wheel drive Volvo wheels may help you:
http://www.ipdusa.com/blogs/280/all-about-wheels-for-rear-wheel-drive-volvo-models


A Google or Bing search may list some outlets that can help you including local to you junkyards:

http://www.wheelsandcaps.com/volvo-940-parts.aspx

http://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-240-740-940-12/customize-940-wheels-rims-%3D-questions-26537/

A search on the brickboard and turbobricks may reveal some illuminating information about Volvo 900-series wheels.

Questions and comments?

Sorry for the long post.

Hope that helps.

MacDuffy's Tavern.
--
More Volvo or Kitty or Volvo and Kitty LOLz now! Go!

Oddly I gave up struggling to find steelies for my winter tires on my 1993 940 and ended up buying from these guys wheels_tires_more on ebay. /shipped quick and were actually reasonable in the grand scheme of things

I have a set of 1993 15x6 Volvo 20 spoke alloy wheels. $100 for all 4. I'm in Warrenton Va 540-270-7001

Any wheels will suffer what you have described, had the bead on my alloy wheels on the 850 cleaned up as they were slowly leaking. Took shop about 40 mins of labor, tires never bleed down now. So, take away, can be taken care of if tire is off the rim. If you can find nice alloys (15") in good shape in your area go for it. Can also try Volu parts in Atlanta, if you are ever down there, they have tons of stuff like this, generally rust free. I am not affliated with them, but have been there, to say the place is vintage would be an understatement.

Dear Horatio,

Hope you're well. Rely on steel wheels: aluminum/magnesium wheels will be attacked by salt, used to melt ice/snow, normal during a Washington, DC winter.

To fend-off corrosion, take advantage of "warm" days during the winter, to wash the underside of your car. That removes salt. Many car washes have an "under-body" wash feature.

If no car wash near you does this, buy a driveway washer. This is a "T" shaped aluminum (or plastic) device. A garden hose is attached to the handle. Water flows down the tubular handle to a cross-bar, with water jets, and wheels. Reverse the wheels, so that the water jets point upwards. You can then roll the drive-way washer under the car. The upward-pointing water jets will ensure that all salt/sand(grit) is flushed away. Once you've done that, put a regular hose nozzle and flush salt/sand from the wheel wells. If this is done two or three times per winter, you'll slow-down rust, etc.

Wheels from any 740 or 940 will fit. Wheels from front-wheel-drive cars will not fit, as the depth of the wheel (offset) is different from wheels used on rear-wheel-drive cars.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook