Okay Volvo nuts, after a horrible week of being sick, hitting my bumper into a fence (no damage, but still pissed off about it!), and getting a flat on my way home, the sun has come up--literally! Today I got a set of beige backseat headrests from this Volvo junkyard for $70 and afterwards I went to Discount Tires to install my turbo rims. My Volvo is now to my perfection! Maybe getting a flat was meant to be by the Volvo gods. I know I would have waited a while to put on the turbo rims. But having a donut on my tire gave it a sense of urgency. Tell me what you think of this tire package.

The tires are 205/60/15 with a 91H rating. They are Federal (never heard the brand, can someone tell me something about them?) and have a nice tread design, nothing fancy though. I just got them because that was the most affordable tire in that size. But I wasn't being too picky anyway. The tire package includes valve stems, balancing, free tire rotations every 3000 miles, front-end alignment, and one free flat repair. I'm $250 poorer now, but I'm somewhat content knowing that my baby has new shoes.

Oh, about the alignment I received. It was a manual alignment. What the heck does that mean? For me to get all 4 wheel computerized alignment, I would have to pay extra. This manual alignment was done fairly quickly, but I didn't see it happen. Is it possible to do a manual alignment and how long does that take? I'm a little suspicious about it.

And also, I noticed in the box of my old lug nuts that the little metal “nails” that is on each wheel to help you put the tires on have been removed. Is that necessary when putting on turbo rims?

$70 for the rear head rests? Holy. I woulda sold you my (beige) pair for $50. Probably less :}

Any tips on how to mount them? Sure looks like the PO put speakers that would interfere with the head rests.. so I suppose I'll just try and get rid of them.

FWIW I don't think you can't really align the rear suspenson on the 240. Have fun with those styling rims.. IMO they're some of the nicest looking ones you can put on a 240.

- alex

'85 244 Turbo

>And also, I noticed in the box of my old lug nuts that the little >metal “nails” that is on each wheel to help you put the tires on have been >removed. Is that necessary when putting on turbo rims?

Yeah, didnt you see my reply a day or so ago? I said you should get the right deep chrome lug nuts, because the steel lug nuts are really short and they make it almost impossible to use a regular air impact wrench on the nuts. And I said that to install these wheels, you usually have to remove the locating pin/bolt because it interferes with the Virgo rim backside.

I'm about to mount up a set of Virgos onto the '91 I just got, so I'll be doing this tomorrow.

--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: 86 244DL, 87 244DL, 88 744GLE: 625K total

Yeah I did! Do I need to put something in their place to secure the rims to the rotor/hub?, as DHarvey have said? BTW, the turbo rims are also called virgo rims?

"And I said that to install these wheels, you usually have to remove the locating pin/bolt because it interferes with the Virgo rim backside."

Those pins lock the wheel and hub to the rotor so that when you jump on the brakes hard the whole thing stops as a unit. If you remove those pins, you have to install a bolt in each hub to lock the rotor in position. I forget the size and location, but look at an older 240 hub--my 1980 does not have locating pins on its hubs because it has the heavy-duty bolt setup.

I wonder why Volvo decided the pins were better.

Don't drive around without either the pins or the bolts in place.

Doug Harvey

Are you serious about that? What bolt are you talking about that is designed for the turbo rims? IS IT NECESSARY THAT I HAVE SOME KIND OF LOCATING PIN/BOLT TO REPLACE THE EXISTING ONES? Currently I think my turbo rims are just held to the hub by 5 lug nuts each. These are the long, chrome nuts for these rims. Will they do? I don't think my M-B has locating pins, and the wheels stay on and can withstand hard braking. Hard to believe that Volvo would do that to their wheel set-up.

"Currently I think my turbo rims are just held to the hub by 5 lug nuts each. These are the long, chrome nuts for these rims. Will they do? I don't think my M-B has locating pins, and the wheels stay on and can withstand hard braking. Hard to believe that Volvo would do that to their wheel set-up. "


Yeah, I don't understand either. But a mechanic told me once that the weak point is the link between the hub and the rotor. It's been a while since I've seen a hub apart, but I recall at the time it looked plausible that the setup needed either the locator pin or a bolt-through to make sure the full braking force gets from the caliper to the tire.

I'm sure there are lots of people on the board who know this deal inside and out, but I'm not one of them. I just wanted to call attention to it right away because it's a safety item.

Doug Harvey

The five bolts or studs that hold on the wheel are what holds the whole thing together. The locater pin is only there to prevent the wheel being put on in a different position after the wheel has been balanced on the car. Most people balance the wheel off the car so its not really important. It does hold the rotor to the hub, but only just, it's not a load bearing part. I don't think a 10mm bolt is really up to that job !!!!