rp850

I think it's a great idea for all drivers young and old alike to take a car control course from an established driving school like Bondurant, Skip Barber, etc. It teaches you a lot about the car and what to do in emergency situations in a safe, controlled environment. The skills learned in the classes sure come in handy for avoiding the perils of everyday driving. The driver can be 'upgraded' just like the car and sometimes it's a lot cheaper than buying that fancy new performance part.

Thanks, EXACTLY! being young is like a "scapegoat" for everything bad that happens when your young, which dont always apply. I mean i can understand if i was racing, or attempting a drift or somethin like that but i just took a u turn to quickly (guess i figured with the extra rubber from the tires +strut brace+sway bars it would not have been a problem which it wouldnt have been if it wasnt, except for the road conditions....

TRACS and Winter Mode are two different things.

I'm sure someone out there has a much more detailed explanation but off the top of my head here...

TRACS uses the abs system to limit wheelspin under 25mph.

Selecting Winter Mode tells the transmission control computer to run the Winter program which I believe is designed to select a higher gear from a standstill to minimize wheelspin in slippery conditions. I'm sure it also tries to shift the transmission as smoothly/gently as possible. Here in TX I think I have used Winter mode maybe twice!

Ultimately, there is no system that I know of that makes any car foolproof to drive in any condition. They will give you a better chance of keeping the car in control but they cannot defy the laws of physics.

hahaha ironic thats the EXACT thing i thought lol. I just hope I can get some replacements from tire rack. I wonder if i could use the same tire. (cause the P Neros aint cheap) it look like it just hit the rim

oh i thought that it was a system in which once the car loses control it automatically applies brakes and reduces rpms....it only applies under 25 mph? whats the good then if you hit like an ice patch goin down a highway or somethin....is it the same was "winter"?

:)

For all the newbies out there who may not know, it's important to note that TRACS is not a stability/yaw control system. I believe it's meant to help reduce (not eliminate) wheelspin on acceleration under 25mph. I would guess it would be of very little help when encountering sand in the middle of a U-turn.

Sandy patches seem to get in the way of a lot of 16 yr olds.

Is it just me or does the entire wheel look bent in with respect to the rest of the car?

Holy stuff man.... I would check your suspension and stuff too, that is a rough impact. My condolences to you and the Rim's family.

That makes sense to me! Thanks

Metal has more strength cold than hot right? You take a piece of exhaust tubing and make it red hot in order to bend it(which is not the proper way anyhow,but using it as an example) try bending the same tubing cold. Same applies to brakes when their hot they become lets say more flexible

That is a great suggestion. I just have one question in trying to understand this better. If it is the rotors, wouldn't you feel the problem more if the brakes were cold rather than hot? I was thinking that if everything was hot the metals would expand slightly and the vibrations would not be as bad. Why is it the other way around?

Take it out and ride the brakes too make them hot and see if it does it. It may only do it when the brakes are hot giving you that 50% factor. Or else get the car up to 60mph or so and stand on the brakes do that 2 times or so and see if it happens. If so it's probably in the front rotors. Check the rotor thickness min. spec is 23 mm. They may be too thin not allowing the heat to disipate properly. But it sure sounds like a front rotor issue too me

Total shot in the dark but bad control arm bushings? Also, never discount the possibility of your wheels being out of balance.

good luck

When I brake to slow down the streering wheel shakes back and forth. There is no plusing in the brake pedal. It does not do it all the time either I would guess it does it about 50% of the time. any ideas? The steering is fine while driving, goes down the road nice and no vibrations at all.

thanks

Supposedly, from what I've read the wagons handle rear impacts differently than the sedans. The trunk on the sedan is designed to crumple while the wagon is more rigid and designed to deflect much of the impact down the sides and the roof of the car. I believe Volvo designed the hatch to be an occupant area, not a crumple zone like the sedan.

The third row seats are actually supposed to be pretty safe because the speeds in a rear-end collision are usually lower (other driver is probably hard on the brakes immediately before impact, etc.) and both cars are moving in basically the same direction in a rear-end crash. Sitting in the third row seat also puts the occupant between the rear axle which helps protect in the event of a side impact.

Anyway, that's what I've read and I hope I never find out how safe my car really is!

Well I have a 95 GLT model 850... no turbo, just NA... and well safety wise, and I can tell u straight out that there are many safety features that aren't even mentioned and sometimes overlooked.

For example, head rests... do you really wanna snap your neck is someone rear ends you? In the Volvo, ALL the passengers have excellent headrests... compared to some NEW cars today that only provide them to front passengers only... My uncle has a S70, and so far he's been rear-ended in that car about three times (some ppl out here really don't how to drive....), and everytime, those headrests safely protected the head and neck from snapping... I've studied anatomy, and if you neck snaps back, it can lead paralysis or even death (because the Cervical Bone 1 can be pushed forward and cut the spinal cord). So having well designed and well covered head rests are critically important.

Good seatbelt pretensioners... well the Volvo is interesting, it has electronic ones up front and mechancial ones in the back seats. Well pretensioners help the seat belt pull up the slack in the seat belt so that in a sudden stop or crash, you won't move forward and smack something. I remember in my old car (93 Mazda 626), I got into a minor rear ending and well my car rear ended a van up front and well... I almost smacked the steering wheel with my head, because my body went forward. Not to mention that in a crash, the forces on the seatbelt will cause the seatbelt to stretch, to reduce the forces on the body.

Crumple Zones... sorry, but the 93-94 850's frontal crumple system isn't the same or as good as the 95+ . I know this because I did a study on my old car after I got destroyed in a frontal crash. And discovered a interesting manufacturing design. The front frame isn't 'solidly' connected to the cabin of the car. Hence thats why I survived my car accident, the cabin was perfectly intact while the front was gone... the design that Mazda used was superior to Nissan and Honda of its time (which made me thankful that I didn't buy a Nissan Alitma when I bought my first car). Unfortuantly for 93-94 Volvo's... the front frame is 'solidly' connected to the cabin and if a frontal offset crash were to take place the cabin would become part of that first crumple zone. I remember I found a document on this a while back... too bad I can't pull it back up to show. Speaking of crumple zones... the 850 wagon's crumble zone's seems a bit contradictory... if you could have a third row seats for kids and you put them there... if you get rear ended... guess where the crumple zone is... .

Well I think I bored everyone with safety talk...

I bought my 850 used from a used car dealer. It had 165K on it and now it has 173K. So far, the only things i've done are just maintanance items, the car hasn't given me any trouble... and never once have left me stranded. Although I didn't have the service records of the previous owner, I ended up doing preventive mantanance to keep the car going as long as possible, such as a whole timing system overhaul (water pump, belt, pullies, tensioner, etc), tranny flush, brake system overhaul (because I somehow mysteriously worn out my pads and rotors in less than 6 months ), regular oil changes, silicone everywhere , cap/rotor, silicone wires, spark plugs, just preventive maintanance stuff. Pretty soon, i'm considering a PCV job, to replace the whole PCV system, because even though the RMS isn't leaking now... I don't want to take chances. Luckily my RMS isn't leaking and the AC evaporator was good and is still good when I bought the car !

Although I had a chance to get a 93 850 with way less miles for the same price, I don't know why I didn't take it... I guess this 95 was just calling out to me or something...

That's the stuff I use. It's so easy I don't know why people mess with anything else. Personal preference but I think the factory grey trim looks great with Nautic Blue paint like mine.

I used the Showroom New gray dye from IPD. Looks perfect, no streaking, no fading after 1 year.

The gray dye looks 10x better than the black for most paint colors.

This works great, is easy to use, dries quick, doesn't run and it's grey not black like the kiwi stuff. Really...

http://www.ipdusa.com/ProductsCat.aspx?Cat...&RootID=629

thanks, but my bumpers are/were grey....would this make the bumpers black? i am assuming it would, but it might look good anyway

I've never had to use that, but I have used their other products and they're very good quality.

Sounds good, have you used it before?

How about something like this?

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?&SKU=H11063

Help! I washed my car this afternoon, and while cleaning the glass, there was a large piece of sap or a bug or something I could not get off. To remove it, I used a piece of "synthetic" steel wool-- it left a few scratches. Does anybody know if I can polish them out? They are not too deep, as they can not even catch a fingernail on them as you drag it across.

Thanks,

Jay

Anything that is nice and readable for the old guys like me and that doesn't burn anyone's retinas. Light grey text on the blue background?

what lighter colors would everyone like to see?

I just read in the paper the other day that they are going to do away with this...

yeah i always go by my bondsman's house and drop off a few hundred dollars to him just in case

ohohohoh, good story here. my good friend is a manager at this high scaled resturant here in knoxville(the copper cellar) and he was tellin me the servers always throw about10 bucks each night into a jar they use to get cab rides for the regulars when thier too drunk to drive.....

well this 60 year old lady is drunk as hell one night so they take her keys and call a cab. she tells them she wants to go down the street to this club and drink some more but they tell her she has to go home. well she says shes gonna go wait outside for the cab.

5 minutes later the cab driver comes inside and asks where the old lady is at? my boy was like"shes right outside the door" cab driver said, nope. then they go outside and the old lady is driving the cab over the flower bed, into the road and down the street. they call the cops and tell them exactly where she was going.

its gets better

the old lady drives like half a mile down the road to the club, crashes into thier sign, gets out of the stolen cab, gets in line, goes inside and by the time the cops get there shes at the bar on her second drink.

how they didnt notice she crashed into thier sign is beyond me, my boy did say it was a friday night and this club(michaels) is always busy!