The G2 kit comes with a non-chlorinated brake cleaner you’re supposed to clean your calipers with before applying the paint. I suggest you first hit them with a wire brush wheel and then use the supplied cleaner to remove the remaining residue. A few minutes with the wire wheel left our 10+ year old calipers looking pretty clean and ready for paint.
G2 has about a dozen base colors you can choose from and a bunch of other custom colors that are meant to match the stock paint finishes of many popular cars. We wanted to match the Volvo R-Design blue and went with the Electron Blue Metallic from a Corvette, part number CBCP-21-WA779J.
These are the results after 3 coats. It really is super easy to get these results. The most important part is to make sure to do all your cleaning and prep work before you start painting. This way after you finish the first coat on one corner you can move on to the next corner without having to stop the painting process. The paint lays down smoothly and the surface imperfections from each fresh coat virtually disappear by the time you get to the next coat. While we were in there we also refreshed our brakes with new Centric GCX fully coated and cryo treated rotors. The cryo treatment will help lengthen their service life while the coating will help keep them rust free and looking good for years to come. We mated our Centrix GCX rotors with Akebono low dust ceramic pads.
And here is the finished product! Our refinished V70 wheels wrapped in Nitto Motivos and our refreshed brake system.
When inspecting the old tires on our Volvo we noticed it is quite hard on its front tires. This is to be expected since it is a full size wagon and it is also front wheel drive. No our V70 is not the performance oriented V70R from previous generations, but I’m glad it’s not AWD, RWD, or turbo. It’s going to keep me from modifying it! But I digress. The tire wear was concentrated on the inside edges of the front tires. So before we put any miles on our new Nitto Motivos we put our V70 on our new-to-us alignment rack to verify toe and alignment settings. Everything checked out and was within OE specs, so we’ll be sure to keep an eye on our tire wear to see if this trend continues.
5 comments
I drive/modify a P80 (MY00) V70 R, so I’m super excited to see a Swedish wagon on MotoIQ!
I’m gonna nit-pick this article a little though because although this is a cool wagon, it’s not a V70 R. The last V70 R made was the P2 (04-07) that the Pegasus wheels you mentioned came from.
The P3s were badged as “R Design”. I’m not trying to be pedantic about it, but the distinction is that the “R Design” is largely a cosmetic package, without any performance upgrades. The P2 R models got some upgrades over the other trim levels at the time such as a 300 HP turbo 5 cylinder, 4 piston F/R Brembos, better suspension, etc.
I’m pretty sure the P3 V70 shares a lot of parts with the P3 S/V60s, which have a ton more aftermarket support. I don’t know those models as well as some of the older ones. Either way, I’d suggest you check out Viva Performance and IPD for some suspension upgrades, and FCP Euro for any maintenance parts you’ll need. Good luck!
Hey Andy, that’s totally fair. It is a shame the P3 only got the cosmetic R-Design package and didn’t come as a “real” V70R.
Thanks for the info on the S/V60s. Was just recently at a junkyard looking at other Volvos for similarities.
Hey Martin, I totally agree it’s a bummer Volvo didn’t make a P3 R model because the turbo versions of the I6 is pretty potent, especially if they get a few aftermarket goodies.
Volvo, as a smaller company, shares a lot of parts between their models. For example, my 2000 V70 R is running a mix of parts from 4 distinct generations of Volvo models. Admittedly, most of that is so the 6 speed manual swap works with the stock AWD system…
It may be very possible that a set of coilovers from a S/V60 would bolt right up to your V70. Might want to spend a little time exploring the Swedespeed forums – there’s a lot of good info available and it still has a fairly active user base, so hopefully you can find the answers your looking for.
Again, super excited to see a V70 on MotoIQ, and I’m looking forward to some future updates!
I’ve bought 3 sets of Motivos. Best sporty DD tire. Period.
No, they’re not MP4S, but they do stick very well and have excellent feedback. Wearing like iron is icing on the cake.
That’s good to know, thanks for the feedback. My set of PSS are nearly worn, and I’m looking for something that will last a little longer, so I’ll have to keep the Motivos in mind.