Volvo XC40 Forums

rikvanbeek wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:35 pm Mechanics of Volvo NL just try to sell me that is is normal and the XC40 has a "dynamic" suspension, whatever that may be...

Actually, my Inscription has the 'dynamic' suspension and that has no resonance/vibration at all (though it does have perhaps an above average tyre roar - mine is the Pro with 19").

R-Design/FE models have the 'sports' suspension.

I do not have The dynamic suspension option. It was just Volvo’s answer to The vibrations. “It is normal sir, it is a new type of car with a dynamic ride. Vibrations are extra noticeable due to the scilent Interior...” and more of such crap arguments for failing to solve the problem on my car.

This was one of the reasons that I decided to dispose of my T5 FE. Have had a few too many minor issues on quality that combined took the shine of ownership of the XC40. We were lucky enough to get back the money we spent on the initial car and the extras like tow bar and maintenance package. Have gone to Audi delivers a much better build quality

I just picked up my XC40 Momentum with 20 inch wheels on April 27. Drove to work on the 29th. Once I reach about 65 mph, I start to feel a vibration in the front of the car and steering wheel. Once I hit 70 mph, it becomes very noticeable. Tomorrow will be my 3rd trip to the dealership. I am in the US. First trip, serviceperson drove the vehicle and told be this was normal. Next day , manager calls and asks me to bring it because they want to let some air out of the tires. They find the tires with 44 pounds of air in them. Adjusts to 33. Car rides somewhat smoother but still feeeling this vibration in the steering wheel which starts at around 65 mph. Tomorrow I am going back to the dealership. I asked to drive another XC40 so I can see if it does the same thing. If it does, I know its the design of the vehicle or shall i say, bad design, of the vehicle. I do not hear any noises from airflow. I only have this annoying vibration. I am going to tell them I will start the lemon law process if the car I test drive does not have this issue.

Elvo57 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 31, 2019 5:24 pm On the 14th March, he found all wheels out of balance, between 15g to 35g, but the tyres were true on the rims. After correcting this and moving the rear tyres to the front, the resonance has actually become worse to the point where often it becomes a vibration you can now physically feel at certain speeds. This was rarely the case before, unless the tyres were cold.

This is interesting because, despite others saying tyres/rims have been eliminated, at least two people report vibrations getting worse after balancing.

To my (unqualified) mind, this can only happen if there is a significant radial load variation that was partly compensated by 'balancing' at the factory - a process now undone if the dealer has used a bog-standard balancer, rather than a road force balancer. Rotating the tyres sounds like a desperate clutching of straws that may also have exacerbated the problem.

Maybe there are a bad batch of tyres out there or maybe the XC40 does have a design flaw that makes it over-sensitive. Either way, you should, at the very least, be able to determine how good/bad your tyres are, and return to (at least) the status quo by having them 'balanced' on a Hunter machine ( https://www.balancemycar.co.uk/ will find your nearest).

This Jaguar bulletin will give you an idea of what sort of process *should* be involved:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&sourc ... Goa4A6BIaY

P.S: I should add that a fancy machine is one thing; finding a tyre centre with the right staff is something else.

Have a watch of this to give you an idea of what should be involved:

Thank you for the information Silver Moose!

Volvo's new 11 point check does include Road Force Balancing. But unfortunately we live 70 miles from the nearest available facility (as confirmed by your link, many thanks) and my dealer said that was too far away! Everything else was completed including tyres off again, inspected, re aligned and balanced, also included on the list were some engine mapping resets as well. They then compared it to other cars on their forecourt and said ours was a little worse on some road surfaces and handed it back to us to check out.
Initial impressions were a favourable improvement, but this could have been just road temperatures (hot Easter weekend) as next drive at a typical UK 9C showed the issue was still there, if a little better than the last attempt they had.

I had already researched the Road Force balancing before taking the car in as I have a friend who owned an early Audi Q3, which did respond to this quite well, but only for 2-3 thousand miles before his similar vibrations came back again. Hence I did not see this as a desirable solution and did not push for this too much with the dealership. Admittedly it would be good to know if this could cure the resonance/thrumming, but for me Volvo would have to agree to get this done for the life of my ownership of the car and at no cost to me.
As you say, the best wheel balance a car can have, should be at the factory, the second being the Hunters machine and finally the least effective, a bog standard balance at the tyre shop (which has been absolutely perfect for all the other 25 or so cars I have owned). So as you say, either there is a problem with the chassis significantly magnifying a slight issue, or there is an underlying problem on just our individual car or even both?

Next step they tell me (when the dealership gets us an XC60 loan car and they have the right level mechanic available too) is to swap out wheels, tyre brands etc, with new cars they have in the show room etc, and then do side by side comparisons. The engineer did say drive shaft replacement is down on the list of actions from Volvo as well.

As I have said before from the outset, the issue does feel tyre related. Every time we get the car back, the fault is a variation on what we had last time. Different frequency, sometimes there are resonance peaks at certain speeds, sometimes it is constant over the full speed range, sometimes you can feel vibrations through your seat. Also generally speaking (as it is never exactly the same, but is always there) it is more apparent on colder days before the tyres have warmed through.

On a more positive note, I can confirm that my neighbour (now an E-Pace owner), also managed to get a full refund from the dealership ( as per AndyP ) after they could not resolve the same fault on his XC40 T3 FWD. Although there were other factors involved with his experience with the dealership too.

XC40 | First Edition | D4 AWD | Bursting Blue | 19" Continental Premium Contact 6 tyres | Ordered 14/03/18 | Delivered 11th October 2018 | UK.

Does anyone have the list of those 11 items ?

Next time the car is in I'll try and get a copy from the mechanic. I'll be chasing my dealership today about the re booking so hopefully not too long, but you would assume Volvo has circulated this 11 point check memo globally across the dealerships cuznvin ?

XC40 | First Edition | D4 AWD | Bursting Blue | 19" Continental Premium Contact 6 tyres | Ordered 14/03/18 | Delivered 11th October 2018 | UK.

From Sweden.
I have had the same problem since I bought the car in 2018-08.
Wheel balancing twice. Replace rear axles. Without result.
Now I asked the workshop to remove the cardan shaft.
Tried the car and there were no vibrations.
So now they will replace the cardan shaft.
Hope this can help you.

XC40 T4 AWD