I stopped by the local dealership to see if they carried wheel caps. I got it for $12. Who would have guessed that the part was made in Spain? I also didn't know that this dealership is extremely popular with the Overseas Delivery crowd.
I then went to the local independent shop to make an appointment for an inspection. I broke my own cardinal rule and bought the car without a pre-purchase inspection. I was not going to lose a potentially great buy to someone else. The service records that came with the car give a pretty comprehensive history of the car. I think I'll be okay. The inspection is on Thursday.
There are old Volvos all over the shop, including this one.
The groaning doors groan no more thanks to generous amounts of white lithium grease. My next target is this dent. I'm not convinced that a paintless dent removal guy can fix this. The paint is chipped and it's not readily accessible via a window. We'll see. I sent the dent eraser guy an email.
Where did you apply the lithium grease? Groaning doors seem to be common to ALL European cars as they age (kinda blows me away that European automakers haven't figured this out...a 25 year old Taurus or Camry, no matter how clapped out, have doors that don't aurally draw attention to themselves while on the move). Mine aren't bad right now, but I know at some point they will be.
ReplyDeleteMy wife's old BMW X3 has similar noises, but the fix for hers was different...apply silicone spray directly to the door seals. That actually worked great.