98 V70 front door interior panels torn up

Post by **98v70dad** » 11 Aug 2014, 13:01

My 98 v70 interior is starting to look a little rough. The front seat upholstery is coming apart and the door panels in the front have tears in the vinyl. I have read that there are some nice leather seat covers available for my car that don't cost too much, but I don't want to buy them if I'll still have raggedy ripped up doors. It's the vinyl below the armrest level that's bad. Apparently the previous owner slammed the seat belt into the door frequently when closing it.

Any ideas on how to get these fixed up? The tearing is pretty extensive and I've already tried a DIY vinyl repair. My repair looks much better but it still doesn't look great.

Post by **jblackburn** » 11 Aug 2014, 13:48

Quite honestly, the easiest thing...look for 1999-2000 door panels at a scrapyard. The glue used was much better.

If you can find "R" door panels from one being parted out (the Volvospeed folks kill off quite a few of the things), they're even better.

Post by **98v70dad** » 11 Aug 2014, 14:11

So a 1999 or 2000 will fit my car? Will an S70 panel fit a V70?

I'm not sure a used replacement will be any better. I asked the guy at voluparts in Atlanta if he had door panels and his response was "they are ALL like yours". Voluparts takes wrecked volvos and warehouses the parts. They also carry Volvo or aftermarket parts that commonly fail. They are a great resource for someone with an old Volvo in Atlanta.

My door panels have tears in the vinyl that start at about the armrest level on the aft edge of the panel and the tears continue down to just above floor level. The guy at voluparts is the one who told me how they got that way...slamming the seat belt clip into the door.

Post by **98v70dad** » 11 Aug 2014, 18:53

Does anyone have some additional ideas? So far it's been suggested that I look for some good used ones. I guess new aftermarket isn't available....don't know. Was there a better trim level than the basic trim level that had the door panels covered in something other than vinyl?

Post by **jblackburn** » 11 Aug 2014, 19:02

Ah, I missed the seatbelt part. My door panels are OK there, and no tears in anything, but quite annoyingly, that vinyl around the door handles delaminates from 100% of them.

Yes, 1999 + 2000 are exactly the same as yours, but with a less "environmentally friendly" glue used that wasn't quite as terrible at doing its job.

Post by **98v70dad** » 11 Aug 2014, 20:47

So, if that vinyl comes off pretty easily I should be able to get the door panels redone at an interior upholstery shop. It may cost more than I want to pay, but I guess it's do-able. Mine aren't' delaminating, they are just full of tears.

It's hard to want to invest a lot in an old car. I have been considering swapping cars with my daughter so she has something more reliable to drive. If I'm going to be driving the Volvo it needs to look a little more presentable.

Post by **erikv11** » 12 Aug 2014, 10:05

There are tons of good door panels out there, you will just have to look/wait around. Maybe the Voluparts guy was feeling a little cynical. If you would spend the money on a refurb job then by all means get R panels, they look great too.

What color is the car's interior?

Post by **98v70dad** » 12 Aug 2014, 20:00

The car has a tannish interior. Technically I don't know the exact color. I think it came in two colors most people would describe as tan.

What exactly is an R panel?

I'm not really willing to pay someone 100 a door to get them redone, but if I can get tem redone for 100 each I could probably do it for 20 each. It doesn't look that difficult

Post by **jblackburn** » 12 Aug 2014, 20:59

V70R's had this nice stitching down the leather on the sides.

Several people have offered suggestions to fixing them - I'd start with a set of lower door panels that aren't smashed by seatbelts like you say yours are, though - holes in that stuff won't be as easy to fix.

http://volvoforums.com/forum/volvo-s70- ... ing-16976/

Post by **erikv11** » 12 Aug 2014, 21:13

About the DIY repair: do some searches. Because delamination will eventually befall every non-R, 1998 door panel, refinishing them has been explored, and reported on, exhaustively. I don't recall hearing of any real good solutions.

The R designation is (was) an options package. R is the top of the line package (basically the order is base model, GLT, T5, then R). In 98-00 the V70 was available with an R package, the S70 and C70 were not. V70 and S70 doors (and therefore panels) are exactly the same. The V70R door panels are stitched, not just glued. They don't delaminate, they look better, and R owners may have a tendency to not trash their cars so quickly. May have.

It sounds like your car has either tan or oak interior. You can check the VIN plate under the hood if you want to find out.

Call Erie VoVo if you want to get a price on door panels, just to get an idea of what used ones may cost. Much cheaper if you pull them from a junkyard yourself.

jblackburn just said some of this but I'll post it up anyway ...