Duvel78 wrote:Aluminium body?? The joke of the year!!

Perhaps they wanted to say galvanized.

They never came galvanised, that process is the sort of thing you use on farmers gates and chassis'.

Cheers

i have seen galvanized front wings of volvo 360. do not know who did this...240 and 740 have galvanized parts anyways...

Volvo 360 GL B200K wrote:They never came galvanised, that process is the sort of thing you use on farmers gates and chassis'.

Cheers

The explanation why they rust sooo much compared to the 200 or 700 series... I've seen Volvo 440 (1990 and later) even rusted as a 340, I thought they were better protected

my dads 440 is fairly good - only 1 spot where all the paint got ripped off once. cirtainly better than my 340

The body certainly was galvanised....the reason they rust worse than the big Volvos is poor design and poorer materials (thinner paint and steel, fewer coats of paint, etc). Compare a galv 300 with a non-galv (non XR3i or RS Turbo) escort of the same age...

cheers

James

i believe it got better as time went on - from what i remember the later paintjobs were relatively tough

I think it was variable...some people say very early cars were the best. The guy who runs 'Friends of the Volvo 300' pointed out that different coloured cars rust in different places..and he has a point!

cheers

James

Here is my point of view...

1) James is right when he says that we have to compare with cars of the same age and range. I like the example of the Escort and I would like to add the Opel Kadett. There is NO doubt that the Volvo was better protected against rust.

2)

5lab wrote:i believe it got better as time went on

No, that's not true. The latest Volvo 300 can be a pile of rust, even rotten as the old models. The paint was quiet thin, that's true but the quality was excellent, especially metallic colors. The problem is the very weak protection on every internal and hidden places where there is no paint. The metal is also so thin (some places) that you have a hole immediatly. I'm not sure the metal is really swedish like for the 200 or 700 series.

3) When you read the VOLVO manual, the page concerning the bodywork is very interesting. It's clearly written that the car MUST be checked after 3 years (then every 3 years) in a Volvo garage, to check the hidden and closed parts where the rust could appear and to treat those parts again... Who did that? I'm sure NOBODY, everyone did the normal maintenance (oil, filters...) but not the specific treatment against rust... So we don't have to be surprised that we have rust problems now after 13 - 20 years...