So, Oversteer and Understeer!, what are they, what is the difference between the two and what causes oversteer and understeer? Lets get started with Understeer first.

So what is understeer you ask?, Understeer is when you turn a corner and the front end of the car gradually goes forward when turning, it usually only happens on FWD cars with a minority of AWD cars as well (like the old Big Audi’s with Quattro for example)

So what causes understeer? Understeer is caused when the slip angle of the front wheels is greater than the slip angle of the rear wheels which in turn causes understeer, slip angle is basically the distortion of the tyres side wall which affects steering.

As shown in the diagram above, Understeer is when the vehicle keeps going forward when turning the vehicle, to reduce the risk of understeer, reduce the speed of the vehicle to regain control, normally Understeer is safer as it is easier to regain control compared to oversteer.

 So what is Oversteer?, Oversteer is when the rear wheels lose grip and throws the car into a slide while going through a corner, this normally happens to RWD Vehicles and some FWD vehicles (Lift-Off Oversteer – essentially when you turn into a corner and let off the throttle the car oversteers slightly instead of understeering)

So what causes Oversteer?, Oversteer is the complete opposite of understeer, unlike Understeer where the slip angle of the front tyres is greater than the rear tyres, oversteer is caused by the rear wheels having a greater slip angle than the front tyres causing the car to slide while cornering.

As shown in the diagram above, the vehicle turns into a corner and the rear end starts to slide causing oversteer, oversteer isn’t as easy to control compared to understeer (especially if you’ve never experienced it before or if you own a Ford Mustang);) as you need to apply the throttle and turn into the skid to stop the vehicle from spinning out of control and causing an accident.

Slip angles are the main causes of understeer and oversteer, as shown in the diagram above when looking at both understeer and oversteer the degrees of the tyres depends on if your understeering (slip angle greater on the front wheels compared to the rear) or oversteering (slip angle greater on the rear wheels compared to the front), hope this write up helped in finding out the difference of understeer & oversteer and hopefully you learned something!

Hope You Enjoy!

From Alex Jebson

The date – 26/3/17, The Location – Motherwell College, The Car – My C70 Coupé, This was my first ever Tartan Tarmac Meet!

So after getting the C70 to a decently running state and with it’s MOT/Inspection passed i decided to take it to it’s first ever Tartan Tarmac meet up at Motherwell College in Lanarkshire, the reason for going was because of two things, one I’m currently a student at the college in question and secondly i had seen pictures from previous meets and it was something i was interested in going along to so when the opportunity to go to one at the college i jumped at the chance.

The time it was on for was from 9:30am to 12:30pm as it was one of their well known Breakfast Meets. We got there for 8:30am so we could finish off getting the car ready and so we could find a space, slowly but surely cars started to roll in and that’s when i started to realise what i had been missing – and that was the variety of cars on show. Mini’s parked next to Mclarens, hot hatches parked next to Porsche’s, mini club stands from the likes of BMW and American Muscle cars to Porsche’s, the cars were truly amazing and a real testament to their owners, if it was original, modified, a project car or even a cheap car they were all welcomed with no hate from anybody, everyone was welcoming and loved to chat about their cars and what they’d done to them, it was a brilliant atmosphere with over 300 people in total at the meet, the cars were absolutely amazing with some being right off the scale, so rare they’re never seen anywhere – not even in museums.

The Cars were truly stunning, anything from Supercars to Classics were all welcomed and loved, even my C70 got some interest with some of the people there which was quite a surprise to me as it’d never happened before. It was one of the best meets I’ve been too thus far, I’ll certainly be going to more! Here’s more of the cars from the meet.

Hope you enjoyed the write up!

So after fixing up the exterior of my C70 over these last few weeks and months i have now hit a dilemma, do i get the car resprayed and the wheels refurbished or do i start fixing up the Interior?

So let’s start with the Bodywork and the main reason I’ve decided to go ahead and eventually get my car resprayed. As you can see in the pictures the car has some pretty deep scratches all over it as well as numerous paint chips and dents, also the is paint coming away due to age, these were caused by a fence falling on the car when the previous owner had it, for that reason the car is soon going to go for a full body respray up at RM Bodyworks in East Kilbride (outskirts of Glasgow), also around that time i hope to get the wheels refurbished. Only thing which is currently holding me back is the overall cost – for the full body respray it’s going to cost about £2k and for the wheels about £250 (depending on who i go to), as well as the paint the wheels are also in a pretty bad state.

The main reason i want to refurbish these wheels is because 1. they have rather bad kerbing to the point the O/S/R alloy is starting to turn green in places, not one wheel is without this kerbing but this one is the worst, the 2nd reason i want to refurbish these wheels is because they are rather rare and not very easy to find another set (they are the Factory 17″ BBS Propus Alloys which I believe an expensive option for these cars when they were new). The main reason why the wheels haven’t been refurbished yet is because i have been saving for the respray which brings me onto the next point, the interior.

So let’s start on the interior, overall it’s in pretty decent shape for a 16 year old car but it’s not perfect. First of all the gearstick needs replaced as the numbers have worn away and it’s rather difficult to see what gear I’m in, the seats are due for a refurb and some paint touch up when the weather becomes bearable, the aluminium style dash and the aluminium trim around the gear stick & handbrake is also due for changing (already got that sitting & ready to fit), also the SC-901 Stereo head unit has decided to not play CD’s anymore through its 3 disc changer (going to see if i can get the original fixed and refitted), while on the subject of the stereo i am wanting to fit a genuine Volvo 6 disc changer into the boot (originally found on the original V70 Wagon), my car is already wired up from the factory to run the changer but was never offered on the C70’s to my knowledge. Moving down the list, i need to replace the steering wheel due to the leather coming away from the wheel when it gets hot, a new blanking plate is going in and the tray on the door card needs adressing as it’s supposed to sit flush but has somehow started to come away, also I’d like to fit a Volvo Genuine First Aid Kit as mine seems to be missing from my car (my car never came with it when i bought it) the rest of the interior is in rather good shape so doesn’t need adressing. The reason why I don’t want to start on the interior as of yet is because it can be quite expensive and will lower the chance of my car getting its respray.
So, should i save up a little bit more money and save for the respray as well as getting the wheels refurbished or do i start fixing up the interior and then taking it for a respray afterwards?

So after having the Volvo C70 Coupe for a good year and a half now I’ve decided to fix it up as it was looking a little bit rough around the edges, over the last few weeks and months I’ve given the car a well deserved makeover starting with new headlamps, a new grille and facelifted tail lamps.


I started by fitting second hand “Jewel” Style Headlamps and US Spec indicators to it to smarten up the front end and make it look a few years younger. After a while however the left hand headlamp started to lose it’s reflectivity and after a botched respray with some chrome paint from a rattle can and some Clearcoat it didn’t look very good, which meant i had to replace it with a brand new one from Taggarts Volvo in Motherwell, Scotland. 

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Once the new headlamp was fitted (3 bolts and the electrical connections) i quickly moved onto fitting an Egg Crate Grille from the facelifted C70 Convertibles from ’03-’05 (V70 XC as well), i was able to find one on eBay for £80 all in (shipping included) all the way from California, USA.

After fitting the new(ish) Grille (about 8 clips- i had to replace one as i misplaced one) i moved onto fitting Facelifted rear tail lamps from the ’03-’05 Convertibles, it wasn’t an easy task as i originally ordered some wrong ones (connections weren’t the same plus didn’t fit into the same place as they were slightly too short) so just like the headlamp unit i went back to Taggarts Volvo in Motherwell and ordered the correct housings and went about fitting them.

So after fitting the new passenger headlamp i noticed that the drivers (right hand side) headlamp was looking foggy and slightly hazy so i started to clean it using ChrisFix’s Headlamp Restoration Video on YouTube and it came out rather well (not the best but noticeably better).

I had to leave it 24 hours looking like this so none of the products and chemicals used didn’t go onto the paintwork of the car. A few people in the street thought it had been hit and i was covering it with a binbag to cover the wing. The next morning i went outside and after a little bit of fettling it started to look a whole lot better.

While i was cleaning it up i decided to fit a spare weather strip to stop possible water ingress (cause of the fogginess) and so far it’s not come back, when i have some spare time i will go over it with some Meguairs Carnauba Wax to give it some extra shine and protection.

So there you have it!, the C70 has gone from a 1996-2002 spec car to a 2003-2005 spec car, with all the upgrades it has cost about £770 pounds which isn’t cheap but is definitely worth it as it transforms the look of the car all round and makes it a whole lot younger than it actually is. Hopefully sometime soon it’ll be going for a full body Respray and the wheels refurbished so keep tuned for that!