after market headlights
 

Hi, My 20 year old v70 headlights are now down to candle power. I don't want to go to the expense of replacing with Volvo headlights so am looking at after market. There are numerous manufacturers but I have no idea which of them is any good. I would welcome opinions from guys who have purchased from various suppliers. thanks.

Jack:

I can only speak with limited personal experience. But (don't you hate that word?) they all go that way after time.

2nd hand ones are, quite often nearly as bad - especially if they're from a breaker; so caveat emptor.

When My v70's headlights were like candles in cocoa tin lids, I did do a lot of shopping around etc; but good ones are like rocking horse poo; i.e. scarce.

There are various people who can 're-silver' the reflectors; but I can't pass judgement as I've no experience of that side of things.

In the end, I went to PartsForVolvos and really splashed out and bought projector headlights with black backgrounds and really went to town and bought the matching indicators.

One big advantage of the PFV projectors is that they are very easy to 'adjust' for driving on the right-hand side of the road. Add good quality bulbs and you could put the landing lights of a 747 to shame.

But there isn't really a way that can be both good and cheap, that I know of, to have good replacement headlights without spending a bit of cash.

Maybe you could get some 'reasonable' 2nd-hand ones from a breaker; but you might to join a long queue of others wanting them!

My '98 V70 recently failed the MOT on dull headlights, bought two from PFS for around £82 each, fitted Osram Nightbreakers, now I can see !! As stated second hand are hard to find and will usually be in bad condition.

I 'recently' encountered the same problem with my 1998 V70 and eventually chose to use the standard aftermarket lights from PFS. Swapping the motors over was staightforward.

I found the receipt the other day and it turns out that 'recently' was over 7 years ago. The lights are still absolutely fine: I'd happily recommend them.

Martin
1998 V70 Tdi auto

Hi guys, Thank you all very much for the valuable info, I have looked at both suppliers and they fit the bill.

My V70 has ABM projectors fitted using HID for dip & LED in mainbeams . The results are quite literally night & day different .

One thing I have noticed with many projector / HID set ups , the lens & reflectors benefit from cleaning to remove a white deposit that appears from somewhere . It's almost like talc

Hi Dingov70, Thanks for that but I am not looking to spend a great deal of money; about €150.00 for a pair. jack

Try ringing Brian Jump & asking what he has from cars he has broken
Address: Press Rd, Lytham Saint Annes FY8 2LU
Phone: 01253 714207

He is extremely good on price of used parts

Then fit aftermarket HID / LED combo

Hi Dingov70, Thanks for that but I need LHD headlights. I could purchase from
Brian and then add postage to spain plus a pair of new LHD lenses but total cost may not be far short of a new aftermarket pair from spain or germany.
Out of interest what is approx cost of HID/LED combo. thanks jack

I bought aftermarket E marked HID ballast / bulb combo's from Ebay about £30 inc P&P and the LED were just over £20 inc P&P .

LED are brighter but do not product clear pattern on beam tester for MOT , so HID it was , Has to be correct as I am an MOT tester !