Rubbish Hid headlights on a 2005 executive?
 

My 2005 xc90 has HiDs as I found out after buying some lovely H7 Phillips bulbs!

So my reason for buying new bulbs was the fact that my headlights are rubbish!
What I want to know is, are they standard on an 2005 executive or has someone modded it?
Or are they an optional extra?

Anyway, what is the answer? Upgrade the D1s bulbs? Have mine diminished over years?

Thanks for any help!
Jim.

Hi BHK. I have an 07 Sport with HIDs and like you was thoroughly disappointed with the light out of the headlights . I 1st bought new D1 bulbs , Nightbreakers , slight improvement but pink/yellowy tinge to them , but still wasn’t happy, then bought Philips Xenon D1S XtremeVision Gen 2 ( that’s important) and much happier with the results! Longer beam and nice white light. Ok they aren’t cheap at £72.68 each on Amazon but worth it. I then had my headlights polished at a Volvo Independent garage as they were quite cloudy. Again , better beam and clearer ..not perfect..but cheaper than new headlights at £230 each . Oh and upgrade the W5W to LEDs to match the whiter bulbs :)
Hope that helps, Steve
PS altho the bulbs I took out looked ok they definitely wear out.

xenon bulbs gradually lose up to 70% over there life time.
choosing a Decent brand lamp is also a needed, as is the lenses being clear rather than milky/cloudy, and clean reflectors in the projector unit And the projector lens itself

Thanks guys, yep my off side headlight needs a polish as it’s looking very tired, but the weird thing is the near side is like brand new & that’s the worse of the two!
I have a clear dark patch right in front of the car when I’m driving, as I looked about tonight at other cars (with envy!) it is clear that something isn’t right!

I’m thinking

A polish/ t cut/ maguires
New lamps
& maybe getting them set up? At an mot station?

To start with pull upto a wall and check what the beams are like 20ft away and you should get a idea what's up ......or down , go low to high and see what happens.

might be worth looking at

https://www.autoglym.com/catalog/pro.../category/186/

Usually its wet sand the lenses going finer and a machine polish to sort them, that kit has all you need in the one box other than a drill battery or mains power, And it works

Evening , just my few pennies worth on the subject .
1) Make sure the projector lens is CLEAN ( no milky dust )
2) Make sure the reflector behind the projector lens is clean & free of milky looking dust ( No idea where it comes from )
3) get plastic lenses polished

I see many "milky " looking HID set ups that always benefit from cleaning & polishing . It may be worthwhile asking a local body repair shop to machine polish your lights , as they will achieve a far superior finish .

If you do DIY the polishing , then ensure you work at low speeds , keep the lens / polishing mop damp , press lightly & keep moving to avoid heat build up melting / marking the plastic

My brother is a professional valeter & he does a great job on scratches/dents & headlight polishing, I’m going to ask him to give them the once over with his mop.

On the '05 model you will almost certainly have the earlier reflector based HID lights (check they are factory HID - the headlamp internal surround should be silver not black) in which case the bulbs must be postfixed by the letter R (e.g. D1R) they are physically interchangeable with the S version (intended for projector lights) but optically the "S" ones don't work in reflector headlights. The later projector HID lamps (which are Bi-Xenon) look like the have an egg sized glass ball in them. These take the "S" bulbs.

As has been said, any HID lamp (just like a fluorescent light at home) can deteriorate to a fraction of it's rated output before it fails. Sometimes they also turn "pinky" in light colour.

www.powerbulbs.com has been recommended by a few members for selling genuine, quality branded lamps.

Wow, close call thanks mate, I nearly bought D1s earlier! My brother was asking why it doesn’t have projectors the other day!
So mine is almost certainly D1R?
Is there a definitive check I can do?
My main concern is a previous owner has modified it, that would really pee me off!