General: 70: after market headlights

[jack taylor]

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.

[christheancient]

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!

[volvo again]

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.

[Martin Cox]

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

[jack taylor]

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

[dingov70]

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

[GlendonV70]

Hi,

I've just been on PFS looking for these projector headlights you bought, can't see them, I can only see the standard type. Any ideas?

Cheers

Originally Posted by christheancient

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!

[DSK]

I know a while back PFV were clearning their stock of these with minimal discounts so may be they have all sold.

In all honesy, I have 3 70's cars driven daily and 2 of them have the projectors in. Even with HIDs projectors are useless. For light quality just get some reasonable aftermarket replacement units in OEM style. I will be swapping 1 of the projectors out of one of the cars this xmas as and putting the original OEM lamps back in.

[jack taylor]

Hi GlenodV70, I cant speak for projector headlights but I can for reflector units. Look at "AutoDoc" uk who have a selection of headlights at varying prices. My new lights and an HID kit cost me about £130.00 and the end result is fantastic and safe for other drivers.