Poor Visibility from headlamps

[Mkengineering]

Evening guys,

i am just wondering if i am the only one who thinks the light output on the volvo 850 is terrible? Recently i noticed i cannot see jack **** out of my headlamps, So intially i gave them a clean making sure no debris was built up and changed the lamps for some bighter ones.

Still made no diffirence still very poor visibility. Ive tried numerous makes of headlight lamps such as Ring,Phillips, Osrams and also the dreaded Halfrauds so called super bright! Yet the lightout put on the road were absolute ****e.

I then thought to myself ill just upgrade a 55w 5000K hid kit. There were some improvements but i wouldnt say it was amazing at all.

So my question is.

Is there anything else i can do at all??

Cheers guys

[tdidave]

Originally Posted by Mkengineering

Evening guys,

i am just wondering if i am the only one who thinks the light output on the volvo 850 is terrible? Recently i noticed i cannot see jack **** out of my headlamps, So intially i gave them a clean making sure no debris was built up and changed the lamps for some bighter ones.

Still made no diffirence still very poor visibility. Ive tried numerous makes of headlight lamps such as Ring,Phillips, Osrams and also the dreaded Halfrauds so called super bright! Yet the lightout put on the road were absolute ****e.

I then thought to myself ill just upgrade a 55w 5000K hid kit. There were some improvements but i wouldnt say it was amazing at all.

So my question is.

Is there anything else i can do at all??

Cheers guys

What's the state of the reflectors inside the lights ? That's what normally go on these early cars, the reflective silvering dulls. I had exactly the same thing on my 1998 V70. New light units were needed. I got them from Parts for Volvos Online. Once fitted the lights were fine..

https://www.partsforvolvosonline.com...ad57a386bfbebf

Dave..

[dingov70]

Without question rubbish reflectors & as a stated new ones make huge difference . Also make sure you have good earths & the plugs for the bulbs are not melted / damaged

Also fitting HID kits into reflector headlights is an MOT NO NO ! .

The light source from an HID bulb will cause untold dazzle as the light source cannot be correctly focused by the reflector

[XCR]

The reflectors on my last V70 were shot, all grey and dull. The headlights of course had all the light penetrating power of a tea-light....
For the sake of a mornings work and a can of chrome spray paint I decided to give it a go and I was very happy with the results. I kept the car for another six months and the repainted reflectors showed no sign of deterioration. Total cost, around £9.

[Mkengineering]

Ok guys ill look into painting my reflectors.


if all fails ill look into how much new headlamps cost.

[Mkengineering]

Originally Posted by dingov70

Without question rubbish reflectors & as a stated new ones make huge difference . Also make sure you have good earths & the plugs for the bulbs are not melted / damaged

Also fitting HID kits into reflector headlights is an MOT NO NO ! .

The light source from an HID bulb will cause untold dazzle as the light source cannot be correctly focused by the reflector

Not worried about that. I have a few close mates that Mot for me.

But ive checked the earths and gave them a good clean

[XCR]

Thats the plan I had....if I mess it up, I'm buying headlights....check out the before pics....really bad.

[Mkengineering]

Originally Posted by XCR

Thats the plan I had....if I mess it up, I'm buying headlights....check out the before pics....really bad.

Wow that hell of change.

do you have images before you did the reflectors with the lights on?

i may give this a bash tomorow morning. What paint did you use

[XCR]

I didn't take any as it was blazing sunshine that morning as I remember.
The first stage, as always was lots of prep, removing all traces of the old stuff before several coats of primer then gloss black before using an Amazon supplied 'Chrome' paint. This one....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I hit it with a heat gun between coats which produced a mirror-like finish but it seemed to haze a little on the last coat....perhaps I rushed it and you'll have better results.
Good luck.

[tdidave]

Originally Posted by XCR

I didn't take any as it was blazing sunshine that morning as I remember.
The first stage, as always was lots of prep, removing all traces of the old stuff before several coats of primer then gloss black before using an Amazon supplied 'Chrome' paint. This one....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I hit it with a heat gun between coats which produced a mirror-like finish but it seemed to haze a little on the last coat....perhaps I rushed it and you'll have better results.
Good luck.

Good work that XCR, I'm impressed. I did actually give the spraying a go, and although I thought it turned out quite well, I failed the MOT on them. That's when I said stuff it, I'll have to bite the bullet and get some new lights. Maybe I got unlucky with the test that morning.. who knows eh!

Dave..