Cloudy headlight lenses fixed

[JGEM]

My XC60 is 9 1/2 years old and the plastic headlight lenses started getting cloudy at the top through to- approx 1/4 of the way down. I bought some paste from an auto shop that promised to clean up the problem but it was a waste of time. Lots of rubbing but the damaged layer was much too thick to be cleared up.

Today I got them treated by a headlight place that sands them back to get rid of the sun damaged layer, polishes them back to clear and then applies a clear coat protective layer. Supposedly this treatment lasts for several years and at NZ$130 it's considerably cheaper than new headlight lenses. They look as good as new now.

My car has had 9 years in the Australian sun and 6 months in NZ, always parked outside and many cars of that age are now showing lens damage due to the harsh sunshine. Not sure how XC60s of a similar age are coping in the gentler European sunshine.

[AndyJudge]

I used something called Diamond White polish on the lights for my old S60 & it sorted them with a bit of elbow grease.

Remember to seal them afterwards though otherwise back to square 1 very quickly.

[Tannaton]

Very common problem on older XC90 and P2 V70 (post MY05) also.

Easy to remedy with 400 grit, then polishing mop.... I've done it to my XC90 twice now in the last 4 year.

Having 55w halogen bulbs on all the time in the summer day time doesn't help.

[Aljsv]

At time of writing my XC60 is 8 years old and the lefthand lense (gets the sun for most of the day when parked on the drive) has been cloudy for about 2 years. I’m in the UK.

Originally Posted by JGEM

My XC60 is 9 1/2 years old and the plastic headlight lenses started getting cloudy at the top through to- approx 1/4 of the way down. I bought some paste from an auto shop that promised to clean up the problem but it was a waste of time. Lots of rubbing but the damaged layer was much too thick to be cleared up.

Today I got them treated by a headlight place that sands them back to get rid of the sun damaged layer, polishes them back to clear and then applies a clear coat protective layer. Supposedly this treatment lasts for several years and at NZ$130 it's considerably cheaper than new headlight lenses. They look as good as new now.

My car has had 9 years in the Australian sun and 6 months in NZ, always parked outside and many cars of that age are now showing lens damage due to the harsh sunshine. Not sure how XC60s of a similar age are coping in the gentler European sunshine.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

Very common problem on older XC90 and P2 V70 (post MY05) also.

Easy to remedy with 400 grit, then polishing mop.... I've done it to my XC90 twice now in the last 4 year.

Having 55w halogen bulbs on all the time in the summer day time doesn't help.

Its about time they realised that the sun attacks this plastic, they have had 20 years to come up with a solution. surely one of the main criteria's for the volvo specifications would be the UV protection..

when I first saw the XC90 in 2002 fitted with these I mentioned to a colleague how long it would be before they faded, now I know...

[Ulrikas PA]

I thought about getting a (very good condition) mk1 Toyota Rav-4 a couple of weeks ago and was surprised at how good the headlights were for a 1997 car.

I realised they were glass....!

[JGEM]

An important aspect of fuel economy is weight reduction (of both the car and the driver !). Unfortunately that seems to mean that nearly all new cars have moved away from heavier glass headlights so we're stuck with plastic and the issue of cloudy plastic.

The headlight treatment I had done in 2018 only lasted about 18 months (I could see deterioration after 12 months). Second time around I just treated them myself with some foaming chemical which removed the cloudy layer and then applied some clearcoat. Not sure how long that will last, but its about 20% of the cost of getting it done by a headlight refurb outfit so as long as it last say 6 months I'll be happy.

[Deck1ng]

Using various grits, took about an hour per light