Thursday, June 18, 2020

Faded Bi-Xenon lamps

On the later models Volvo changed from glass to plastic headlights. Volvo claims the plastic is stronger against stone chips. But in time the plastic will fade and become cloudy.

The Bi-Xenon plastic headlight lamps are incredibly expensive. They cost about $1500 for a pair. So when my cover lenses had become too faded, I chose the cheaper solution -  to replace the lenses. I have some experience with polishing lenses. It will work, but it does not last long. However, these lenses were not only faded on the outside, but also on the inside. So polishing was not an option.

I only know of one retailer that sell these lenses, and that is Vparts in Sweden: vparts.se
Two new lenses costs about $200.

This is my headlight before I started working:


And this is after:


Wow! What a difference. You don't really comprehend how faded they are until you put on the new lenses. The work involved cutting the plastic and old glue, heating the remaining old glue and pulling out the rest of the pieces.



It's a messy job and takes a couple of hours for each headlight. But it's well worth it. The important thing is to remember using gloves and not touching the chrome. Use compressed air to clean it before you glue on the new lens.

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