Clouding headlights

Q Our 2004 Volvo XC90 has crazing and clouding of both headlight lenses – a common Volvo problem, I believe, caused by the effect of UV light. I see in the CM feature on headlights (January 2014) that they can be refurbished by polishing. I can’t help feeling this would only be a temporary solution. In any case, I think the lights in question have been done in the past and are beyond that.

I don’t really want to buy secondhand replacements because they may well have the same problem, unless they came from a much younger car, Which means tehy may not fit. Surely it must be possible to buy some new lenses and fit them to the original reflectors/lamp units? Howard Thomas A I would agree that it seems very wrong that the components of the lamp are not available to purchase separately to enable an overhaul of the unit. A few years ago, when headlamp had glass lenses, the lenses were readily available, meaning that if a headlamp glass was broken then a new glass could easily be fitted rather than having to replace the whole lamp. When the units went over to using plastic lenses, the ability to buy just the lens disappeared.

As the discolouration of the lens only occurs on the outer face, leaving the inner fabric of the plastic unaffected, it should be possible to restore the lenses to as-new condition even if they have been restored previously, providing there is sufficient thickness left in the lens. There is a 3M kit that provides all that is needed for a good restoration job.

If you did wish to buy a set of secondhand lamps, the headlamp fitted to your XC90 covered the range from 2003 to 2009.