Peugeot 205 GT
Upgrading the 960’s headlamp bulbs should have been simple. But it wasn’t
1995 VOLVO 960 24V
A little while back, I upgraded the new Volvo 960’s interior lights with LEDs. Now that the car’s being used more, I decided to do the same outside, and fit brighter dipped and main beam bulbs. My local Halfords was having a sale that included units of varying levels of intensity, from standard through to Portland Bill lighthouse retina-searing luminosity. Having done this on the 940, when it was the work of a few minutes, I reasoned it would be similar on the 960, which is merely a 940 on steroids after all.
The first thing that went wrong was that the Halfords in-store electronic database listed H4 bulbs as an option for the 960. So I bought a set of 150 per cent brighter ones, only to find they were incorrect. Fortunately, I discovered this before I opened the packs, so took them back to get the correct H1s, albeit of slightly reduced Goodwin
Sands Lightvessel 130 per cent brighter strength.
On the 940, bulb changes were just a case of removing a cover, unhooking clips, extracting the old bulb and then popping a new one in. Theoretically, it’s the same with a 960. At least for the outer bulbs. They were easy. It was with the inner ones where the problems started. In their efforts to make the 960 as tough as Mount Kaskasatjåkka, Volvo engineers had put strengthening plates in place which blocked off much of the access to the inner lamps. Tiny hands would have been a bonus, but I am neither a small child nor Donald Trump. Contortionist abilities would also have helped, but I’m not one of those either.
The whole job took almost an hour instead of minutes, and was basically accomplished by feel and frustration. Still, I’m glad I’ve done it; the lights really are so much brighter at night.
Almost worth all the effort.
OWNED SINCE February 2018 // MILEAGE SINCE LAST REPORT 83 // TOTAL MILEAGE 152,345 // LATEST COSTS £52