Haven't scoured the web yet, but not finding much on this site . . .
Just to be sure, can someone advise on best headlight upgrade for 2011 S80?

Thanks!

 

Honestly, probably cleaning your headlights or getting new ones if they aged very poorly. The headlight housings aren't designed for LEDs, but people have retrofitted projectors with LEDs and resistors. Headlights are pretty sensitive in these cars as the CEM monitors resistance to make sure they are working properly and if that value is incorrect, your headlights will turn off. IMO, it's not worth the hassle of electrical work to have brighter headlights. I put new housings in my old car and that alone was night and day difference. You can buy brighter bulbs online through rockauto or other websites as well. These brighter bulbs will also die quicker and need replacement more often.

 

Hey guys. I'm driving S80 2008. Can I replace existing bulbs with Xenon ones?

 

These bulbs? no, you need the housings, ballasts, and a custom wiring to plug it into the car and have it function properly. As well as changes made in VIDA that dealers cannot do. Would need an indy shop.

 

No.

I looked up this company (https://www.france-xenon.com/en/pack...-as-volvo.html) a while back as I had found a favorable review on another forum. (I keep a file of links for stuff I might be interested in someday. )
As I recall the installation was not "trouble free" but eventually worked. I think the reflectors are different as well so your end product may not yield the same light as factory xenons..

My "solution" has just been to buy the Sylvania Silverstar Ultra bulbs, they are noticeably brighter, maybe a tiny bit whiter than the Osram bulbs. Lifespan is shorter, I'd guess 25 to 50 % less. Also, your connectors are likely at "end of life" - spend a few hours soldering in new pigtails.

 

Hello, 11BlueS80! I'm not familiar with the headlights for S80, but I can suggest a service that usually buys the lighting-related devices. Whenever I need a consultation about any lighting devices inside my house or for my car, I go to this site: https://lightingandsupplies.com. They got a good range of the different bulbs/strips/ other lighting devices, and also, they have an awesome customer support team that helps to choose the better lighting devices for the customers. If you decide to buy anything from them, let me know so I can share the free delivery coupon with you.

 

If you want to upgrade from halogen to HIDs you can try to find a parts car in a yard that will sell you the buckets with lenses, ballasts and wiring harness. A more practical path is to polish your existing lenses and perhaps replace the buckets if the reflector material is degraded. As to the replacement halogen bulbs, there's two things in play 1) some after market bulbs are actually a higher wattage so they do put out more light - as well as more heat and that can lead to wiring issues over time as well as shorter bulb life. The second is bulb color. Some bulbs are designed to put out a whiter light (the cheap ones show a blue ting) which is really an illusion and not really more light with greater visibility. I've tried a few and now I'm back to running OEM again (lol, just like my brake pads). Final option is to install optional driving/fog lights.