My Volvo is Home!

8/1/2015

My Volvo is Home!

AllenF Posted
10 January 2011
06:48 PM
I bought Tom Reed's Volvo from him in Fort Myers, Florida.  I got an early flight Friday and he picked me up at the airport at around 10.  We took care of the money/paperwork and off I went to South Florida Detroit Allison for an oil change, fuel filters, coolant filter, and chassis lube.  Finally got on the road about 3:30pm and drove till 10pm.  Got up early Saturday at 4:30am and drove on thru to Maryland and arrived here at 6:30 that night.  No problems at all!  I did stop at a couple scales that were open in Florida.  I called Florida DOT last week and they suggested I stop.  They told me "you will just get waved thru since you are empty and since it looks commercial you should stop." I figured my Volvo looks commercial with the box on it and no camper in tow so I stopped instead of being chased down.  I have a few things to do to get it thru MD inspection like brakes, front end alignment, and the headlights that are so yellowed it barely shows light thru them.  Thanks to all for the advise and I hope I will be able to contribute something back to the forum.
Ray H
10 January 2011
06:56 PM
Congratulations.  Don't let the truck sit around home too long.  It may get lazy and start to like it.  My headlights were all hazed over when I got mine.  A couple of years ago, I sprung for a couple of new complete units from Volvo.  Today, two years later in the Arizona sun and guess what.... Starting to haze up again.
AllenF
10 January 2011
07:15 PM
I'm a painter so I'm going to take mine into work and wetsand them down with 600 and clearcoat them.  They won't haze anymore I'll post a new thread and take pictures when I do them.
Jeff- C IL
11 January 2011
12:21 AM
On advice posted here--I bought a Maguiar's headlight polishing kit at Wal-Mart.  I had a VW Jetta with really bad headlights - to the point you could hardly see the bulbs inside.  I wet sanded with 2000 grit first, then about 5-10 minutes of work on each with the polisher and they look (and work) GREAT!!  Saved me a bunch of money and only took about an hour - for $16, what have you got to lose?
Frazierx3
11 January 2011
03:21 PM
Fortunately I have not had to deal with this problem yet, but I was talking about this one day with a insurance adjuster and he had said that wet sanding with 1200 grit and then applying a clear coat protective works and is done by a lot of repair shops. Just saying.
MacDaddy
11 January 2011
11:16 PM
Yeah I think the clear coat is the important part of it.  Guy doing some body work on my Infiniti sanded out a scratch on one headlight and polished it. you could still see it faintly, then he hit it with the clear and it was gone.

But I think AllenF has that down pat.

AllenF
12 January 2011
10:07 AM
Yellowing headlights are caused by the sun breaking down the UV protective coating on the headlight.  You can wetsand them and buff them but they will haze out again because now the coating is thinner since you sanded it and buffed it.  By sanding and clearing it you bring back the UV protective coating.  Use a good quality automotive clearcoat and it will probably outlast the original coating.

When it gets warmer out I'll pull my headlights and take pictures of the simple process and start a new thread.