I find it kinda funny how every us saab owner wants the euro version for a unique look, while over there you went for the US version for a unique look. Now you just need to figure out how to defog the headlights and it will look 10 years younger. Keep up the videos, we need more saab youtubers like you.
your channel has been very handy for all the mods and diy things i've done to my car over the years. it would be a lot more difficult without this specific channel!
2008 9-5 AERO owner here from the US. Love your videos. Just FYI I bought a Meguiar's DA Power System to buff nad polish my SAAB and it works great on the headlamps! Use a corded drill for best results. Compound and then polish off the haze. Works really really well!!!
As for the headlights... if you sand it starting at a coarse grit (say 500 or 800) and work your way up to 3000 grit you can then spray the lenses with an acrylic UV protective spray paint and they will be clear again. The paint is fairly important, because if you have already sanded the headlights then it has removed the factory UV protective coating (or it just comes off with time, which is why many lights are hazy and turn yellow). The clear spraypaint doesn't last forever, but it's still better than letting the lenses be exposed to the UV of the sun. I live in Florida in the USA, so protecting the paint and lenses is very important, I've learned the hard way that you really need to keep the protective UV coating on the lenses in good shape.
Yep, I've done all that including wetsand, polish and UV sealant...twice. Maybe my headlights are foggy on the inside (they used crap quality bulbs when I bought the car).
I went with the Euro blinkers, because the black looks good on my black 9-5. Also, I have a set of US blinkers in great knick if you ever need another set haha!
I always find it strange that headlight lenses turn foggy and yellow before blinkers do. I don't know if it's a different plastic or not, but my main guess is that the heat from the headlight bulbs somehow damages the plastic faster than the blinker bulbs. If you've ever put your hand on the headlight lens when they're on the plastic is quite warm. Also, I think the Euro spec lights look "cooler", but the large reflector on the US spec is probably better for safety.
I guess the "cool" factor has more to do with what "normal" people use in that region. The goal for modders is usually to stand out, so we use US-spec here, and Euro-spec in the US :)
Hallå eller! Vet inte om du fortfarande loggar in och så, men jag tänker att jag chansar! Min saab og95 har fukt innanför lyktorna och tänkte byta till US headlights också! Är nyfiken på hur du löste det med clipen för att fästa den?
I have an Aero Estate fron 2002 and thinking of doing the same - but in my old 9-3 AERO 2000 US-Version the US-blinkers had two bulbs. One for blinking and one used when reversing. I suppose that the aftermarket US-blinkers for the 9-5 only have room for one bulb?
If I remember right, the Phase 1 (98-01), and Phase 2 (02-05 used a different style of marker. Phase 2 ditched the reverser and stuck with just the blinkers.
Trionic Seven I had the AS2 with Sat Nav on my MY2003 Aero saloon but I swapped it for a double din touch screen unit and added the 6x9 speakers in the back shelf and a 12" active sub - sounds much better now. Also running at Stage 3+ with a D088 intercooler, 3" down pipe and remap. So much fun to drive :-)
Very nice that you keep your Saabs alive. Do you have any idea why the xenon headlights are so dim? I already replaced the D1S bulbs and still at night it's kind of scary. The light seems to be focused on a very small patch. Could it be a focus issue inside the projector related to the bulb vs. lens distance?
Not my intention, Trionic. Not. My. Intention. At least your 9-5s are a better ride and more luxuriously appointed!! And Sweden is an awesome country that I'd love to visit...
Hi trionic, my headlights are are really dim too, on my 02 9-5. I tried to polish them, but then I realized they have mostly been dimmed on the inside of the headlihghts. it looks like you can get the glass itself of the headlights, but I am kinda not sure if they are. Could you be my savior and do video about that? And do you know if the sidemirrors plastic is just a cover, that you can take off and still have the mirror attached to it while not having the plastick surrounding. My saab is daily driven but the shade difference is making me crazy, would be huge amount of cheaper If I can have the plastic off and not have my whole car on the carpainter.
I suggest that you get hold of WIS to find out how to replace the mirror covers. Re. the headlights, I've never taken them apart but I think I've read somewhere that you need to use an oven to melt the glue.
I have a 2001 MY Saab, its the same as the 2002 MY Saabs I believe. Its not the same as the 99'-01' 9-5 so is it also a 2002MY Saab? If it is, why do people not say late 2001-06 for these Saabs?
No it does not look like the 99'-01' Saabs, it looks identical to the 02-05 models as it doesn't have the smoked tail lights and has the same headlights as your Aero, body looks the same as well. The car was registered in December 2001 so it must be one of the first Saabs with the facelift I think, I honestly don't know if there was some kind of period between the 99-01 Saabs and the 02-05 Saabs. I'm going to guess its just one of the first facelifted 9-5s for the 02 MY. Great video, I plan to do the same with my Saab, will you be posting an update on the plastic clip in another video?
Your'e confusing model year with production date. Generally for all cars, if it's built in september or later it's the next model year, so from september 2001 you have the 2002 model year. I probably won't make a whole video about it but maybe just post a comment to this video or a facebook update.
US blinkers are actually illegal in Norway. (The kind that glows 50% when not blinking). Countless raggare (rånere) are being pulled over for it each year.
Yep, I chose to have the simple blinking feature and not the position light for this reason. Lol, do you call "raggare", "rånere" in Norway? "Rånere" makes me think of "robber" in Swedish :)
I've thought about visiting Norway on my 9-5 with orange blinkers (because my car is from US and now it's back in Europe) one day. Hope that this rule won't work on cars with a foreign country license plates :)
I believe it's allowed if the car is an US import. The rules regarding US imports registered in other countries, I suspect are very complicated, and I'm not familiar with them. With that said, I do think you're going to be just fine. If the police were to pull you over, I think they'll understand why you have the US blinkers.
Jonathan, here in the US, one of the favorite TH-cam mechanics is Eric The Car Guy. He has a video on the 3M kit: th-cam.com/video/fvNSjjTHua4/w-d-xo.html The only thing he didn't mention was that the last step should be to lightly spray each lens with at least two coats of clear coat with UV protection, to keep the lenses nice.
Yes, ETCG is a source of inspiration for this channel :) Unfortunately, the car had an engine failure, so I sold it on. Thanks for you comment, though!
will insurance company give you back the money you have spent on us blinkers in case of an accident? (us spec ones are twice or more expensive than the eu ones). btw those blinkers are awesome !
Sadly, none of my mods would be reimbursed if the insurance company decides to give me money for my car for some reason. This includes the suspension, brakes, exhaust, engine mods, and... the blinkers.
US spec orange turn signal lenses look more like the original Saab 99, 900 turn signals (of the 1980s,90s) when Saabs (& Volvos) always had their side lights on, so a bit of Saab nostalgia, I don't really like the clear lenses, I've also got the 93 US spec lenses.
Nice vid! About polishing your headlamps, i use to do these steps and did it last sunday on a 9-5 aero. Start with 800p 'sand papper' with water, 1200p, 1500p, 2000p, 3000p and use meguiars headlight restoration kit to polish the headlamps up, they will look like new if you do it right. Used this method on many cars, saab, audi, opel osv, it real makes a difference! Here is a link to the product: shop.meguiars.se/shop/product/headlight-restoration-kit?tm=
Trionic Seven Oh. Good to know! I honestly thought it was just base models had it. Hate the feature, wasted weight. Keep up the great videos! Any plans on changing the interior/courtesy lights? I have purchased new white lights to replace my 9-5 lights. Haven't got the time to do the change though.
The interior lights are currently all ebay LED:s, but they are too blue for my taste, and the roof dome light is starting to go out. I'll have to hunt for lights in the exact right color temp, and I'm quite picky about this.
Generally you don't want to go to ebay for led:s, but instead buy quality stuff from a local store. We have several high-quality LED stores here in Sweden, for instance. 10x the price of ebay, but a whole different league.
I find it kinda funny how every us saab owner wants the euro version for a unique look, while over there you went for the US version for a unique look. Now you just need to figure out how to defog the headlights and it will look 10 years younger. Keep up the videos, we need more saab youtubers like you.
Thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, I'll try to de-fog the headlights when spring comes :)
900grit then 1k grit finally 2k grit sandpaper, apply polish then use uv resistant clear coat for plastic.
Oooh, hopefully this works! My headlights are quite foggy due to old age, and I've been trying to polish them to no avail. I'll give this a shot.
I just restored the headlights on my 9-5 aero. Looks so much better. Mine looked like his a week ago. Now they look brand new
Watch a chrisfix video how to do it permanently ^^
your channel has been very handy for all the mods and diy things i've done to my car over the years. it would be a lot more difficult without this specific channel!
2008 9-5 AERO owner here from the US. Love your videos. Just FYI I bought a Meguiar's DA Power System to buff nad polish my SAAB and it works great on the headlamps! Use a corded drill for best results. Compound and then polish off the haze. Works really really well!!!
Thanks!
Don't forget to spray on the UV coat or you'll be back to polishing
As for the headlights... if you sand it starting at a coarse grit (say 500 or 800) and work your way up to 3000 grit you can then spray the lenses with an acrylic UV protective spray paint and they will be clear again. The paint is fairly important, because if you have already sanded the headlights then it has removed the factory UV protective coating (or it just comes off with time, which is why many lights are hazy and turn yellow). The clear spraypaint doesn't last forever, but it's still better than letting the lenses be exposed to the UV of the sun. I live in Florida in the USA, so protecting the paint and lenses is very important, I've learned the hard way that you really need to keep the protective UV coating on the lenses in good shape.
Yep, I've done all that including wetsand, polish and UV sealant...twice. Maybe my headlights are foggy on the inside (they used crap quality bulbs when I bought the car).
Trionic Seven hello I have Saab 9-5 just as same as you do. But where can i find that reinforced spring to blinkers? Btw Love your videos :)
I went with the Euro blinkers, because the black looks good on my black 9-5.
Also, I have a set of US blinkers in great knick if you ever need another set haha!
Haha thanks for the offer :)
I always find it strange that headlight lenses turn foggy and yellow before blinkers do. I don't know if it's a different plastic or not, but my main guess is that the heat from the headlight bulbs somehow damages the plastic faster than the blinker bulbs. If you've ever put your hand on the headlight lens when they're on the plastic is quite warm.
Also, I think the Euro spec lights look "cooler", but the large reflector on the US spec is probably better for safety.
I guess the "cool" factor has more to do with what "normal" people use in that region. The goal for modders is usually to stand out, so we use US-spec here, and Euro-spec in the US :)
Great video! :)
Thanks!
Where did you bought US-spec signal light set? I want these on my Saab 9-5 Vector too(2002year)
Hallå eller!
Vet inte om du fortfarande loggar in och så, men jag tänker att jag chansar!
Min saab og95 har fukt innanför lyktorna och tänkte byta till US headlights också!
Är nyfiken på hur du löste det med clipen för att fästa den?
Looks good
Thanks
How do you get these off? I tried and tired to find this button to get them off on mine 2004 9-5 without success...
Inside the hood there's a plastic clip.
I have an Aero Estate fron 2002 and thinking of doing the same - but in my old 9-3 AERO 2000 US-Version the US-blinkers had two bulbs. One for blinking and one used when reversing. I suppose that the aftermarket US-blinkers for the 9-5 only have room for one bulb?
if you look at the bulb and its connector you'll see a number of pins that were unused in my euro-spec bulbs. Perhaps those are used in the us-spec?
Yes - I believe so. PS. great videos!
Thanks!
If I remember right, the Phase 1 (98-01), and Phase 2 (02-05 used a different style of marker. Phase 2 ditched the reverser and stuck with just the blinkers.
Dont forget the blinker fluid
So you don't have AS3 soundsystem ?
Well spotted! No, it's actually only AS2.
Trionic Seven I had the AS2 with Sat Nav on my MY2003 Aero saloon but I swapped it for a double din touch screen unit and added the 6x9 speakers in the back shelf and a 12" active sub - sounds much better now. Also running at Stage 3+ with a D088 intercooler, 3" down pipe and remap. So much fun to drive :-)
Very nice that you keep your Saabs alive. Do you have any idea why the xenon headlights are so dim? I already replaced the D1S bulbs and still at night it's kind of scary. The light seems to be focused on a very small patch. Could it be a focus issue inside the projector related to the bulb vs. lens distance?
You need to use OEM bulbs and make sure your headlights aren't fogged. Also check so that your bulbs are seated correctly.
Look's good !
Thanks! :)
The glass headlights on my '02 9-3 never fog :-)
Blergh, why can't I have glass headlights? :)
Call your friends in Trollhattan [or even Detroit]!! Provided, anyone is there to answer the phone :-)
Now you made me sad ;)
Not my intention, Trionic. Not. My. Intention. At least your 9-5s are a better ride and more luxuriously appointed!! And Sweden is an awesome country that I'd love to visit...
Hey, relax, I was just poking fun at you ;)
Hi trionic, my headlights are are really dim too, on my 02 9-5. I tried to polish them, but then I realized they have mostly been dimmed on the inside of the headlihghts. it looks like you can get the glass itself of the headlights, but I am kinda not sure if they are. Could you be my savior and do video about that? And do you know if the sidemirrors plastic is just a cover, that you can take off and still have the mirror attached to it while not having the plastick surrounding. My saab is daily driven but the shade difference is making me crazy, would be huge amount of cheaper If I can have the plastic off and not have my whole car on the carpainter.
I suggest that you get hold of WIS to find out how to replace the mirror covers. Re. the headlights, I've never taken them apart but I think I've read somewhere that you need to use an oven to melt the glue.
Thanks for the answer, but what is WIS?
th-cam.com/video/f0PL32hbYdc/w-d-xo.html but use the download link from cactuz.net/wis
vart köpte du dessa ??
Som jag sade i filmen köpte jag dem på speedparts :)
tack!
I have a 2001 MY Saab, its the same as the 2002 MY Saabs I believe. Its not the same as the 99'-01' 9-5 so is it also a 2002MY Saab? If it is, why do people not say late 2001-06 for these Saabs?
1998-2001 is the first facelift, 2002-2005 is the second, 2006-2010 the third. Your 2001 looks different than my 2002.
No it does not look like the 99'-01' Saabs, it looks identical to the 02-05 models as it doesn't have the smoked tail lights and has the same headlights as your Aero, body looks the same as well. The car was registered in December 2001 so it must be one of the first Saabs with the facelift I think, I honestly don't know if there was some kind of period between the 99-01 Saabs and the 02-05 Saabs. I'm going to guess its just one of the first facelifted 9-5s for the 02 MY. Great video, I plan to do the same with my Saab, will you be posting an update on the plastic clip in another video?
Your'e confusing model year with production date. Generally for all cars, if it's built in september or later it's the next model year, so from september 2001 you have the 2002 model year. I probably won't make a whole video about it but maybe just post a comment to this video or a facebook update.
Ah I see, I never knew that. Thank you!
I'm in the US and want to buy your Euro Blinkers. Will you sell them?
Sorry, already sold ;)
US blinkers are actually illegal in Norway. (The kind that glows 50% when not blinking). Countless raggare (rånere) are being pulled over for it each year.
Yep, I chose to have the simple blinking feature and not the position light for this reason. Lol, do you call "raggare", "rånere" in Norway? "Rånere" makes me think of "robber" in Swedish :)
Well, that's a funny coincidence :D. "Råner" is actually derived from "råne", which means "un-neutered male pig". :)
I've thought about visiting Norway on my 9-5 with orange blinkers (because my car is from US and now it's back in Europe) one day. Hope that this rule won't work on cars with a foreign country license plates :)
I believe it's allowed if the car is an US import. The rules regarding US imports registered in other countries, I suspect are very complicated, and I'm not familiar with them.
With that said, I do think you're going to be just fine. If the police were to pull you over, I think they'll understand why you have the US blinkers.
Jonathan, here in the US, one of the favorite TH-cam mechanics is Eric The Car Guy. He has a video on the 3M kit:
th-cam.com/video/fvNSjjTHua4/w-d-xo.html
The only thing he didn't mention was that the last step should be to lightly spray each lens with at least two coats of clear coat with UV protection, to keep the lenses nice.
Yes, ETCG is a source of inspiration for this channel :)
Unfortunately, the car had an engine failure, so I sold it on. Thanks for you comment, though!
På besiktningen sa dem att jag var tvungen att byta från USA blinkers till vanliga eftersom bilen inte var en import.
Hade du lyse satt i de gula positionsljusen?
Trionic Seven nope
will insurance company give you back the money you have spent on us blinkers in case of an accident? (us spec ones are twice or more expensive than the eu ones).
btw those blinkers are awesome !
Sadly, none of my mods would be reimbursed if the insurance company decides to give me money for my car for some reason. This includes the suspension, brakes, exhaust, engine mods, and... the blinkers.
same as here in Poland. Good luck with mods.
Thanks! :)
US spec orange turn signal lenses look more like the original Saab 99, 900 turn signals (of the 1980s,90s) when Saabs (& Volvos) always had their side lights on, so a bit of Saab nostalgia, I don't really like the clear lenses, I've also got the 93 US spec lenses.
Interesting, thanks for sharing
Nice.
It sure is!
😂and I’m trying to do the opposite. I want the euro spec. But the shipping cost is killing me
Nice vid!
About polishing your headlamps, i use to do these steps and did it last sunday on a 9-5 aero.
Start with 800p 'sand papper' with water, 1200p, 1500p, 2000p, 3000p and use meguiars headlight restoration kit to polish the headlamps up, they will look like new if you do it right. Used this method on many cars, saab, audi, opel osv, it real makes a difference!
Here is a link to the product:
shop.meguiars.se/shop/product/headlight-restoration-kit?tm=
That's the exact kit I have. It has failed me twice.
i would have given you my us turn signals for the price of your euro ones.
That's very nice of you, however my turn signals were in really bad condition :)
I, too, think that the U.S. Spec has a nice contrast. I guess putting euro spec shows you are a "car enthusiast".
Depends on where you live. :)
Whoa, I just realized your Aero doesn't have the headlight wipers. Not a useful addition at all to have.
What do you mean? After 2002 there are no headlight wipers in the 9-5.
Trionic Seven Oh. Good to know! I honestly thought it was just base models had it. Hate the feature, wasted weight.
Keep up the great videos! Any plans on changing the interior/courtesy lights?
I have purchased new white lights to replace my 9-5 lights. Haven't got the time to do the change though.
The interior lights are currently all ebay LED:s, but they are too blue for my taste, and the roof dome light is starting to go out. I'll have to hunt for lights in the exact right color temp, and I'm quite picky about this.
Trionic Seven I am as well. Even after my purchase to go all white I still wonder about if I should have just gone for yellow/standard Leds.
Generally you don't want to go to ebay for led:s, but instead buy quality stuff from a local store. We have several high-quality LED stores here in Sweden, for instance. 10x the price of ebay, but a whole different league.
Why American? 😢
It's different ;)
Trionic Seven Ok, I was very happy Aussies adopted Euro blinkers in the 1990s! 👍