Volvo 240 Headlight Page

2 4 0 T U R B O . C O M
D A V E ' S V O L V O P A G E

240 Headlight Page

UPDATED: April 9, 2025 CONTACT

D O M A I N S

Go to 240 Headlight RELAY Page

Go to 240 TAILLIGHT Page

Plastic Headlight Lens Restore

240 Headlight Function Diagrams

1975-85 240 Headlight Switch Problems

240 Headlight HISTORY

H4 Halogen Headlights

240 E-Code Headlights

Lamin-X Protection Film

LED Headlight Bulbs

How to Remove Headlight Terminals

Headlight Relay Harness Upgrade

Fog Lights / Driving Lights

Mounting Driving Lights

Dealing with the Bulb Failure Sensor (Taillight Page)

If you have any comments or if you can improve this information, please feel free to email.
CONTACT

Plastic (Polycarbonate) Headlight Lens Restoration
We all know how plastic headlight lenses look after sitting in the sun too long. If you don't mind spending a little time with some sand paper and elbow grease, here is my opinion on the best method to fix this.
First, I'm a fan of Project Farm's YouTube channel. He has a good comparison video of a bunch of headlight restoration kits. The best results came from the SYLVANIA kit. The WORST KIT was the one from Harbor Freight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDB5U4QUdD0
Project Farm: Finding the Best Headlight Restoration Kit

The above video is a bit too brief in showing how this is done, so here's a much better video below from FCP about the Sylvania kit, which I think is the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE50QSxOWGw
FCP: How To Restore Your Headlight Lenses: Sylvania Restoration Kit

Also a note regarding the small pouch of fine polishing liquid they provide. If you need more, you can get some slightly abrasive plastic polish at an auto parts store. Also in a pinch, I've used CHROME POLISH to polish plastic and it does a great job too.

I created these detailed HEADLIGHT PIN FUNCTION DIAGRAMS below in 2023 and it shows U.S.D.O.T. sealed beam headlights. Almost ALL headlight circuits and connectors and connector pins can be seen. This diagram does not cover taillights. Those can be found in my 240 Tailights Page. Feel free to email if you have any questions or corrections.
For more detailed information concerning the headlight step relay, I have a full page dedicated to 240 headlight relays.

[Taillight diagrams are in the 240 Taillight Page]

The below diagram shows U.S.D.O.T. approved headlight connectors for 9004 bulbs.

1975-85 240 Headlight Switches
And Problems with Melting Plugs

From 1975 to 1985 the 240 was equipped with this headlight switch below.
This switch is a metal case design with a 5-pole plastic plug. In most cases this plug only uses 3 poles, so only 3 wires will exist. In some non-USA countries this switch will use 5 poles for Daytime Running Lights (DRL). More on this is found further below.

As you can see in the photos above, there can be some melting and deformation on this plug. It's very common.
This melting is at the RED wire, which is the 12v power supply from the battery. This is a very common occurrence, which has happened to almost every pre-1986 240 I have ever seen. Some I've seen are much worse than this. Some people might suggest that too much current caused this melting. That is obvious, but it's not the problem that caused this. The cause is a slow build-up of corrosion at that RED WIRE terminal, which caused a less than optimal circuit connection. This condition eventually causes high resistance and arcing and heat build-up. This can take years. That heat build-up eventually melted this plug.

Stock headlights generally don't draw so much current that causes damage, as long as the connections are clean and tight. However, many people add high wattage halogen headlights, which can easily overwhelm that plug terminal if it's even a little corroded.

Better designed terminals with more contact area (i.e. bigger terminals) between the male and female sides might have kept this from happening, but if the corrosion had not been there in the first place, this plug would have been fine. There are ways we can keep this corrosion from happening in the future. One way is by eliminating the high current load of all those headlights going through that small terminal.
This is done by adding a headlight relay, which takes the bulk of the direct battery load. This is in fact what Volvo did for the 240 beginning in 1986. This is a great idea.

Another great idea it to smear some Anti-Corrosive Zinc Paste on these terminals (click here for more info).

For those of you who want to replace that melted black plug, you can try digging through old Volvos at salvage yards for used plugs, but all you'll find will be more melted plugs.

As of 2022 this plug may still be available new. VOLVO PN 1215464 available at places like Skandix, iPd or VP Auto Parts.
If you cannot locate a new 1215464 plug, or if this plugs becomes NLA, it's possible to use a LATER 240 HEADLIGHT SWITCH and PLUG found in 1986 and later 240s.
CAUTION: I recommend taking steps to eliminate the cause of plug melting first before fitting a new plug or switch, or you'll just melt it again. You may install a headlight relay upgrade (more info below) and also I suggest getting some anti-corrosive zinc paste CLICK HERE for More Info.

Here are two styles of 240 headlights switches.
If your early style plug is melted and damaged, you cannot just swap in the new style plug on an older switch. They're not the same. If you want to use the newer plug, you will have to use the newer style switch. Below I will show how you can swap the wire terminals from an early plug to a later plug and then you can use a later switch.

The top switch is the 1986 and later 240 switch. The bottom one is the 1985 and earlier 240 switch.

These plugs have pin numbers molded into them on the backsides. The newer white plug will have one extra wire (1: Blk/Yel) that you won't need to use in an early 240 if you're doing a conversion.

Here are the wire circuits for these plugs:
Early Plug:	1. White: 2. Yellow: 3. Red: 4. empty 5. empty	Goes through fuse panel, then to parking lamp circuit. Goes to step-relay pole 56 to turn on low beams. Goes to battery +.
Later Plug:	1. Blk/Yellow: 2. empty 3. Red/Green: 4. Yellow: 5. empty 6. empty 7. White:	Goes through fuse panel, then to key switch power (not needed for earlier 240). empty Goes to battery +. Goes to headlight in-dash relay to turn on low beams. empty empty Goes through fuse panel, then to parking lamp circuit.

So here's the formula needed to swap in a newer headlight switch and plug.
1. White wire from old plug goes to position 7 in new plug.
2. Yellow wire from old plug goes to position 4 in new plug.
3. Red wire from old plug goes to position 3 in new plug.
(position 1 not used for early 240)

Click here for tips on removing wire terminal inserts from plugs like these.

More information on adding a RELAY to upgrade your early 240 headlights can be found here:
https://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=250740
https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html

Early 240 Headlight Switch using 5 Poles (DRL in Canada)
In some markets (I believe Canada is one of these) the 240 was made so the wiring would activate the headlights whenever the car was running. I have not seen this wiring first hand, but I found the below images in Volvo Greenbook TP30808 Wiring for 1985 240 (pages 50-51).

Installing H4 Bulb Headlights instead of Stupid Sealed Beam

Your early U.S. 240 originally came with inferior sealed beam headlights. You can install Euro-style (or E-code) headlights which use H4 bulbs instead. Your headlight connectors or wires may need to be MODIFIED to make the wiring work.

IMAGE BELOW: Here's the back-side of the headlights for a typical 240 with four rectangular headlights. You can compare this to the wire order in your headlight plugs. The High/Low headlight (outer lamp) will be the one with THREE wires. The High Beam has two wires.

Changing to H1 and H4 Bulb Headlights
If you carefully compare the plug wire order for the above sealed beam lights to the H4 plug order, you'll know they are NOT the same. So the terminals must be be moved to the below H4 configuration before using H4 bulbs.
Go HERE for a terminal removal guide.

The ABOVE headlights are used for 240 "quad square" headlights, except of course these use superior H4 bulbs (for the outer high-low) and H1 bulbs (for inner high beams). They were made by Cibie and Hella with high-quality glass lenses and of course never actually came on Volvos in the U.S. from the factory.
Here's video where a four headlight Volvo with sealed beam lamps was upgraded to H4 lamps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDdVYnyWgdc

E-Code Headlights

E-Code headlights get their name from this CODE with 'E' mark embossed in the lenses (below). All European approved headlights had this.
It may say 'E2' like this one or it may have a different 'E' number. This E-mark was an approval mark regulated by the ECE (Economic Commission for Europe). The code shows it's approved for the countries where the European test agency granted approval. The E-mark certifies that the product met and complied with specific automotive requirements.

When our beloved 240s were imported to the U.S., the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) had their own ideas of what good lighting should be. Their motto: If it was good enough 60 years ago, it must still be good.
So all U.S. 240s got super crappy sealed beam headlights with inferior lighting.

240 HEADLIGHT HISTORY and OPTIONS

The first 240 models in 1975 appeared with TWO ROUND headlights (EXCEPT for 260 series). Headlight size: 7 inches (178 mm) in diameter.
So originally, all 4 cylinder 2-door, 4-door and wagon model 240s got these headlights.
Of course in Europe, these round headlights were the superior E-Code type using the H4 bulb. Not in the USA.
This TWO headlight front was retained on all 2-door models (except for the 262C) through the 1980 model year, while other models changed a bit.

The FOUR ROUND headlights in this photo appeared on U.S. 6-cylinder models first (260 models). They would then later appear on U.S. 4-door and wagon 240 models up through 1980.
These four round headlights are 5.75 inches (146 mm) in diameter. Again, for U.S models these were originally inferior U.S. DOT approved sealed beam lights, but of course they can be replaced by better E-code halogen headlights if desired. When the 4-cylinder 240s began using these four round lights, the up-scale U.S. 6-cylinder models (262, 262C, 264, 265) then began receiving four RECTANGULAR headlights.

Europe was quite different. The European (E-code) large rectangular headlights (which use one H4 bulb per headlight) first appeared in 1975 on the 262C.
Some of these cars received an extra special headlight version shown below with wipers.
This style E-code headlight eventually became standard for most Euro version Volvos through the 1980 model year. U.S cars were never so fortunate to get these headlights.

These are similar to the above 1980 or earlier E-code headlights shown above. This was a DUAL BULB version using two H1 bulbs per headlight, one bulb for low beam and one for high beam. This set is on a 1984 240 Turbo.

If you look closely at this photo below, you can see the second smaller curved reflector inside. This extra reflector is for the high beam and it will tell you this headlight uses dual H1 bulbs. Only this dual bulb style headlight will have this extra reflector.

These square headlights were optional in some E-code markets in 1979-80, such as the Netherlands and Australia (and maybe some other places). This headlight uses one H4 bulb per headlight. Never available in the USA.

These four rectangular headlights below first appeared on 1977 U.S. up-scale models, such as the 262C and other 6 cylinder models. The headlights are 4 x 6 inches (102 x 152 mm).

The four rectangular headlights later became standard on ALL U.S. 240 and 260 models from 1981-1985.
Of course the USA versions used inferior U.S. DOT approved sealed beam units. Greatly superior E-code headlights in this size are available, which use one H4 (high-low) bulb for each outer headlight and one H1 (high beam) bulb for each inner headlight. These headlights are 4 x 6 inches (102 x 152 mm).

This U.S.A. 1984 245 Turbo below originally came equipped with the same four rectangular headlights shown above. For 1985 or earlier U.S. 240 owners, these headlights below (sourced from a 1980 or earlier Euro 240) are a direct bolt-in and a welcome improvement for those who can import them from a country using E-code lights.
These early H4 bulb versions pictured below are shown mounted on a U.S. 1984 245 Turbo. No changes were needed to the hood, grill or turn signals on this. These early headlights bolt right in.

This U.S. 1984 242 Turbo below also originally came with four rectangular headlights. These E-codes originally came from a 1980 or earlier European 240. The turn signal lenses were changed to Euro style dual color, but the turn signal assembly did not change.

This is the same U.S. 1984 242 Turbo as above, except this later photo shows the change to a flat hood and grill. No sheet metal changes are needed, except of course the new hood.

In 1981 Volvo re-designed the front sheet metal for European 240/260 models. USA got left out in the cold and continued to get the old 4-headlight version seen above through 1985.
These 1981 and later E-code versions below used one H4 bulb per headlight.

The flat hood shown below was the same hood used on earlier flat hood 240s in Europe and USA. Some up-scale versions in Europe (6-cylinder cars) received a peaked hood and a different grill.

The new sheet metal changes for 1981 and later European versions included the following:
Different front fenders to accommodate the larger, re-designed turn signals.
And a different sheet metal piece directly below the headlights and grill (shown here below).

And you'll also notice that Europe abandoned the larger aluminum "commando" bumpers in 1981 (below car is a Euro 1981 240). The big bumpers stayed on U.S. cars through 1982 and on Canadian cars for a year or two longer than that.

These E-code headlights above and below are the same, except for the chrome trim (instead of black trim). This model below is a U.S. 1986 or later model that has been fitted with E-codes sourced from a Euro 1981 or later 240. The U.S. 1986 has a raised/peaked hood and chromed grill surround. This is the more common style of Euro headlight/grill combo that will fit a U.S. 1986-93 240. Volvo continued using these headlights on all Euro 240s through 1993.
If you can find a set of these E-codes for your U.S. car, they're a direct bolt-on to any U.S. 1986-93 240. Be sure to buy the Euro turn signals too, since the U.S. turn signals will not correctly fit next to the E-code headlights and the turn signal lenses will not interchange.

1986-93 240s imported to the USA received the same front SHEET METAL that Euro versions got for 1981-93. U.S. versions did not, however, receive E-code headlights. Instead the U.S. versions received inferior U.S. DOT approved headlights with plastic lenses. At least these weren't sealed beam units. These headlights use replaceable 9004 bulbs. The turn signals appear to be very much like the above Euro versions, however they are not interchangeable. If you buy E-code headlights for a 1986-93 240, buy the E-code turn signals to match.

LAMIN-X PROTECTION FILM

If you have expensive or rare GLASS headlight lenses that you want to protect from rock chips, breakage or pitting, spend the money to get some good, thick headlight protection film.
If you search for Lamin-x or other universal headlight protection film, you'll mostly find a lot of pre-cut kits for many different newer cars. There are no pre-cut kits for older Volvos, so you need to buy universal uncut sheets or rolls.

DON'T BUY THIN FILM
or ANY film where thickness is NOT clearly advertised!

I originally put thin universal Lamin-x film on this headlight below and a rock killed it immediately.

This universal Lamin-x film I used first turned out to measure only 8 mil thick (0.008 inch or 0.2 mm). Perhaps this thickness would be OK for paint protection, but it did not protect my headlight.

I then found the below Lamin-x film, which is available in 40 mil thickness (0.040 inch or 1 mm).
When I found this thicker stuff, it was only available in a bulk roll, 12 inch x 15 feet (or longer). The 15 foot roll was about $133. I bought a roll. Since I had lots of extra film left over, I sold it to friends for a small price per foot to cover the cost of the roll.
https://lamin-x.com/12-x-15-roll-of-40-mil-clear.html
More bulk rolls: https://lamin-x.com/rolls/lamin-x-rolls/

Here's a comparison photo above of thicker 40 mil versus thin 8 mil.

12 inches square can be used for two 7 inch round headlights, however you will probably really only need about 6 3/4 inch circles for that size.

INSTALLATION OF LAMIN-X
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX_9ZhWzpHY

LAMIN-X CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEksXxq7yPaVLNhYQScg30A

LED HEADLIGHT BULBS
Are they finally good enough to replace Halogen?

LED headlights (and bulbs) have been around for years, but aftermarket kits for bulb replacements have mostly earned a bad reputation because of poor or inconsistent lighting patterns and poor brightness.
I resisted trying out any aftermarket LED bulbs in any E-code headlights for a long time because I felt it would be really hard to match or beat a good set of European H4 HALOGEN headlights.

This Info is Primarily about ROUND HEADLIGHTS, but if your car uses bulbs, then read it.
For a long time I used 80/100 watt H4 HALOGEN bulbs, which were much brighter and far better than any stock headlights. So my lighting was very good. Good E-Code H4 headlights are well known for the great beam pattern and lots of brightness. I had no complaints.
The only negative with high wattage halogen bulbs is that they use a lot of current. You should be using relays and heavy gauge wire for direct battery power when using high wattage halogens.
LED bulbs have an advantage. They typically use about 30% to 50% of the current of a high wattage H4.

My NON-VOLVO car happens to be 2018 Subaru, which came with factory LED headlights. Those lights are exceptional, so I had been hoping eventually the aftermarket would catch up to that kind of quality, brightness and beam pattern.

A few years ago I saw some videos from Headlight Revolution (I placed those below).
This first short video is a simple brightness comparison between standard Halogen bulbs, upgraded 100 watt halogen bulbs and high-end LED bulbs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaM9YW_acqQ

This and other videos below led me to reach out to Headlight Revolution to ask more about things like how good the LED H4 beam pattern looked in an E-code headlamp housing and how bright the latest high-end LED H4 replacement bulbs were. I was interested in how it would compare to my already pretty awesome hi-watt H4 (100 watt) halogen bulbs. They offered some pretty good responses, so I took a chance and I bought some LED H4 bulbs (below) to try out in my round E-codes.

I tried the GTR Lighting Ultra 2.0 bulbs shown below. These are not like cheap bulbs that you'll find all over the internet. These were over $200 for the pair. The performance is definitely exceptional. More below.
https://www.headlightrevolution.com/H4-9003-Ultra-2.0_2

I also tried the S V.4 LED bulbs shown below and at the link below. These are equally exceptional. These were over $200 for the pair as well. More below.
https://www.headlightrevolution.com/s-v-4-led-headlights-h4

S V.4 LED Bulb Review Video from Headlight Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU9NF3O1KcM

H4 Bulb INSTALLATION
And here's another good video to see about how these bulbs are installed in an H4 housing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSAoUrecAVI

So then I did my own visual comparison.
These two photos were taken a little after sunset using low beams.
The top image shows the 80/100 watt HALOGEN H4 bulbs I had been using.
The bottom image shows the new high-end LED bulbs.
My observation is the LED bulbs are noticeable brighter. They have an equal or better beam pattern, a great beam cut-off at the top, and the light color is a bit whiter than the yellow-white color of a halogen. The LED color is advertised at 6000k white.
After driving for a while, I really liked the LEDs and I've now been using them for a number of years.

Here are a series of installation photos in an E-code headlight housing.
Here's the S V.4 LED bulb, which I'll show being installed into the below Cibie H4 headlight housing.

The collar shown below can be removed from the bulb. It just pulls off.
Since the rear cooling fan portion on the bulb is a bit wide, removing the collar will make it easier to install it first and then lock down those spring retainer clips below.

This rubber dust boot came with these headlights. It gets installed over the collar. The center opening then needed to be stretched a little to fit over the raised center hole on that collar.

Then the bulb is inserted through the collar and just clicks into place. Pretty easy.

The bulb needs to be oriented so that the low beam CUP faces straight UP. The bulb can easily be turned in the collar for perfect alignment.

All done. Pretty slick setup.

How to Remove Terminals from 240 Headlight Sockets

The plugs shown below are typical of a U.S. 240 with original sealed beam headlights. This plug will have FLAG style terminals, which are shown below. 


Removing these terminals will be an identical procedure to the below relay socket terminal removal. 

Again, this image is NOT really a headlight socket plug below, but it'll work for this demonstration.  
Notice the metal terminals inside the holes?

You'll need a tool for this part... a long sharp pick will do. A micro screwdriver can also be used.  If your tool is not small enough at the tip, a little grinding will fix it as I did on this pick. Even a stiff piece of piano wire can work for this step.

Now pay attention to the little openings at the top of the little rectangular holes.  That wide spot is where you need to insert your pick.  The idea is to insert the pick in about 3/8 inch (10 mm) or so and push down to flatten the locking tab on the terminal. That locking tab holds the terminal in the socket.  In the next photos, the locking tab will be easy to see.  

If your socket doesn't have a wider opening that you can see, just pay attention to the below pics to know which side of the terminal to insert the pick into to push on the tab.

In this photo you can see the terminal backing out of the hole after the locking tab was released.

 Here's a good view below of the locking tab on the terminal.  After you depress the tab and pull the terminal out of the socket, you may find that your tool bent and flattened the tab a bit too much. 
If you will be re-inserting this terminal into a connector,
 the tab may need to be pushed back out so it still engages when re-inserted.  It needs to be sticking out like in these photos to work correctly.  If you accidentally break the tab off, you'll need to crimp on a new terminal.
 

As a terminal gets inserted, you should hear a 'click' which tells you it has locked into place.  Always make sure by giving the wire a little tug.  
And always pay close attention when you plug sockets like this back in to see if any terminals get pushed back out of the back of the plug.  That can happen sometimes if the tab hasn't fully locked the terminal in place.

If you need new terminals or plug sockets, you can find them here:
https://www.prancingmoose.com/blackvinyl.html#headlightplugs

Headlight Relay Harness Upgrades

This is a good project for anyone with any older Volvo, especially if you have or want to to upgrade to brighter headlights with bulbs that use more wattage than factory.
For some good old-school info, have a look at Daniel Stern's page on this subject. He also has several useful diagrams for understanding how to design and build your own headlight relay harness.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html

Here is a Volvo 240 specific diagram showing how an upgraded relay harness can be made. The relay triggers (relay are connected to and triggered by 56a and 56b) can be taken from the fender harness connectors or if you want to bypass the bulb failure relay, you could take those triggers from terminals 56a and 56b directly from the 5-pole headlight step relay connector.

This diagram assumes you would use one relay to control both low beam headlights and another relay for the high beams.
The above 9004 bulb socket came on all 1986-93 USA 240s. A European E-Code headlight will typically use an H4 bulb, which uses a different bulb socket.

UPDATE 2018:
Wagonmeister is offering ready made 240 headlight relay harnesses, like this one below.

240 Fog Light or Driving Light Installation

I found these driving light diagrams below in some OLD Volvo 242 GT literature. I modified them for simplicity and I decided to share them here. These diagrams below will show you two different methods of wiring; one for driving lights and one for fog lights. It uses a dash switch in conjunction with the 240 headlight step relay and with an added cube relay.

The relay diagram above is an SPST (Single Pole, Single Throw) type cube or mini relay. An SPST type relay is one that uses a center 87 pin (AKA: 87b) which has power when the outer 87 pin has power. Using this type relay is not critical if you're not using the center 87 pin like in these diagrams. If you're looking for a relay like this you can find one here.

There is a reason for wiring the circuit to the step relay.
For Driving Lights, the diagram below allows the lights to be automatically cut off when you switch OFF your HIGH beams.
For Fog Lights, the diagram allows the lights to be cut off when you switch ON your HIGH beams.

The battery power is drawn from the inner fender battery junction box or it may be taken directly from the battery.
A FUSE is recommended somewhere between the battery power source and the relay.

AUXILIARY DRIVING LIGHTS:

With this method, the AUXILIARY DRIVING LIGHT switch receives power from TERMINAL 56a on the headlight step relay. 56a on the step relay is the high beam output, so this means these lights will be configured as auxiliary high beam lights that will only come on when the dash headlight switch is turned on AND when the high beams are also on.

When the driving light switch is turned on, it sends power to terminal 85 on the cube relay, turning the relay ON.
So then turning ON your high beams will turn ON these driving lights, as long as the driving light switch is in the ON position.
If the switch has a bulb as this one shown does, then it will light up when the driving lights are on if wired this way.

FOG LIGHTS:

I modified this diagram to demonstrate a method for fog lights. With this method, the fog light switch receives power from TERMINAL 56b on the headlight step relay when your headlight switch is turned on. The switch sends power to terminal 85 on the cube relay, turning it ON. 56b on the step relay is the low beam output, so this means the fog lights will only come on when the dash FOG LIGHT switch is turned ON and when the low headlight beams are also ON.
So then with this wiring, turning ON your high beams will turn OFF the fog lights.
If the dash switch has a bulb as this one shown does, then it will light up when the fog lights are on if wired this way.

Additional relay uses can be found in the Relay Guide posted HERE.

Detailed pinouts for a 240 step relay can be found HERE.

Mounting Driving Lights on your 240 without Drilling your Bumper!

If you're one who likes the look or function of killer driving lights on your 240, but you DON'T want to drill holes in the top of your bumper, I'll show you an alternative to drilling holes in your bumper.
The ABOVE PHOTOS show 240s WITH HOLES drilled in their bumpers.
The BELOW info shows the ALTERNATIVE . . . .

This photo and photos below were found in some old Volvo optional accessory literature.
These lights were mounted using Volvo supplied accessory brackets that do not require drilling the bumper.

It turns out that Volvo produced accessory brackets that mounted BEHIND the bumper, which then came forward below the grill. The photo above has a good view of the bracket design. I'm pretty sure it will be impossible to actually locate an original bracket, but I think making them would not be all that hard to do using these images. You should try to use fairly thick steel to reduce the possibility of bounce from bracket flex. Volvo didn't make them stiff enough, since you can see here they have a brace at the top of the lights to stabilize them. Or you can make some of those stabilizing brackets for the tops of the lights as shown.

I did a similar thing when I mounted driving lights on my 760 Turbo way back in the late 1980s. Then I later removed them before I sold the car with ZERO visible damage to anything.

I used 1/4 inch steel plate to make them, so there was no flex or bounce. I think that was overkill, so probably 3/16 inch plate would be OK.
If you do a project like this or have already done one, please CONTACT ME. I would like to hear from you about it.

ANOTHER GREAT IDEA
Here's another method from a BMW owner in Germany. He used a 1.5 mm (0.060 inch) metal plate, which he mounted to the bumper using the license plate mounting holes. The plate is then hidden behind his license plate. He also added two small brackets at the bottom of the bumper to stabilize it.

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