I have a 99 Buick Regal. Should I replace the low beem bulbs after all this time and would it make adifference?
Are they burned out? It is probably more practical to carry a spare.
Leave well enough alone. My '95 went 12 years before a headlight bulb finally burned out. The replacements (I did both sides) were not noticeably brighter than before. And many of the replacement bulbs on the market don’t seem to last as long as the OEM bulbs.
Interesting question. The filaments do degrade over time, but not as much as the plastic lenses through which they shine. Is the question prompted by a degradation of the lights’ output?
If you like, but frankly I would wait until one burns out. You may want to replace both then
It is possible they are not quite as bright as when they were new, but you likely will not be able to see the difference.
Put a spare in the glovebox, and you can change it promptly when it fails. I change the other one right after that, because the last two times, they failed within a week of each other.
And rember if you do change one or both bulbs DONT TOUCH THE GLASS PART OF THE BULB natural oils from our skin will create a hot spot that will cause the bulb to burn out prematurly.
It MIGHT make a difference, depending on the type of bulb you buy. If you stick with the standard headlight bulb you are unlikely to notice any difference. Are you having problems with the lights? If not, you should probably just keep what you have.
If, however, you switch to Sylvania Xtra-vision bulbs you may notice increased light output. It’s not an earth-shattering difference, but it’s enough to make a believer out of me, and I’ve tried just about every type of headlight bulb available, including the illegal, high-wattage bulbs.
Don’t bother with the blue-tinted bulbs. They won’t help, and in some situations can be worse than the standard halogen bulbs. Try the Xtra-vision bulbs. You may be surprised. I was.
Likely you would not notice any difference. However if you have plastic lamp covers, they tend to scratch and age. If they don’t look totally clear, then I would work on them. For $$$ they can be replaced, but there are kits to polish them and the kits do help a lot.