How often you should replace headlight bulbs

Headlight bulb life varies greatly depending on the bulb type, from as little as 200-hours for bright halogen bulbs to as much as 8,000-hours for HID bulbs

Most drivers don’t think about replacing a headlight until it burns out. Aside from being ticketed for a burned out headlight, you also have the hassle of finding a shop that can do the work right away.Is there a way to know how often you should replace headlight bulbs?

Well, kinda, but it’s not very practical. Headlight bulb life isn’t expressed in days, months, or years because their lifespan is directly related to how often and how long they’re on. For example, standard halogen headlight bulbs last around 1,200-1,500 hours and long life halogen headlight bulbs last about 2,000 hours. I’ve included a chart showing how long many headlight brands last. But do you really want to track how long your headlight are on?

There’s a more practical way to figure out how often you should replace your headlight bulbs

All headlight bulbs dim over time, so you should replace them when you notice they’re not producing the same amount of life. What a concept, right? And, you should always replace headlight in pairs because they both burn the same number of hours. If you replace just one, you’ll be replacing the other one in the near future. But there’s another reason to replace them in pairs; because on many late model vehicles you have to remove the front bumper cover to get access to the bulbs. Why pay for bumper cover removal twice when you replace both at the same time?

Headlight bulb life in hours

Sylvania Silver headlight bulbs claim they’re brighter or help you see farther down the road. But they’re much more expensive and look at the reduced lifespan.

Here’s a comparison of standard and brighter headlight bulbs according to bulbfacts.com

Sylvania Basic Halogen headlight bulb 1504 Lumens 1,134 hours
Hella Standard Halogen headlight bulb 1482 Lumens 1,205 hours
GE Standard Halogen headlight bulb 1458 lumens 2,074 hours

Sylvania SilverStar Ultra Halogen headlight bulb 1626 lumens 458 hours

$58 at Autozone

Sylvania SilverStar Halogen headlight bulb 1622 lumens 621 hours
Sylvania SilverStar zXe Gold Halogen headlight bulb 1345 lumens 667 hours
Sylvania SilverStar zXe Halogen headlight bulb 1448 lumens 744 hours
Philips Xtreme Vision 1586 lumens 802 hours
Philips Vision Plus Halogen headlight bulb 1613 lumens 997 hours
Philips White Vision Halogen headlight bulb 1411 lumens 864 hours
Philips Diamond Vision Halogen headlight bulb 769 lumens 824 hours
GE Megalight Ultra Halogen headlight bulb 2036 lumens 585 hours
GE Megalight Halogen headlight bulb 1635 lumens 773 hours

©, 2020 Rick Muscoplat