Headlight bulb life (HID)?

I'm just curious if there is any consensus on the service life of HID headlamps in 987.2 's? I believe the bulbs slowly dim before eventually failing, but I don't recall seeing many comments about replacements.

I think in general, 15-20 years? Certainly longer than Halogen

Looks like most manufacturers spec 2500 hours of operation, so do the math on how much you use them. Yes, they do dim over time even if they're not burned out, and that spec is probably based on a percent light output lower limit rather than them dying. If yours are original then upgrading to newer bulbs wouldn't be a terrible idea. The bulbs aren't cheap, but you can get ones that are a bit brighter than OEM even before any dimming that may have occurred since the car was new. Philips and Osram make some good upgrade bulbs. Just don't get ones that are too blue because that'll cost you performance: you want to stick with 5000K color temperature or lower IMO. Philips Xtreme Vision are a reasonable choice, for example. The 987.2 takes a D2S. Buy from a legit supplier, there are unfortunately counterfeit bulbs out there.

Very interesting info. My Boxster will get lots more time with no daytime running light use (and higher average speed ), but we have a Grand Cherokee in family that did just need a replacement. It has 70k, full time daytime lights, and mostly local slow use. If it averaged 25MPH, which is pretty likely, that is 2800 hours to actual replacement

HID bulbs - if you have 100k on the car, they're at best 50% of the brightness of a new bulb. I replaced the ones in my '11 Cayenne (118k miles at the time) - with the stock wattage and brand bulbs - night and day difference. I thought it was my eyes.. nope - the bulbs.

If the 987.2 Boxster is like the Cayman the headlights aren't used for DRLs on the cars with xenon bulb. DRL uses the round LED light in the bottom of the fender where the halogen cars have a front fog. Anyway I'd turn the DRLs on, myself, for better visibility to other drivers, but it's your rear end.

I just replaced mine a couple days ago at 88k with some Osram “Night Breaker” lamps. I bought them off amazon due to price, but also that I could easily return if the authenticity check on the osram site didn’t pan out (it did). I can attest to a notable increase in light out put (they claim 2x output which seems about right), and the beam pattern still looks good. I had read that when the hid lamps are fairly well used, you’ll see a white deposit in the glass tube. I didn’t see this on the ones removed from mine. I guess that means there are output gains to be had even if your lamps aren’t totally spent. (I stored my OE bulbs in the osram packaging as a backup just in case). Good luck. Quality lighting is a very nice thing!

I'm beginning to think I might upgrade my bulbs now. At 56k, still pretty good, but I have thought more than once this past year that the lights looked a little less bright. I attributed it to just the very old age of my eyes, but the idea that there are newer higher output bulbs may just seal the deal

Watching this thread very closely. I think I've got HIDs or Xenons that function, but are surely 50% dim. They technically work, but after my 4250 mile trip some 6 weeks ago, I vowed to change them up when I got home -- definitely on my winter to-do short list. Even my 30+ year old BMW E30 feels much safer driving at night with old-school sealed halogens, which says something. In fact, the only really safe night-driving experience in my 987.2 has been when I have driven with the brights-on, so something is clearly wrong. When I have a free moment, I'll have to do a double-check per my car build sheet to see what came stock with my 2010 Boxster 2.9L . I suspect I've got whatever the lowest spec was at the time and hopefully it's whatever is easily/inexpensively replaced.

Lowest spec would be halogens. I think the easiest way to tell is if you have headlight washers/squirters. In general, if yes, then HID/xenon, and if no, halogens. if you are rocking halogens, then your best bet is likely LED replacements, but that is a bit of a minefield with lots of bad options (but also what sounds like a few quite good ones… I just don’t remember which is which)

No squirters, no washers. I'm assuming that's a definite YES for halogens, @Caylman? If so, I'm going to start searching for LED replacements (that won't blow codes). I used to love driving in the dark, but now I don't -- thinking my eyes were going bad as I'm getting older.

I can’t definitively confirm, but I think (not sure though), that another sign is if you have actual front fog lights and can independently turn those on. We HIDers don’t get that, and the lower round lights are basically either DRLs or they just turn on when you lock or unlock the car. But TLDR - yeah, you probably have halogens.

I do have actual front fogs and can turn those on independently, @CayIman - Makes sense. Thanks! Found a great thread here from 6 months ago: https://www.planet-9.com/threads/ha...threads/halogen-h7-to-auxito-led-plug-play.257654/?post_id=2244420#post-2244420 Currently waiting back to hear about the Auxitos for fogs/high-beams, and a 6-month report after having installing it. Just ordered a set of the low beams for starters, but it would be great to just do everything at once.