steering column bearings

hello,
working over the winter months on a 1968 Barracuda,
I have the steering column out, it is a factory floor shift auto car, manual steer.
I disassembled, cleaned it up, kind of re packed the upper and lower shaft bearings and re assembled it.
the shaft turns freely, but certainly has a course feel, if this was a wheel bearing and had that feel I certainly would replace the wheel bearings.
I am after a car with good steering, so,,
the steering column bearings are certainly not locked-up , but even after a garage repack, the shaft is not really smooth when turning.

It looks like I could replace the lower bearing for approx. 85.00 and the upper for another 45.00 would rather not spend that for no reason,,,

for those that have replaced the steering column bearings, what do you think?
replace only when the bearings fail and lock, or does renewing the steering column bearings help over all steering feel?