Honda OEM wiper blades, any better than aftermarket?

Windshields a relative commodity now and sometimes
you can get them for under two hundred.
I might consider a replacement of a pitted and scratched
on a younger considering the hours I spend looking
through one. Its like when I get a new pair of eyeglasses
(which approach the price of windshields)- a fresh
pair without scratches is like heaven.

 

Look again - the refill rubber is $3.22. If by "clip" you mean the end
caps, they are $2.30. If by "clip" you mean the center "element" that holds
the blade to the arm, that's $1.61.

The $25.62 is "suggested retail" for the whole blade assembly (they sell it
for $17.93). It is sort of strange that they left off the price for the
driver side blade assembly, especially since its identified in the diagram.

I have become totally disillusioned with the local dealers (there are
three). They all have their parts jacked up to about 3X retail and as you
say, tend to not carry the cheaper essentials like wiper blade fillers at
all. If it weren't for places like Majestic on the net, we'd never know
what the price of some of these things is supposed to be.

 

Look again - the refill rubber is $3.22. If by "clip" you mean the end
caps, they are $2.30. If by "clip" you mean the center "element" that holds
the blade to the arm, that's $1.61.

The $25.62 is "suggested retail" for the whole blade assembly (they sell it
for $17.93). It is sort of strange that they left off the price for the
driver side blade assembly, especially since its identified in the diagram.

I have become totally disillusioned with the local dealers (there are
three). They all have their parts jacked up to about 3X retail and as you
say, tend to not carry the cheaper essentials like wiper blade fillers at
all. If it weren't for places like Majestic on the net, we'd never know
what the price of some of these things is supposed to be.

 

Tegger wrote:


snip

You bin spyin' on me pal???

Actually, I get two to three years out of a pair of refills.

1. I use Rain-X which often results in the wipers not being turned on.

2. Texas is notorious for lengthy droughts.

JT

(Who ain't cheap but frugal!)

 

Tegger wrote:


snip

You bin spyin' on me pal???

Actually, I get two to three years out of a pair of refills.

1. I use Rain-X which often results in the wipers not being turned on.

2. Texas is notorious for lengthy droughts.

JT

(Who ain't cheap but frugal!)

 

Fixed the problem today.

Here's the setup I found:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/cr-v_bad-wipers.jpg

Turns out the Jelly Lube place installed the wrong lengths of wiper blades
(from 2 different brands). In a way, this was fortuitous, since it flushed
out another problem.

The glass place that replaced the windshield a couple of years ago somehow
managed to swap the arms left for right (so they were on the wrong sides).
This did not become obvious until the blades were replaced with the Jelly
Lube ones I saw today. The original OEM blades appear to have had just
enough clearance that they didn't foul on each other during their sweep.

Not only all that, but both wiper arm nuts were only slightly more than
finger-tight, so there had been some slippage of the arms on their
spindles. The spindle splines were partially flattened and smeared. How the
wipers didn't eventually get turned around 180 degrees I don't know.

I put the arms on the correct sides, replaced the blades with new OEM ($25
each; includes the rubber), and tightened the nuts properly. My boss tells
me he can't remember ever before having wipers that worked so well.

Aftermarket parts + incompetent servicing = disaster.

And finally, the parts guy at the local Honda dealership says he has no
wiper refills that cost any more than $6. Where you guys are getting $14
refills from is a mystery to me.

 

Fixed the problem today.

Here's the setup I found:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/misc/cr-v_bad-wipers.jpg

Turns out the Jelly Lube place installed the wrong lengths of wiper blades
(from 2 different brands). In a way, this was fortuitous, since it flushed
out another problem.

The glass place that replaced the windshield a couple of years ago somehow
managed to swap the arms left for right (so they were on the wrong sides).
This did not become obvious until the blades were replaced with the Jelly
Lube ones I saw today. The original OEM blades appear to have had just
enough clearance that they didn't foul on each other during their sweep.

Not only all that, but both wiper arm nuts were only slightly more than
finger-tight, so there had been some slippage of the arms on their
spindles. The spindle splines were partially flattened and smeared. How the
wipers didn't eventually get turned around 180 degrees I don't know.

I put the arms on the correct sides, replaced the blades with new OEM ($25
each; includes the rubber), and tightened the nuts properly. My boss tells
me he can't remember ever before having wipers that worked so well.

Aftermarket parts + incompetent servicing = disaster.

And finally, the parts guy at the local Honda dealership says he has no
wiper refills that cost any more than $6. Where you guys are getting $14
refills from is a mystery to me.

 

Whether it rains or not, goddammit!

 

Whether it rains or not, goddammit!

 

Well, yeah. Strong sunlight is quite damaging to the rubber.

 

Well, yeah. Strong sunlight is quite damaging to the rubber.