Was at a friend's for lunch today and I happened to pick up a catalogue of household and other items by mail order. Among them - and there was what you might call an eclectic selection aimed mainly at women, I'll say no more than that - was a device I have never seen offered anywhere before. It's a machine designed to clean and put a new edge on windscreen wiper blades.
I'm quite picky but I've never felt the need to do that before. Have I missed something? It wasn't cheap either.
I'll put up a picture of this device but I have to wait until my friend has finished with the catalogue. I gather she has something she wants to order...
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Ah!
You need Wiper Wizard - puts a new edge on your wiper blade in seconds. Yours for a modest £10.33
Buy a couple.
www.amazon.co.uk/WIZARD-POCKET-WINDSCREEN-RESTORER-visibility/dp/B004KVHESG
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I remember a small gadget from a decade or three ago which claimed to re-edge wiper blades.
This is the nearest I can find.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Van-Wiper-Wizard-Windshield-Wiper-Blade-Restorer-Cleaner-5-Wizard-Wipes-UK-/271537768856?pt=UK_Car_Accessories_Car_Care_Cleaning&hash=item3f38e98998
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 14 Aug 14 at 18:02
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Does it restore the flexibility and shape of new wipers too?
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It does everything you need a wiper buffer to do. It's the biggest leap forward in wiper restoring technology this century. Don't miss out - order now!
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If I remember correctly (unlikely) the one from long ago had many magical properties but the advertisement rules have been tightened up a bit since then. :)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 14 Aug 14 at 18:32
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Well there you go...
I don't reckon it would work on the Accord's wiper blades, which are the recent flat type, but it might be alright for the XJS, which has traditional sprung blades once described by Clarkson as 'the size of pencils and about as much use'.
Incidentally, I had to login twice before I could send this because I was 'timed out'. I hope we haven't got the HJ hiccups creeping in here.
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Perhaps the benefit accrued by on of these gadgets is the cleaning effect. A lot of people never seem to clean the wiper blades. A quick wipe along the edge of the blades when cleaning the car will remove accumulated grunge and prevent smearing and squeaking wipers.
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Tis true, an awful lot of grit and crap does build up on the wipers.
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I use vinegar spray, kitchen roll and clean the wipers.
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Me too! We make up 50% water, 50% spirit vinegar, and a drop of washing up liquid in a garden spray for cleaning car windows. Did ours yesterday.
The boss says it should be 25% vinegar but I'm the sort of person who thinks that if two tsps of cough medicine is good, three must be better. Works for me.
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Pretty sure I still have one of the small yellow ones in one of my tool box's compartments.....
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It doesn't actually say "Hey presto - wipers like new!" but it nearly does.
Nor does it say "Batteries not included", nor have an endorsement from Bernard Hogan- Bluff "It's a major contribution to road safety".
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OK, I succumbed yesterday and gave my wiper blades an inspection and clean. They seemed ok to me. Of course, I don't go out in the rain if I can help it.
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Is wiper blade OCD a formally recognised condition? And are mud flaps and car mats included, or are they separate conditions? :)
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>> Is wiper blade OCD a formally recognised condition?
Yes its part of the "home brew screen cleaning solutions and windscreen washer additives" family of conditions. "Mudflaps" is a closely related condition, however "Car Mats" are not, being part of the "Automadness Interior" family of neurosis.
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I always suspected that I have multiple problems. :)
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I've just remembered the dangling chains that people used to attach to their rear bumpers, supposedly to ward off car-sickness.
We always had one when I was a child. When was the last time anyone spotted one?
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I tried one around twenty years ago when I had a car that used to give me static electricity shocks on a regular basis.
Didn't make any difference.
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I haven't seen one of those very long whippy fibreglass radio aerials, often with the top end fastened to the rain gutter above the rear door of the car, for quite a long time.
A proper aerial, kept clean, is the way to ensure decent reception. I once put a short, fat rubber aerial on my VW 411. It worked, but not well. I think it was unscrewed and stolen in the end. London, toerag city.
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>> A proper aerial, kept clean, is the way to ensure decent reception.
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Is that true - radio waves can't travel through dirt? What about the inevitable oxide coating on aluminium TV aerials?
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>>
>> >>
>> >> A proper aerial, kept clean, is the way to ensure decent reception.
>> >>
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>> Is that true - radio waves can't travel through dirt? What about the inevitable oxide
>> coating on aluminium TV aerials?
But a dirty extendable chrome aerial has high resistance between its sections, causing impedance matching issues and changing the wavelength of the aerial.
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They work when they're dirty, but not quite as well. Don't ask me why, but it's observable.
TV is a far bigger and more complex signal with more power behind it, and the many types of metal, non-dish aerial all seem to be directional and, among buildings, subject to tiresome shadow and echo effects. Dishes seem to be better although they are very directional.
Radio aerials have to pick up very faint weak distant signals, no power, hardly there at all... but with the right aerial you can get shortwave from halfway round the globe.
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