Sheesh! I must be getting old. Although it is 28" long and there's only one on the front of the Yaris.
I'll try to dismantle the old one and see if rubbers are available.
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Lookout for offers from EuroCarParts.
I got a 50% discount on the Bosch one I had to buy for the rear screen. It's only something like 7 or 8" long, and was full price something like £14.
Edit - try this St Patricks Day 50% discount code, which expires today. PAT75
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 18 Mar 19 at 12:57
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Hmm I'd be happy with £15.
Went to swap those on my 2002 BMW only to find no listings for them at Halfords or anywhere else. They have a totally car specific fitting I've never seen on any other motor. Easy option was BMW dealer... but £55/pr. Could order some Bosch that the guy said were 90% likely to fit but too much hassle to return if wrong.
So just bought OE rubbers for £11 the pair from a BMW/Mini specialist. Even those needed a couple of tiny nicks in the rubber to fit.
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>>Lookout for offers from EuroCarParts.
They want £36 for a Denso one. I doubt if they give more than 50% discount. My local motor factors wanted £15 for a Valeo and as it's a French built Yaris I suspect it may be OEM.
I've supported my local motor factors for the last forty-odd years, so I'll stick with them.
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For a laff, I just priced up blades for the Beemer. With the discount on ECP, 25 quid. A pair. Bosch.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 18 Mar 19 at 14:36
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>> For a laff, I just priced up blades for the Beemer. With the discount on
>> ECP, 25 quid. A pair. Bosch.
Yep, it's a joke. I got a pair of Bosch blades for the M140i delivered from wiperblades.co.uk for £22. BMW wanted £28. Each!
On the plus side, BMW wiper blades are the easiest I've ever changed. Pinch a little plastic clip at one end of the mount, and simply pull the blade off at an angle. Insert the new one at the same angle, and push the clip end up into the arm until it 'clicks' into place. Took me 10 seconds a side, in the dark. Brilliant design.
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Halfords sell the replacement rubber strips, they are fairly cheap, you just cut them down to the size you need.
Sometimes a bit of a faff to change them over though.
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This rubber's got a moulded 'knob' on one end that fits behind a shoulder, to prevent the rubber sliding out of the blade.
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Two weeks ago paid £18.53 for a front set for the CRV from a local factors
Only needed the drivers side 26 inch blade and it fitted fine but the passenger blade was an inch too long. despite the pack markings saying it was suitable for my CRV .Could not be a**ed to take it back .
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26" drivers side on daughters Jazz too - Honda's ironically named 'Happiness' price was £45 for the set, and the local dealer wouldn't budge. Some dealers sell a little cheaper online, but not much.
Found an eBay seller with the same wipers (they're a 'hybrid' design) for £10.99 and they seem fine.
I get annoyed by the cost of wipers on my Merc vs the cost for the Golf we had. Both unique fit but available from Bosch, yet despite being pretty well the same size the Merc wipers are 2x the price.
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I take it it's not a simple job to snip it and change them over?
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You are correct Sooty.
Both ends are solid moulded stops.
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Nice one hawkeye, I didn't think to try screwfix.
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My local Toyota dealer supplied a new 28" front wiper blade for my Yaris for £14 and fitted it for me for free. Less hassle than trying to source and fit a replacement rubber insert.
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Gosh I think some of you guys are being a bit tight!
Wipers are a bit like tyres in that we take them for granted, we probably don't change them as often as we should concerning the conditions they endure.
There's a happy medium with prices, just swapped all the blades on my Mk 5 and did the two Polo's and Lupo, eventually got mine down to £16.99 delivered from Ebay for original fit Bosch ones (last lot were Valeo's which were ok), the biggest headache is with the 13 inch rear, some places wanted £16! Eventually bought a Meyle one for half that (I think they make oe parts).
The dealer prices weren't too bad just a faff having to make a special trip.
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Just did the wipers on the Focus.
Ford website promises £25 inc fitting if I call my dealer. Dealer says no, it's £36 plus fitting, won't budge.
Bought some OEM ones from a Ford dealer on the bay for £19, easy fit myself, luckily, as I am totally cack handed.
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>>Wipers are a bit like tyres in that we take them for granted, we probably don't change them as often as we should
My front one's been on since I bought the car four years ago. Never been very happy with it as it always drags a bit of water back on the return stroke. Put up with it as I didn't know if any other would be better. Decided to change it as I noticed the rubber was starting to separate - one week after it passed the MOT!
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>> Gosh I think some of you guys are being a bit tight!
No, we just don't like being ripped off because the price varies so much, depending on where bought from and whether they're genuine OEM or a Chinese imitation.
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>> No, we just don't like being ripped off because the price varies so much, depending
>> on where bought from and whether they're genuine OEM or a Chinese imitation.
Turns out the Valeo one's made in Korea and the Michelin one's, currently on sale in ALDI are Chinese.
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>> >> Gosh I think some of you guys are being a bit tight!
>>
>> No, we just don't like being ripped off because the price varies so much, depending
>> on where bought from and whether they're genuine OEM or a Chinese imitation.
>>
Thats true of just about everything in life not just motoring, prices varying does not always mean we are being "ripped off", people's margins vary, costs vary, quality of items varies, convenience of the option varies among other things.
Real rip offs are actually pretty rare IMHO, certainly less than in pre internet days.
You choose the price/quality/convenience options that suit you.
The real "rip off" victims these days are those with limited/no access to online options.
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Just out of tangential curiosity, how important is it to any of the contributors here to be clear that a product they are buying has been ethically produced and supplied?
As someone who has spent a lifetime in the field of sourcing and selling consumer goods, it’s an issue we take very seriously, we ensure that all points in the supply chain are using safely produced raw materials, that their manufacturing practices comply with health and safety regulations and that the workers in all elements of the supply chain are treated fairly and paid fairly.
This of course costs something and means that sometimes less scrupulous competitors can gain a price advantage. Do you care about any of that or do you just want the cheapest price?
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>> Just out of tangential curiosity, how important is it to any of the contributors here
>> to be clear that a product they are buying has been ethically produced and supplied?
Exploitation is a necessary and natural progression between poverty to prosperity.
Now that may sound glib, harsh and patronising, but socio-economically and historically, long term it happens to be be pretty much true.
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Sounds like tosh to me . Plenty of exploitation both in the past and present that has never led to anything other than more exploitation and misery for the exploited.
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>> Sounds like tosh to me . Plenty of exploitation both in the past and present
>> that has never led to anything other than more exploitation and misery for the exploited.
>>
Your vision of timescale is too short.
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For How many generations should a society be happy to be exploited before they see a return then?
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It varies, its not proscriptive, you cant put a definitive timescale on it, but in time the exploited will find others to exploit, and take their cut our of the value chain. Those at the bottom dont stay there, they migrate up.
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Unless you are a Dalit of course. Bottom is your destiny.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 19 Mar 19 at 12:25
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Do you care about any of that or do you just want the
>> cheapest price?
>>
I guess it depends what it is. Some products I wouldn't really think to check or know how to check it had been made ethically.
Tea, coffee, sugar, some foods have stamps/marks etc so you can check them.
Plenty of other things, fridges, light bulbs, internet routers, beer and god knows how many other items, I wouldn't really check because I don't think I could. Is there an ethical issue in the toilet roll or door lock industry?
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I've no idea whether there is or isn't Sooty. But, I can do simple arithmetic. Take any product you're about to buy and assuming it has been made somewhere far away, take the VAT element off the price, allow something for retail margin and other costs, wholesale margin and other costs, manufacturing margin and other costs, raw material cost, shipping, duty and warehousing, then take a stab, for example, at what the person who actually made it was paid for doing that.
With or without labelling, it's often the case that evidence of exploitation is staring us in the face.
We just have to decide whether we care or not. I suspect many, if not most, really don't, or taken at its most charitable, simply don't stop to think about it if the price attracts them to the product.
As has already been pointed out, there's nothing new in all of this, and there's little chance of much changing in the foreseeable future, but it should make any reasonable person at least slightly sad that we so easily accept that state of affairs shouldn't it?
Just my view of course, and it's a very complicated subject, no one can reasonably support exploitation, but then again, even some of the exploited would rather that than starve.
I certainly don't have a magic wand handy to cure it all, but I do try to do my bit both commercially and privately to encourage things in my preferred direction of travel.
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I got these in Jan, excellent quality, and work well! - all 3 included.
tinyurl.com/y25zw3xl
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I get what you are saying and agree, it's just not that easy for everyone to work out, sometimes it is but not often for the man in the street I'd suggest.
You list various factors that go into what something costs, I wouldn't have a clue what it costs to ship a TV from china or a car from germany or tea from india or any of the other things you list. I've never worked in sales, marketing or anything remotely like that.
I don't disagree with what you've said at all, but it's a lot harder to make a guess at what's left for the people involved/making it if you've not got any of the information to make that purchasing decision, assuming that you care in the first place.
Of course there's times when something is suspiciously below the cost of similar items but alot of times its difficult to work out. Just my opinion for what it's worth.
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All I'm saying is that I found the same Bosch blades by shopping around for £17 but the same blades were being sold for over £35 so I don't feel I've been ripped off and I don't think I feel happy using a product that was on the face of it 'too' cheap.
Two lots of the Bosch were made in Belgium one set in Germany and one in China, I hope they are all to the same standard but I don't always belive that so do my best to by items made in Europe (sorry I have a thing for products 'made in Germany').
My thread on multimeters is an example where a meter could be bought for under a fiver delivered! How can that be?
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>> Of course there's times when something is suspiciously below the cost of similar items but
>> alot of times its difficult to work out. Just my opinion for what it's worth.
Its fairly easy at the bottom, when high street chains selling good basic tshirts for 5 quid, someone somewhere is getting exploited.
Its easy at the top When you buy a polo shirt made from sea island cotton originally priced at 60 quid for 25 quid in the sale, no-one is being exploited, you are getting a bargain and the excessive profit margins and costs have been ironed out.
The bit in the middle is difficult to gauge, so I dont bother.
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>>from sea island cotton originally priced at 60 quid for 25 quid <<<
what makes you think that they are not coming out of the same factory as the high street chains are using?
additional price can be justified by good (expensive) marketing.
At the top end maybe it is the end customer who is being exploited :)
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If you have felt and worn a good quality sea island cotton t shirt, and a 5 quid Primark jobbie, you know.
Nowt wrong with a 5 quid t shirt tho, My staple.
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propercloth.com/sea-island-cotton
I never knew sea island cotton was a thing.
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Z
I have been educated. However your £60 t shirts are obviously the down market end of ELS cotton. Probably the factory exploit end.....
www.sunspel.com/uk/mens-sea-island-cotton-tshirt-navy-mtsh0063.html?siteID=gcdL_ATRVoE-p1qCIh5QMY9L9WdxmEknVg
£145 for a t shirt !
I do not doubt there are even more expensive ones around, but not found after a quick google.
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50 cents for decent tees in charity shops locally
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I like to think of myself as being environmentally conscious. But that’s probably carp driving around in a 23mpg Barbie mobile. Then again I contribute a lot to HMRC via my motoring.
My Achilles heel is litter. Living in a scenic part of the Dales I often roam around 3 Peaks country from my back door. Seeing ‘charity walkers’ leaving plastic bottles, empty energy drinks, sweet wrappers left on footpaths and jammed into stone walls brings down the red mist in me.
Best not going into detail but I get very very confrontational with these morons, to a point of threatening to put their litter where the sun don’t shine if I see them doing it. Then following it up with the charity.
I buy lots of clothing from charity shops in Espana...returning it a few weeks later. Saves ironing.
Apart from shoes Runfer!
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Couple months ago i bought my first ever Honda, ( 10+ yrs old), it had the complete waste of time (imo) blow up tyre repair cobbrers, so - first job, find a spacesaver.
Within a few mins i found this place, (wait for it !), carried on looking and eventually came back to it, admittedly on special offer, but their "genuine Honda" was £50-ish less than anywhere else i found.
Ordered, and arrived quickly, (sorry - can't be bothered to check actual times)
However, fortnight ago, (i had already realised it was on its last legs) the battery really struggled to "start me up"
Looked around, came back to this site, ordered 09,30 Wednesday, chose the no charge couple of working days delivery, (for orders over £70, mine was £77.03), and battery arrived (Fedex) 10.00 Thurs. - 12.5 hrs later.
Honda's only, and postage applies on orders under £70, but worth checking ?
I'm thinking "wiper blades" in the context of this thread.
No connection with this co. at all, except for these purchases, .. but will now be my first call.
www.coxmotorparts.co.uk/
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Used Cox Motor parts on several occasions & their service is brilliant.
Last year the Beast from the East killed my battery - car failed to start picking up the granddaughter from school @ 3pm. Got a jump start, got home & ordered a Varta battery from Cox - arrived at 10.30 the following day - it took 10 mins to fit -£67 - £57 + £10 del - IIRC - the not so local Honda garage is £100+ fitted.
Varta is the same company that made the U-boat batteries in WW2
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>>
>> Varta is the same company that made the U-boat batteries in WW2
>>
Que?
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>> Varta
Never rated them as decent batteries. Whether it be batteries AAA, AA, C, or D sized cells for example, or car batteries. They just don't seem to last as long as other well known brands.
The battery in my car was a Varta. Failed at less than 5 years old. Told by Vauxhall that's the average life span. No idea why Vauxhall now use Varta. They previously used AC Delco or another reputable brand which was relabelled either Vauxhall or GM and used to last a lot longer than just 5 years.
Vauxhall wanted nearly £200 for a new battery (another Varta). Fortunately I don't have start/stop or it would have been even dearer.
I ended up fitting a Yuasa battery for £118, which was higher spec than the Varta, and also came with a 5 year warranty.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 20 Mar 19 at 10:32
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>> good Batteries!
Oh I agree. Local tyre garage only supplies that brand, so was more than happy to buy from them. Have been using Yuasa batteries in all manner of applications for years now with no issues.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 20 Mar 19 at 13:08
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I note the 15 year old Yuasa lead-acid jobby that backs up my house alarm still has plenty of beef left in it after the power was turned off to fit a car charger...
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>>.......lead-acid jobby........
>>
...Scottish diet still not improved, then.......?
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You've done well. My lead acid alarm batteries are toast at about 3/4 years.
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Oh, how embarrassing. In all the years I've had an edit button, I've never made this sort of error before.
Instead of replying to Devonite's post a couple of posts up, I edited it with what I wanted to say.
Sorry Devonite. It wasn't intentional. Just plain stupidity on my part.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 21 Mar 19 at 10:24
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No worries Sire! - you only cut out the pre-amble, the main message is still there! ;-)
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I must support the positive comments re Cox. I went online yesterday at 3.50 pm to order a battery for my stop-start 2012.Civic. It was shown as picked just after 4.00 and with Fedex a few minutes later.
It was delivered here at 9.00 this morning - a distance of about 200 miles.
I paid £77 plus £3 for next day delivery. Had I waited for standard delivery that would have been free. Brilliant.
Honda supply and fit price would have been a not unreasonable £115. But it only took me about 20 minutes to fit (bit fiddly first time) so worth doing myself.
As for wiper blades Cox price is £12.50 for both the Civic and Jazz so Bill Payer (18 March post) could have saved a few bob there.
Last edited by: martin aston on Fri 22 Mar 19 at 11:16
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Have used them quite a few times for the FRV.
Honda ATF, filters, and a brake caliper (200 for a new one vs 140 for a recon one via ECP)
Service always prompt.
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>> As for wiper blades Cox price is £12.50 for both the Civic and Jazz so
>> Bill Payer (18 March post) could have saved a few bob there.
>>
That's £12.50 for each blade, so £37.50 for the set, plus whatever they charge for postage. I paid £10.99 inc delivery for non-OEM, but with the identical unique construction and fit. I'm fussy about wipers and they work fine.
Cox are slightly cheaper than the local dealers standard price, but that doesn't mean much as the price is insane in the first place. The margins on consumable parts are enormous - I used to work for a car manufacturer and staff discounts went up to 62.5%. Most things we could get at 50% off.
Batteries are complicated from motor factors etc as there's a million choices - buying the "Honda" one makes it easy, and that Varta p/n doesn't immediately appear on UK sites.
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Apologies BP I was only considering the front ones as a "set".
Also I completely agree with you on the mark-ups. Nevertheless for discounted OEM spares, with free standard delivery on orders over £70, and avoiding a thirty mile round trip to our "local" dealer who gives no discount, Cox are an attractive option.
I didn't search very hard for battery alternatives but the few I tried were much dearer than Cox for a generic battery, not the manufacturer fitted one. Having expected the stop/start spec to be expensive I was pleasantly surprised to get the battery for £77. For a laugh I checked KwikFit and theirs was £160 fitted!
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Fifteen quid for a wiper blade - VxFan
