$50 wiper blades?

A pair of windshield wiper blades. That's all. $47.70 + $12.99 priority shipping.

Ipd shows them for $10 less, but they are out of stock and I need them asap.

Please direct me to the penetrating lube thread....

Thanks Volvo!

There must be more to the story.
What model Volvo?
Just the rubber or the whole assembly?

What is it about these that could not have been sourced at PepAdvanceZone?

I think that's about how much they were for my S40. Some fancy-shmancy "special" wiper blades.

2007 XC70

They are one-piece, as opposed to a frame and blade. I'll be looking into the possibility of retro-fitting the earlier style arms, but for now - I needed them.

Just cranky because I also had to replace a nearly new tire yesterday on the same car due to a nail in the sidewall.

I picked up a pair of one piece blades at Pepadvancezone for between 35 and 40. Unless those are a funky size or off the wall mounting mechanism?

I have one piece blades on my pathfinder and they were about $50 for the pair. I replace "traditional" blades about every 4-6 weeks once they start streaking, and I use good ones. My one piece ones are just now starting to streak and I installed them last december, so value for the money is still pretty good ($50 for 9 months, versus $20 every 6 weeks).

My suggestion: Buy a VW... They are only...

The exact same price.

I ran into this on my old Passat... I actually just hacked the factory set to accept a new ANCO blade and ended up with $23 instead of $44. I don't remember details but there was a Dremel and a hot glue gun involved.

pretty sure regular blades won't kill it either...

They probably use those fancy new Bosch ICON wiper blades. They work pretty well but they are a bit pricey. Tire Rack sells Valeo of a similar style that might work.

Get inserts for $6 a pair. Unless the actual arm is damaged or broken there's no reason you should have to replace it. I have had bosch icons on the BMW since I bought it, but I don't pay $20 each for the whole blades again when all I really need are the inserts. Changing them takes about 5 minutes.

andrave wrote: I have one piece blades on my pathfinder and they were about $50 for the pair. I replace "traditional" blades about every 4-6 weeks once they start streaking, and I use good ones. My one piece ones are just now starting to streak and I installed them last december, so value for the money is still pretty good ($50 for 9 months, versus $20 every 6 weeks).

Whoa. That's a lot of blades. I generally will go a year or so between blades. I will admit that I'm always blown away with the performance of new ones.

I frequently wipe down the blades with rubbing alcohol. It removes all the road grease and they work a lot better.

In reply to DILYSI Dave:

yeah.. my friends all joke that I'm a windshield snob. I only use the expensive rainX fluid and I only use expensive wipers. I put a gallon of fluid in every couple weeks. I can't stand to have bug stains and stuff on my windshield.

Use rubbing alcohol and blades last a long, long time. I frequently see 18 months to two years out of a pair of the ICON/no-arm blades. They are well worth $50 IMO.

I think I spend $4.99 each for the Amco versions at Wallymart for my Trailblazer.

Wow! $50

Yeah, when mine start to streak, I break out the high dollar generic Walmart Rubbing Alcohol and the streaks go away for another month or two and the blades work great until the separate in about 2 years...

I do buy the expensive one's but if they only lasted a few months, I'd have a lot fewer cars in my stable...

I have had good luck with icon blades+periodic application of rainx. Mine have been on the car 2 years so far, and i think they will last another winter before i need a new set.

I'm pissed because I finally went in to get new inserts for my bosch icons only to learn that the auto chain that sold me the wipers doesn't sell the inserts.

So I ended up buying new wipers... sigh

Its a safety investment though, right up there with headlights and tires and brakes.

I just paid $54 for replacing wiper blades on two cars this weekend and was going to post on here about it. But the post I was going to do was that you CANT get the inserts anymore!!! I went to several different places to get replacement inserts, and apparently then new trend is that inserts are no longer made. You now have to buy the entire replacement blade and the new blades have no provision for insert replacement. I was like WTF!!! I will admit that replacing the entire blade is much faster and easier then just an insert, but it is so much more expensive. Why in these hard economic times would the wiper companys do this ?

Chris Rummel xc

I've been pleased with the $12.99 each Anco Contours, which are similar to the Bosch Icon.

I wait until Tirerack has the Valeo ones 2 for 1 and then order them, I also noticed that they started carrying Aquapel and I have heard really good things about that product from some of the detailing forums I frequent. They tend to like it more than rainx.

Rumnhammer wrote: ...you CANT get the inserts anymore!!! I went to several different places to get replacement inserts, and apparently then new trend is that inserts are no longer made. You now have to buy the entire replacement blade and the new blades have no provision for insert replacement.

I started running into this about 2 years ago. I finally stocked up on a whole bunch of the inserts when I found them semi-cheap at a swap meet.

I've been using the Anco winter blades. I throw a new set on every fall with the snow tires. They seem to have some life left when I replace them but I don't want to risk them going bad in a snow storm.

Rumnhammer wrote: I just paid $54 for replacing wiper blades on two cars this weekend and was going to post on here about it. But the post I was going to do was that you CANT get the inserts anymore!!! I went to several different places to get replacement inserts, and apparently then new trend is that inserts are no longer made. You now have to buy the entire replacement blade and the new blades have no provision for insert replacement. I was like WTF!!! I will admit that replacing the entire blade is much faster and easier then just an insert, but it is so much more expensive. Why in these hard economic times would the wiper companys do this ? Chris Rummel xc

You can still find wiper blade inserts. As far as I know they don't have them available for the ICON style blade, but for the old fashioned metal framed blades they are out there.Most of the popular auto parts stores carry them. The store I work at has most sizes (11" up to I believe 24")and we end up installing maybe one or two pairs of inserts a month.