The Life of a Windscreen Wiper

[trufflehunt]

I've been starting to wonder.

In the 4 years I've owned the 406, I've replaced wipers a number of times. Initially, I went for
the genuine boxed Peugeot part, which turned out to be Valeo. Later I went for Bosch (SP24 for drivers side).

I've noticed that the last 2 or 3 times, the life seems to be only around 6 or 7 months before the smearing starts.

Have Bosch outsourced their stuff to some dingy production units in Laos, or.......?

[Welly]

Exactly right! I have the same problem with my Volvo.

The reason I surmise is the quality of the rubber blade. Rubber is just not as 'rubbery' as it used to be due to environmental this and that so its life span is severely reduced

Tyres can also be affected.

[PeterN]

I always get my wiper blades at Trago Mills, I think they are Wipac, remember they did blue spark plugs for 3/6d when everyone elses were 5 bob. They are very cheap but seem to last about a year.

Peter

[dirtydirtydiesel]

Don't get me started on cheap rubber ,
Tyres cracking after 18 months, not to mention all those suspension rubbers

[PeterN]

... and rubber boots on cheap drop links ...

Peter

[steve_earwig]

Will the birth rate be going up again?

I use whatever I can lay my hands on (smaller market, fewer imports, less choice etc. etc.)

I wish I could decode the codes on the wipers that came with yoyoII so I could find the manufacturer, they were knackered when we got it so I replaced them with Bosch wipers, the driver's side of which missed an area approx. 6" in diameter right in front of my face, so I got a cheapy from the supermarket here which behaved identically to the Bosch (probably came from the same factory ) so I got one with "traditional wiper blade" written all over the box (looks like something from the 50's) which wasn't great but at least it cleared the bit in front of my face. Now it's cattled and I need to replace it, so it looks like I'll be going to Toyotter and paying through the nose for replacements