Shopping For A New Vehicle? Take A Look At The Wiper Blades Before You Buy!
This may sound totally crazy, but when you’re choosing which new or used car to buy next; you’d be well advised to take a look at the Wiper blades. They can make a serious difference to your non-fuel running expenses.
Many of the new cars that have been introduced in Europe over the last few years are coming equipped with the new type of Flat wiper blades. These look fantastic, and have intrinsically much better wiping performance than traditional Wiper blades.
Flat wiper blades are also said to be much more aerodynamically efficient than classic Wiper blades, and this offers 2 benefits.
Firstly, Flat wiper blades have much better contact with the windscreen , especially at high speeds.
Secondly, Flatblade Wipers have a significantly reduced coefficient of drag when compared to classic Wiper blades. However, when you realise what a minute part of the overall drag of the car the Wiper blades account for; you’ll see that even reducing wiper blade drag by 80% won’t make any noticeable difference to your car’s economy.
Conversely, if you aren’t vigilant, you could end up spending up to a hundred and sixty pounds a year just on replacement Wiper blades!
This annoying situation has come about because the car makers and the makers of the Original Fit Wiper blades have managed to use their introduction as a means of limiting the unsuspecting owner into a very small number of suppliers for the replacements; namely the franchised dealer and the wiper blade manufacturer’s own local distributors.
This lack of competition has led to some extremely high prices being charged for Flat wiper blades.
A friend of mine is lucky enough to have a very exotic Supercar. Nonetheless, even he was staggered to be quoted £80 for A wiper blade when the car was just over 6 months old. He looked around for an alternative supply, but after the car main dealer, he could only find the wiper blade manufacturer’s local agent, and guess what? The prices were within a few pence of each other.
He was particularly angered by this, because in the past, he’s always fitted Silicone wiper blades to his cars as soon as the original rubber ones wore out. Despite keeping all his cars for a minimum of three years; he’s never had to replace any of his Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades.
What further angered my friend was the salt that the rubber wiper blade manufacturers rubbed into his wounds. On the box of the £80 wiper blade was a warning that he should expect to replace these Wiper blades within 6 months to a year.
Unfortunately, manufacturers of Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades have not yet found ways to overcome the patents on the connection systems for these original fit Flat wiper blades, but you can get Silicone Retrofit Flat wiper blades, which bring together the looks & aerodynamic efficiency of Flat wiper blades with the performance, life and warranty of Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades.
So, when you’re shopping for your next car, take a look at the wiper blade arms. If they have the well known hook type fittings, you can fit either traditional or Flat Silicone Windscreen Wiper Blades to fit. If they’ve got the fancy new patented connections, remember you may need to replace them twice a year, and check out the cost. It could be as much as you spend on servicing!