Better! They’re from Vietnam and his wife is an amazing cook. They’re always feeding us these incredible foods that you can’t get anywhere else. I’m more than happy to help him out.
Around here they use a lot of salt in the winter. The blade frames wear off the protective coating around the pivots and they get rusty pretty quick. Then they don’t flex good enough to make good contact with the glass. So just replacing the entire assembly is less problematic and easier to do.
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A guy walks into the parts store and asks, “Can I get just the rubber windshield wiper blade inserts for a Yugo?”
The parts guy thinks about for a moment and says, "Okay, sounds like about a fair trade."
CSA
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NAPAonline.com says they have them in stock in store. Neither Toyota dealership in town keeps parts online.
Here’s the thing . . .
My local NAPA claims . . . according to the website . . . to have inserts in stock
However . . . a few years ago, when I wanted to buy inserts, the parts guy told me the website is dead wrong, and they haven’t stocked them in years
Don’t be surprised if your local napa’s website is wrong, and they in fact do NOT have them in stock
I used to buy the inserts when I had my 1978 Oldsmobile, but I now just buy the whole wiper blade. I have enough trouble just changing the blades. The pictorial instructions don’t make sense to me. I have the simple type where there is a hook at the end of the arm. Each time when I figure it out, I realize that it is simple, doesn’t require tools, and assure myself that I won’t have any trouble rhe next time, but I always do. The laat time I had to change a blade was a couple of weeks ago. A friend had left her car in our driveway and had ridden to a band rehearsal with me. It snowed while we were at the rehearsal and when we got back, I thought I would be a nice guy and clear off her windshield. When she had parked the car, she had been using the wipers and had turned off the key so that the wipers weren’t completely parked. I managed to break off the left wiper blade. We drove over to Walmart and I bought her a replacement blade. The wiper arm on her Honda Civic is exactly the same as that on my Toyota and.I still.fumbled for half an hour changing the wiper blade.
The guide to which blades fit my pickup had a footnote on the Michelin
that told me they needed extra parts and supplied a phone number. I
e-mailed Michelin and they replied:
‘your 1987 Toyota will need some additional hardware that we have here in the office.
If you could send your address, 2 left hand metal side saddles with screws will be sent to you.
These metal side saddles will let you attach any Michelin blade to your wiper arm.’
and probably many other blades: nice of them!
I just change the blade assemblies before they are worn out and keep the old ones in the trunk as serviceable spares.
I’ve been able to buy the inserts at the dealer. I don’t like getting my car serviced at the dealer, but I’ve always been happy with the parts departments. One local Toyota dealer stopped stocking them a couple of years ago, but the other one still had them last time I checked. Their price was in line with what I’ve paid in the past at places like O’Reilly.
The Acura dealer sells the inserts for about $15. For the Pontiac though I buy the whole blade from the dealer for about $30 for the set. I gave up buying inserts years ago from Trico etc, because they just didn’t seem to work as well as replacing the whole blade.
My local NAPA had them in stock, $6/pair, 10% off for placing the order on-line. I picked them up today. They aren’t on the display floor.
I never claimed napa said inserts were on the display floor
My local napa has several items in stock, according to their website. And I’ve also ordered stuff on-line, to be be picked up in-store. Nevertheless, a fair percentage of the time, when you go to pick up the stuff . . . even AFTER they’ve notified you that your order is ready . . . the stuff isn’t in stock, and it’s clear it never WAS in stock
Sounds like your local napa is more accurate, in regards to keeping the website inventory up to date
Big props to Michelin! They sent me a pair of adaptors that fit on my double-screw bayonet arms that convert them to j-hook, free, priority mail. They’ll work with any blades. I didn’t ask for them, just inquired.
I believe one of the rules of this forum is that you’re not supposed to be promoting your own business and/or websites
@cdaquila Am I correct or mistaken?
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I’m thinking that you are correct. There are some businesses promoting products on this forum, but they’re paying for the exposure.
I’d bet @greg.johnson is welcome to advertise here if he goes through the proper process of buying advertising space. He just needs to contact them.
It costs money to operate these forums and somebody’s got to help support it…
I’d bet nobody profiting here rides for free, as it should be.
CSA
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I know this thread started a long time ago about a Toyota truck, a cant speak for the other OEM’s but Toyota, Kia, Honda, and Nissan do offer refills. Toyota has inventory for most, if not all if the OE blades out there, yes even the old ones. Refills that seem like a better rubber than the cheap aftermarket blade assemblies. I hope that helps someone in the future.
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