My wipers are next to rubbish and in need of replacement. I bought some bosch ones last year and they barely lasted 9 months, although there has been much rain and I'm one of the freaks who screewashes all the time ;-p
They was a bit expensive at around £20 I think. I was thinking of I could just buy some of the wiper rubber from somewhere? and thread it on somehow ? as they're is nothing wrong with the metal back just worn rubber. (call it my bit for the environment lol).
Anyone ever done anything like this or am I being beyond cheap.
I've heard of it being done in days of yore. Never heard of it these days - ISTR the metalwork does somehow become less springy or some such. FFS a set of cheap wiper is £3-£4 down my local car spares place...
most car shops sell universal rubber kits. but it isn't worth it. two bosch blades will set you back about twelve quid. a new set before each winter is a good safe thing to do.
Top site and quite reasonably priced, seems I was robbed las year when I bought some new ones from Halfords. I've placed an order. Thanks for the info and help guys.
Its a good idea to havea decent set on wth all this bad weather lately, no doubt will follow us into rest of the year. All I need now is a life jacket :)
As you use a lot of screen wash I find it also helps to preserve the life of wipers by disabling the wash/wipe system where the wipers automatically do about half a dozen swipes when you use the washers! Most of the time only one or two swipes are necessary after a quick squirt, but is very annoying when they carry on juddering on a dry screen. What I do is locate the wiper relay and bend back the terminal responsible for the wash/wipe and replace.
Nah, as long as it squirts & wipes (not necessarily at the same time). In fact the wash/wipe system could actually be more dangerous in freezing winter conditions. Come to use the washers only to find the jets are frozen so no screen wash comes out but the wipers continue to smear the shit across the screen making vision even worse.
Thats a good idea, it always annoys me how many wipes the mk4 golf does about 4/5 I think and usally after 1 maybe 2 wipes its fine, but because it keeps going it sometimes smears and the process starts again. I shall hunt for this relay :)
You could do worse. 10 year old plus BMW's are as cheap as chips. Less than 1k could buy a tidy rust free example in good mechanical condition with toys like a/c or climate control, cruise control, heated w/s jets, heated electric door mirrors, leather etc, and strangely enough, Bosch windscreen wiper blades are cheaper than those for your Golf. Mike.
Hmmm... you should try it with an elderly Mini. Most replacement wipers have plastic backing, but as the Mini has sod all pressure on the screen from the wiper arms, these are not flexible enough to remain in contact with the screen all through the arc. It needs good flexible jointed metal wipers, with good old stainless-sprung blades not the plastic-backed crap. And often the wipers have a much wider fitting that the puny 5mm arms on the Mini so without the adapters they just wobble about. Fortunately my local parts shop carries a lot of NOS parts, and are patient enough to search through that stock to find suitable types. Last time I think we ended up with Champion wipers with the fitting adapter from an AC Delco set...
I will look closely at that; I need to know that I can source the right wipers from elsewhere, just in case!
The only ones I know anything about are the older 6 cylinder 5 series (the 6cyl BMW engines are virtually bulletproof) I have a '94 525i E34, and a '96 528i E39. Overall the older E34 is in better condition, and IMO has slightly the better build quality. Neither have any signs of body rusting, and the seats and interiors show little signs of wear. Although both have done over
150k miles, the engines are quiet, and don't use or lose any oil between oil changes. They are mechanically sound, apart from a rattle on startup from the E34 VANOS unit (controls the variable valve timing) I'm hoping it wont cost too much to fix.
Servicing costs from an independant are no worse IMO than they are for any other car. There's nothing special about their needs. Pattern parts like pads and discs are quite cheap, and equally as good as genuine ones as long as they are from a reputable manufacturer.
I've had the E34 for about 4 years and the E39 for about 2 Apart from oil changes, and normal service items like tyres, pads, front discs, the E34 has been cheap to run, with no faults, apart from the one mentioned. Even with that one. Once the engine has run for a couple of minutes, the rattle disappears . The E39 has had new rear discs, pads and handbrake shoes fitted, plus a suspension bush, and a new auxiliary a/c fan, Cost about £420 including labour.
Insurance can be quite high unless one has a few years NCD. I pay about £250 fully comp for each for the 2 I have, but that's with maximum discount. Fuel consumption is in the low to mid 30's on m/ways. At
70-80mph, and in the low 20's around town.
Bearing in mind the low depreciation, compared to that that of a new or nearly new car. Even one that has much better fuel consumption, and lower insurance rates. I think they are very good value. Cheap motoring at it's best. All the luxury and comfort of a quality car, without the value dropping hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds in depreciation in the first couple of years or so.
And they are nice to drive. Even my '94 525i is much smoother and quieter than my wifes 2000 Toyota Corolla which she's had from new, and has only done 29k miles. Main dealer serviced all it's life.
Taking everything into account. Depreciation, servicing, repairs etc, her car has cost more than all of mine during the 8 years she's had it. Mike.
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