Wiper Blades $60-$90 what were they thinking?

Buying them at the dealer...I got them for our 2003 Beetle GLS and they were like$40 for the pair.

And If VW used a crappy design, you would be the first to complain, I bet.

Here is a link from the B5 club showing how to add refills at a reduced cost.. You can also search the site for more information on this issue. I too think the price for OEM replacement blades are ridicules......

I bought blades for about 15 bucks at the local auto store. They fit my '01 Jetta perfectly and I haven't had any problems with them.

I kept the old ones and keep meaning to move the air damn that comes on the official VW ones (it's just screwed on), but they've been working fine without it so I might not bother.

I wouldn't waste your money on getting VW ones.

dv

|I just tried to find wiper blade replacements (or refills) for my 2003 |Passat. | |VW wants $90.00. A specialty aftermarket store wants $60.00. | |None of the major chain auto parts stores can get 2003 VW blades. | |What was VW thinking designing a bastard wiper blade. You would think that |somebody would make a replacement for these blades by now. | |What have other 2003 VW owners been doing for blades? | |D | | |

Rex in Fort Worth

You can buy Amco refills and fit them into the existing wiper arms. Much cheaper.

Can't you buy just the rubber inserts, rather than the entire blade assembly?

I did that on my '02 Passat, but I understand the '03 blades are quite different.

You can't replace the rubber alone. Altough I have replaced the rubber on one blade. I had to rip apart an Anco blade, then do some bending and rework to force the new rubber in.

Scary thought that Bosch expects these to be standard in 80% of cars, yet they are not sold in the US.

My dealer didn't charge me for replacements of my 2001 Passat wiper blades during two replacemment requests: said there was an extended/lifetime warranty on them.

Try this method:

They stopped the bumper to bumper warranty when they went to a longer overall warranty. Your warranty is short, like my old Passat was, but you got free blades and oil changes.

Wow, that's exactly what I did when I mentioned doing it the hard way in a previous post. Funny that others have done the same. I only did one blade to see how it holds up.

Still seems amazing that these blades are not widely available at reasonable prices yet.

The wiper blades in questions are Bosch Aero-Twins. Apparently they are not available on the aftermarket. Bosch's USA web site brags about them but doesn't offer a source to buy them. I'm considering replacing the arms with pre-B5.5 units so that I can use plain old reg'lar wiper blades.

Bill

Are the 2003 different than 2002? I just got rubber refilles at the dealer for my 02 Jetta - $11 for two. Replaced the rubber insert, no big deal.

JEB

Hey I looked at that info on clubb5.com and will certainly give that a try before replacing the arms.

Bill