On Monday I noticed the wipers on the Herald were splitting. I was going to buy replacements but thought, I'm going to be spending £5-£10 a blade and end up with a piece of curse word which won't clear the window properly and will only last a few months. Anyone with this style of wiper knows exactly what I mean. Now, I know I'm not the first person to do this, but I thought I'd try replacing the rubber bits and take some photos to help others along the way.
So today I popped along to Halfords and grabbed some generic wiper blade refills. On trade they're only £6 and I took the view that I'd be losing nothing if this didn't work! Below are photos to show how mine came apart - personal experiences may vary!
Above - the offending item. Even brand new, these things never clear the screen and last all of two minutes before they get worse!
Carefully release the spine (?) from the crimps by prying them out. Be careful not to damage any parts as they're all going back in.
The rubber part of the blade is held in by a small section of its extrusion.
Pull the rubber out, you'll not be needing it. But again, be careful not to damage anything or yourself.
The Halfords blades had a hard plastic cover over them. Removing it revealed that the rubber extrusion was identical to my original blades. So a quick pull apart and and I had exactly what I needed.
Next, follow your lovely Haynes procedure of reversing what you've done, squash the crimps and install onto the car.
For the first time ever since getting the Herald in 2006 I have blades which clear the whole screen! And for the price of five minutes and less than the cost of one replacement blade from the usual suppliers or eBay.
So today I popped along to Halfords and grabbed some generic wiper blade refills. On trade they're only £6 and I took the view that I'd be losing nothing if this didn't work! Below are photos to show how mine came apart - personal experiences may vary!
Above - the offending item. Even brand new, these things never clear the screen and last all of two minutes before they get worse!
Carefully release the spine (?) from the crimps by prying them out. Be careful not to damage any parts as they're all going back in.
The rubber part of the blade is held in by a small section of its extrusion.
Pull the rubber out, you'll not be needing it. But again, be careful not to damage anything or yourself.
The Halfords blades had a hard plastic cover over them. Removing it revealed that the rubber extrusion was identical to my original blades. So a quick pull apart and and I had exactly what I needed.
Next, follow your lovely Haynes procedure of reversing what you've done, squash the crimps and install onto the car.
For the first time ever since getting the Herald in 2006 I have blades which clear the whole screen! And for the price of five minutes and less than the cost of one replacement blade from the usual suppliers or eBay.
