The price of progress?

[Monday]

Following a service on my R231 SL400 was a casual recommendation to think about replacing the wiper blades. Fine, I don't mind spending £20-30 for new blades and a clearer screen. BUT a quick search for a supplier reveals that I do not have ordinary wiper blades, I have Magic Vision wiper blades at about £160 a set! These appear to be a Valeo product and it isn't clear whether the set includes the whole wiper arm as well as the blade. There seem to be secondary market blades only at about half the price. Does anyone have any experience one way or the other?
Currently I am inclined to think I will clean the existing rubbers an see how I go.

 

[mioba]

Pur con by merc. was covered about 6 months ago here with an s class owner. In my experience cleaning rubbers is only short term and they will be quiet for a few days max.

 

[s5tuart]

I hesitate to suggest it, but.. Rain-X?

 

[ajlsl600]

Made of rubbish dtf again I replaced mine a Yr ago from mb, they were screwed in a Yr.
Goin back to Africa story. Will put old ones back on for summer, and new ones for winter!
It's f barmy to even consider 160. I don't go to dealer for anything I can get somewhere else. Only exception wud be internal eng pts. It never ceases to amaze me the prices benz try to charge for pts.

 

[Monday]

It's f barmy to even consider 160. I don't go to dealer for anything I can get somewhere else. Only exception wud be internal eng pts. It never ceases to amaze me the prices benz try to charge for pts.

These are Valeo from an eBay supplier @ £160. I haven't dared ask how much MB charge yet!

 

[Monday]

These are Valeo from an eBay supplier @ £160. I haven't dared ask how much MB charge yet!

Actually they are £110 (incl VAT) from my dealer. Maybe the Valeo kit includes the arms? That seems cheap now!

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Cleaning with WD40 prolongs the life of the wiper rubbers did mine sometime last year and it works

 

[ajlsl600]

Ah. Will try that. Still at winter, summer blades

 

[NJS5]

£97.99 inc VAT - Genuine MB https://mercedesgenuineparts.co.uk/...ass-heated-front-wiper-blades-for-r231-models

Heyner (German) blades from about £9 each plus c.£9 delivery - https://www.autodoc.co.uk/heyner/14635255

NJSS

 

[ajlsl600]

Cheers will try the poverty model 9 quid gamblec

 

[NJS5]

ajlsl600​

Please let us know how you get on.

 

[DSK]

I’ve tried Heyner blades brought from amazon. For some reason there was a time I remember I couldn’t get the Bosch aero things I usually ordered for love nor money oddly so tried Heyner. Easy enough to fit etc and iirc they came with all possible fittings. Performance is very decent, quiet, smear free, consistent, material performed better over winter not suffering any degradation that I noticed.

Only thing was over serious xxx mph the Bosch aero things I usually buy perform best, being impacted less by the aerodynamics/pressure etc.

 

[rorywquin]

Pur con by merc. was covered about 6 months ago here with an s class owner. In my experience cleaning rubbers is only short term and they will be quiet for a few days max.

Very nice on a convertible when you have the roof open. They only release water on one wipe direction so that you do not get wet. I found them pretty good all round but guess they’d have been expensive to replace. Were still working well after 6 years (low mileage).

 

[Monday]

£97.99 inc VAT - Genuine MB https://mercedesgenuineparts.co.uk/...ass-heated-front-wiper-blades-for-r231-models

Heyner (German) blades from about £9 each plus c.£9 delivery - https://www.autodoc.co.uk/heyner/14635255

NJSS

Thanks for that; looks like roughly 10% discount on the dealer price.

The Heyner link is puzzling. That is the passenger side, rubber blade only (I think) and looks at a glance to be a standard rubber blade ie not perforated/heated. Lower down it refers to a Heyner 'set' but doesn't say what it is. There is no reference to the driver's side blade which is longer (they are 22" and 26" in old money). I have seen the Heyner 'Magic Vision' blades (complete) elsewhere at about £70/pair.

 

[mioba]

Guys we are talking about wiper blades costing well over 100 notes.
Its just insane.

 

[rorywquin]

Guys we are talking about wiper blades costing well over 100 notes.
Its just insane.

It is the price of owning a (not very common - low production run of parts) luxury car.

As a young man I was looking at a fancy car (that I could just about afford). My dad reminded me that tyres, services etc etc would all be very expensive and suggested I think about a more sensible car. I ended up not getting it.

Those wipers are awesome and do the job much better than normal wipers. If I was buying a car and they were an option, I'd tick the box.

 

[C16RKC]

When you buy new wipers they have a sort of oily coating, and clear the windscreen much better.

So I often find an application of wax along the rubber blade gets them back to how they were. I assume it fills in all the tiny perforations; but of course needs redoing periodically.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

 

[rorywquin]

When you buy new wipers they have a sort of oily coating, and clear the windscreen much better.

So I often find an application of wax along the rubber blade gets them back to how they were. I assume it fills in all the tiny perforations; but of course needs redoing periodically.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

I give the blades a wipe when I wash the car. There is always grunge on them.

 

[Blobcat]

I give the blades a wipe when I wash the car. There is always grunge on them.

Likewise, I lift them off the screen and give them a good clean underneath

 

[ajlsl600]

Same as that.