Posted On: Thursday - March 6th 2025 8:40PM MST
In Topics: Cheap China-made Crap Cars Curmudgeonry Inflation
We love it when a post comes together! [/A-Team guy] This post contains a trifecta of stupidity among a few of our favorite niche flavors of stupid. There's the Curmudgeonry, in which things keep getting worse, the Cheap China-made Crap in which we usually can't find anything but that worse stuff, and Inflation, in which stuff continuously cost more due to it being worse.
One of the front wiper blades in our newer vehicle (the longer one of the two blades - this is newfangled stuff here) is missing an important spot, about a 3" wide swipe, and I swear I got these within the last year. The rubber on these things gets brittle in no time now! Yes, this vehicle stays outside where the sun is harder on rubber parts, but I used to get many years on wiper blades under the same conditions. It seems like it used to be only very rarely, maybe 3 or 5 year intervals, when I had this simple job to do. Now, I'm stocking up for what seems to be a yearly job or an even more frequent one.
Replacing the blades* is easy once you've done it once. However, what about the mechanically declined folks or anyone who generally gets a shop to do these things? For them, I'd think it'd be at least a 0.1 hr add-on to servicing, meaning $10-$20 for the labor.
I don't even have to look to know they are made in China now. As with tires, I wonder whether the cheaper rubber is used just due to cost savings for the manufacturer due to a plan to increase replacement rates, hence sales, and/or both.
Where do those wiper blades fit within the BLS "basket o' goods"? I can see them helping bring down the official inflation rate, as nominal prices may not have gone up. However, same as with bicycles (see 3rd paragraph of Hedonics in the Current Era of Cheap China-made Crap, in which we broached this point), if you have to buy these things 3 to 5 times as often, your real price for "staying in good wiper blades" is that factor higher. What do you call this effect? How about we introduce the Quality Adjusted price? What do you say, BLS green-eyeshade boys? (Or D.I.E. hires?)
My point with the bikes was slightly different. You may not have to buy them 3 to 5 times as often. You probably can repair them. However, the Cheap China-made Crap ones require repairs much more often, raising the Quality Adjusted price due to both parts and labor.
See, goods are getting worse, because they are poorly made in China now, which is yet another from of inflation. This one is not accounted for in these baskets of goods and services. Hell, bikes don't even come with baskets anymore, unless you get one that's fake and ghey.
* I remember when you'd just replace the rubber piece with its steel strip backing. That seems, and I hate to invoke The Greta, but it seems a lot less wasteful or more sustainable, as the Treehuggers might put it. Now you throw out a bunch of material each time.
Comments:
Moderator
Saturday - March 8th 2025 9:28PM MST
PS: "... by exit 15 in what is now Little India)" Let me guess without looking at a map - Doraville?
Thanks for the heads-up on the Michelins, Adam. I will try that, if they have the sizes for our vehicles. It's only the one that has 3 different blade sizes, when you count the back one.
Thanks for the heads-up on the Michelins, Adam. I will try that, if they have the sizes for our vehicles. It's only the one that has 3 different blade sizes, when you count the back one.
Adam Smith
Saturday - March 8th 2025 6:28PM MST
PS: Good evening, gentlemen,
A couple years ago Mrs. Smith and I were at the Costco (by exit 15 in what is now Little India) when we walked by some wiper blades that they had on sale. Seemed like a good price so we impulse bought 3 blades. 2 for my car and 1 for hers. (Her car is so newfangled that it only has one wiper blade. It's actually very nice. I like it.)
Michelin Guardian+ Wiper Blades...
https://us.michelin-lifestyle.com/en/promotions/us-costco-wiper-blades
https://www.costco.com/michelin-guardian-beam-wiper-blades.product.4000179786.html
I am very happy to report that these are the nicest blades I have ever had in my life. They work like a champ on both cars. Very smooth and quiet. A couple years later they're still going strong.
Of course, I do have to clean them once in a while so they don't have a dead spot or streak or whatever. I've never tried wd-40 on a wiper blade. I'd imagine it works well. I usually clean my blades with the soapy bubble water I use to wash the car or sometimes I'll use diluted isopropyl alcohol or just a wet paper towel.
Costco nonmembers can shop online at Costco.com, but there's a 5% surcharge. (I only mention this because Michelin's webpage says they are a Costco exclusive.) I also found them for sale on ebay. Walmart sells Michelin wiper blades, but not the guardian+ model. Maybe some of the other Michelin wipers are better than the guardian+.(?) I really don't know because this is the first set of Michelin wiper blades I've had, but I'm so happy with them that I will replace them with Michelin blades when the time comes.
Happy Saturday! โฎ๏ธ
A couple years ago Mrs. Smith and I were at the Costco (by exit 15 in what is now Little India) when we walked by some wiper blades that they had on sale. Seemed like a good price so we impulse bought 3 blades. 2 for my car and 1 for hers. (Her car is so newfangled that it only has one wiper blade. It's actually very nice. I like it.)
Michelin Guardian+ Wiper Blades...
https://us.michelin-lifestyle.com/en/promotions/us-costco-wiper-blades
https://www.costco.com/michelin-guardian-beam-wiper-blades.product.4000179786.html
I am very happy to report that these are the nicest blades I have ever had in my life. They work like a champ on both cars. Very smooth and quiet. A couple years later they're still going strong.
Of course, I do have to clean them once in a while so they don't have a dead spot or streak or whatever. I've never tried wd-40 on a wiper blade. I'd imagine it works well. I usually clean my blades with the soapy bubble water I use to wash the car or sometimes I'll use diluted isopropyl alcohol or just a wet paper towel.
Costco nonmembers can shop online at Costco.com, but there's a 5% surcharge. (I only mention this because Michelin's webpage says they are a Costco exclusive.) I also found them for sale on ebay. Walmart sells Michelin wiper blades, but not the guardian+ model. Maybe some of the other Michelin wipers are better than the guardian+.(?) I really don't know because this is the first set of Michelin wiper blades I've had, but I'm so happy with them that I will replace them with Michelin blades when the time comes.
Happy Saturday! โฎ๏ธ
Moderator
Friday - March 7th 2025 6:34AM MST
PS: I take it you mean before they get all brittle and cracked, Alarmist. It's not easy to keep up with all the stuff that falls apart (before its time?), but I can try that on the next pair. Just rub a thin coat of it in?
I always figured the deal with tires is you keep them moving and getting hot so the rubber can repair itself. What I and my mechanic friend have found is that it doesn't seem to matter nowadays. One vehicle of mine has 6 years on the tires now, only 10,000 miles or so but it doesn't sit for too long, yet I can seem the cracks forming now. The same mechanic friend has a 60's Corvette with tires from the 1970's. They're flat-spotted to hell from its long rest period, but they haven't cracked at all.
I used to get tires only when the tread was gone.
I always figured the deal with tires is you keep them moving and getting hot so the rubber can repair itself. What I and my mechanic friend have found is that it doesn't seem to matter nowadays. One vehicle of mine has 6 years on the tires now, only 10,000 miles or so but it doesn't sit for too long, yet I can seem the cracks forming now. The same mechanic friend has a 60's Corvette with tires from the 1970's. They're flat-spotted to hell from its long rest period, but they haven't cracked at all.
I used to get tires only when the tread was gone.
The Alarmist
Friday - March 7th 2025 2:51AM MST
PS
Try cleaning the rubber with WD-40.
๐๏ธ
Try cleaning the rubber with WD-40.
๐๏ธ
๐ท๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐?
No. Unfortunately it is much worse than that...
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.2134233,-84.1165108,691m/data=!3m1!1e3
Costco is only 45 minutes away.
(Doraville is more than an hour.)
It's very crowded and like 85% โขIndian in there. Last time we went it was the Saturday before Christmas, so I assumed the busyness had to do with the holiday rush. But today, it was almost as busy. Chaotic even.
Next time we go it will be a Tuesday afternoon or something. โฎ๏ธ