new style wiper blades cheaper

Wig

With the old style wiper blades with arm made of metal....You can/could buy in shop like Wilkos for a couple of quid. I use these to fit for an MOT so they can't fail me for having a 1mm tear on my wipers that I use everyday perfectly well. I then swap them back after the MOT and carry on using my wipers with the 1mm tear until they are actually finished.

Ok so that's the background.

I'd like to do the same with the new style flat blade wipers...

I need a 16" and 24" Bosch part AP24U & AP16U
And my rear is A251H (£6.40 inc post on ebay)

Anyone know if the rears wipers are becoming testable in MOT in the new changes?

Any sources for very cheap ones... for MOT tests Do Wilkos sell em?
Any sources for cheap but good to actually use.

Thanks

motorguy

I've never heard of the rears being testable but surely for the sake of £6.40 if its worn / broken it would be as well to replace it?

I personally think doing what your're doing is a false economy. You risk having poor visibility in heavy rain with worn / torn blades and you risk damage to the glass itself if metal should make contact unexpectedly with the glass.

Joe_Horner

If you use a sensible test station then the days of failing for a 1mm tear are long gone. At least since computerisation & the availability of the test manual online (so well over a decade now), the criteria has been:

"A wiper blade insecure, missing, or in such a condition that it does not clear the windscreen effectively to give the driver an adequate view of the road (through the windscreen) to the left and right sides of the vehicle, as well as to the front."

A genuine 1mm tear comes nowhere near that decription. I've put cars in with a good 10-20mm cut off the blade as a temporary measure (stops the annoying flapping and helps stop them tearing further) without any problem.

Under the new rules you can get a "minor fail" for ANY damage but only a fail fail for "missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen". Again, a 1mm tear isn't going to meet that requirement.

If you've had problems with this sort of item with your current tester then you need to change your tester not the wiper blades!


eta: And, no, rear wipers aren't testable still.

AdrianC

By the time a wiper blade has started to tear, it is way, WAY past its best, and will not be working at all effectively. Just change the damn things. They really should be changed annually.


Unfortunately, rear wipers aren't yet testable.

What else do you penny-pinch on? Do you swap to a legal set of tyres for the test because your barely-bald ones are still just fine? Do you swap blown bulbs back in, because you don't use your fog or main beam or sidelights?


A "minor fail" in the revamped test is just a rebranding of an advisory, and you still get a new MOT.

Wig

Ok,

I did not know they had stopped failing for stupid little tears. I've been doing this for years, after getting burned several years ago by stupid testers. Seems common sense has finally been applied to stop this abuse. So I'll leave them on the car for the test, there is only one front one that has a 1mm maybe 2mm tear.

The £6.40 was the for the rear and my rear is not worn or torn , I just mentioned it, in case anyone knew of a cheaper price.

A tiny tear on a wiper blade is no indication that it's functionality is affected in any way, as I said my blades clear the screen 100% effectively.

Changing wipers annually is overkill.

Is there a limit on how many "minor fails" you can have? So like 5 minor fails = fail fail?

Joe_Horner

No limit on minors - they're basically advisories about testable items by another name.

Advisories will still exist, but mostly for stuff that's not testable (like spare wheels or missing n/s or inside mirror if the others are ok) or where benefit of the doubt has been given (like high level brake lights not working at all - have to assume it's not connected rather than faulty)