Date:         Mon, 31 Jan 2000 16:48:06 -0800
Reply-To:     BRENT CHRISTENSEN <bchristensen@INFOGENESIS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         BRENT CHRISTENSEN <bchristensen@INFOGENESIS.COM>
Subject:      Wiper blade trivia
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Well, winter finally arrived here in California.  It rained most of the
weekend.  Darn.  That of course meant the annual pilgrimage to the FLAPS for
new wiper blades.  What a PITA!  After looking in the Bosch parts spec book
for Vanagons, I got the MicroEdge refills for what was specified - 18" for
the fronts and 16" for the rear.

Then I went out to replace the inserts in my aging MicroEdge Excel wipers
and discovered that they were not refillable!  So you pay $10 instead of $6
for the "upgraded" Excel wipers, and then can't refill them!  (I wondered
why they had no "Excel" refills).

So, back into the FLAPS (luckily I tried swapping them in the parking lot,
in true FLAPS fashion) for replacement blades (this time regular MicroEdge).
Tried them again and ugh - too short!  Either the Bosch book is wrong, or
the PO installed 19" blades previously, and I never noticed it before.
Since I had already opened (and then dropped in a puddle) the package, I
went ahead and installed them. Then, of course, the rear was 1" short as
well!

Is the spec for the front 19" and the rear 17", or was the PO just "pushing
the envelope" with this dangerous upgrade to 1" longer blades?   :-)

Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy
Santa Barbara, CA