I can't find wiper blade inserts!

[MBI]

Hey,

The other day i went around looking for wiperblade inserts to play with. I went and looked around at some old dumped cars at the tip and none of them had the strip of metal in the windshield wiper.

For example in this video you can see the strip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1F9yF2hIPI

Where as when i got them they werent there and it was just hard plastic.

Any other aussies found this problem? I have not seen 1 car that has them. Am i blind? am i mentally challenged and just have domestic blindness or is anyone else having this problem.

Cheers

Zeke

[Mapnapkin]

I just got s set of wiper blades for Fathers Day. She had no idea why I wanted them, just heard me talking about getting some.
However, there were no metal strips in them, just the hardened plastic.

wiper blades for Fathers day.. pretty funny.

Old dumped cars? Next time look for the dip stick. I heard somewhere on here they make good picks too.

[apb]

Another place to find old wiperblades is at an auto supply store like schucks or napa auto parts. Sometimes have some sitting around in the garbage or near the register or others that they have no use for. You may get some strangelooks, but they normally don't really care about someone taking them.

[criminalhate]

Where as when i got them they werent there and it was just hard plastic.

I've run into this quite a few times. Look for the more expensive looking blades (I know I know they all look the same). The really cheap brands have the plastic the ones that cost more have the metal also look on older cars that have been there for a long time. They should have the metal pieces and keep your eye out for the 2 different sizes. One is great for making picks the other is better for tension tools or small picks.


At least it's what I have noticed over here in Michigan

[jhl]

Wiper blade inserts? Australia says... yes. Look harder

The point about cheapo wipers is well-made.

[raimundo]

I haven't seen the plastic inserts yet, but if I do, I will try to make some kind of pick out of them, if they are strong enough to replace the stainless steel strip, they may be good enough to make picks from.

[criminalhate]

from my experience they are about twice as thick as the steel strips they use so unless you have a really open key way I'm guessing they will not fit that well. But I could be wrong.

[Archive555]

Raimundo: I'm not sure if he's talking about the same problem as I've run into, but rather there is no insert at all, it's just one large piece of plastic.

I may be wrong, but that's the problem I've run into.

[Geek142]

Yep, there is no strip at all. Just plastic and rubber. But i have seen some around on some cars at work.

Meh

Zeke

[raimundo]

I saw one of these recently, and it was not a flat strip of plastic, it was a complex shap with flanges and webs, a bit like some extruded aluminum shapes,
The thought I had when I saw it, was that it might be possible to cut something from it that would address both collumns in a bi lock simultaneously. IF you cut it down into a pick, this would only be less than half the actual cross section of the extruded plastic strip.

would it work? Ya gotta experiment to find out.

[StabbyJoe]

I've had this problem, too... I guess we both just need to look harder (I'm from New Zealand)

I guess maybe they're becoming less used with time...

I've heard about dip sticks, too... might take a fair bit of cleaning, though O_O

[rontgens]

I usually find that when you look at the wiper blade if you see silver then that's the steel ones....I just rip off the rubber and then slide out the steel.

[eSTRICTLYFOREIGN]

I haven't seen that yet (thankfully)
The funny thing is is that I was wondering where to find windshield wipers for free. I read a post that you could just go to your Auto Parts store and look in the trash cans.
So my brother and I went out to our auto store to go get a tail light board thing (forgot what it was called) for his car. Sure enough in the exterior bin, there was about 15 wiper blades. So we were going to pick them up on the way out. (What do you say when they see you digging through their trash)
So on the way out the guy is changing the trash so I get those wipers from him telling him that they are for a science experiment.

So I got 15 blades but about 3 were rusting...
But still SCORE!