When did part stores stop selling wiper blade refills?

I went looking for wiper blade refills for my 2003 Ranger and my wife's 2005 Chevy Cobalt.

All I could find is the arm with the blade. (no not the complete hood to windshield apparatus).

When I ask the parts guys behind the counter, they shrugged.

What happened people can't change refills?

 

Anco Wiper & Washer : Wiper Blade Refill Auto Parts Have a look here.

 

Sometime before 05 i think. Not sure why they stopped selling just the blades. When i worked at the chevy dealership around 01-04, thats all they carried, just the blades. I remember you could get them at parts stores too.

Then they just stopped....they only sell the whole arm with the blade attached anymore, which is annoying. Usually those arms only need to be changed maybe once or twice throughout the lift of the vehicle. Kind of a big waste, especially since wipers are like $20 for a pair now, at least.

 

Yeah, after last week's rain, I've got some nice new plastic blades on my slick because they wouldn't refill the nice stainless blades I used to have.
Those plastic blades just look out of place on a 49 year old truck.

 

I only use Bosch now, I don't mind paying 25.00 for two new arms and blades.

 

No doubt about it.

FWIW: My wifes Chevy the drivers wiper has wind deflector/silencer. The damnable thing will "sing" without the deflector in place.

 

heres why, most people dont know how to change the blade, let alone the rubber sweep on the blade. its such a stupid simple thing yet so difficult.... aside from that the refill depending on size is usually only a dollar or 2 less than a whole blade, making that fight to remove the blade, remove the sweep, fight to install the sweep then reinstall the blade 30 second process vs 5 minute+ process. so the refills dont sell and thus they are discontinued.

 

Yeah, Gramps, I agree. And would add, the wide vs. narrow refill issue. People would buy the wrong set of refills, then try to return the mangled box for a refund or exchange. Nobody buys the open container with tape on the end, ever.

I've never had to pull out a pair of pliers to change the whole arm, but done so while removing the blade. Sometimes they were a bugger to get off, and those little metal clips are sharp. Easy to slice a finger on them while squeezing them together.

I used to wonder that too, Red2003XLT, but I've come to terms with buying the whole thing.

 

I went to get refills for my F250, it still has the original Trico stainless wipers. A couple stores carry the Trico refills, but only the 6mm ones, the 1/4" ones have been completely discontinued. I had to pinch the clips on the holder together a little bit to hold it properly, but it works.

 

Toyota dealer still has refills for about $4. The '99 still has the original blade/holder assembly. Kragen had a complete line of Trico, but I havent checked since O'reilly took over and changed a lot of vendors.

Jim

 

Reason I was told when I was trying to get refills was because most cars now have two different sizes wiper blades between driverside and passengerside and people didnt want to buy two sets of wiper refills so they just buy the wiper arms one at a time.

Personally if that is the case people have to be very stupid not to realize that they are still getting two wiper changes out of those two refills for the same price. Just use one blade out of each refill and then next time use the other two.

I think its just that people are too lazy and its easier to sell the more expensive wiper blades than just the refill.

Refill $8 for a pair of blades
Blades $9 - $15 for a single blade.

I will go with the refill every time.