The other day, having learned that I probably should replace the front wipers on the Highlander, I went to one of the local auto parts stores that starts with the letter A. Ok, there are 2 of those. So for the sake of clarity, this was the one where the second word also starts with A. That’s as opposed to the one where the second word starts with Z. I have no preference, both are good for things like wipers and oil, so it’s whatever’s closer at the moment.
Locating the proper size wiper for the 2006 Highlander — a task made much less convenient once the store where both words in the name start with A decided to eliminate the big books where you can look this stuff up — I discovered that a set of windshield wipers would now cost me approximately $40.
Now mind you, this is not intended as a slam on “rain-x”-branded wipers. As I looked at what was offered on the entire aisle devoted to windshield wipers, I noticed that the rain-x ones were in fact moderately priced. For example, I could easily spend 50% more on various Bosch options. Plus, there were other more costly rain-x wipers with presumably even more “advanced” technology than the “Vision Beam Blade Technology” than that which I had in my hand. By the way, we are now to understand that a strip of rubber is a “technology”.
The former Trico factory in Buffalo, NY as I stumbled across it in the midst of renovations two years ago. Geeze, I hope they kept this archway.
In addition to rain-x and Bosch, there were of course options available from Trico. For all I know, all of these wipers are made by Trico. Alternatively, perhaps Trico is made by whoever makes all of the other brands. Maybe like turtles, it’s Trico all the way down. When it comes right down to it, just how many manufacturers of windshield wipers do we really need?
I expect that they’d keep this sign. Although I doubt most of the future residents would know, or ever question (“Curiosity”? Uhhhhhhhhh.) what “Trico” means as they revel in “a suite of exclusive, lifestyle-oriented amenities”. Whatever that means.
Perhaps Trico has had to raise prices now that its factory in Buffalo has been turned into condos. Regardless, the Trico offerings were expensive too.
That said, I bypassed the store brand (maybe 10% less expensive than the rain-x ones I wound up with).
Seriously though, $40 for windshield wipers? For a Toyota? I last bought these a little over two years ago at this same store, and I paid about half of the current going rate. And yes, I checked the price today when I was in the other store. The one where the second word in the name starts with Z. Same price. It just seems that the price of windshield wipers has gone through the roof.
Which got me to thinking, and that got me to here…What auto part or supply has in your opinion/observation escalated tremendously in price over the past several years?
That’s the question of the day.
The last few wiper blades I’ve put on our van have been RainX, so when I was in a big gas station convenience store (it was too big to call it a mini-mart) recently that had a lot of wipers, I thought about getting some new blades. But they were so expensive I deferred, assuming it was just this place. Maybe not. I do feel like oil is getting more expensive, but oil filters, at least for our three cars, are not. Toyota, Motorcraft, and Mann filters for the Toyota (duh), Ford and VW are still under $10 which seems reasonable compared to 2 gallons of gas. So I guess my answer to your question is gasoline. Maybe not adjusted for CPI but sticker shock at the pump feels real.
Interesting. You live in California, don’t you? Here in Tennessee ,regular is going for $2.86 right now. No complaints about that. I believe there are a lot of issues making gas in some states much more expensive, such as boutique fuel blends and state taxes.
I agree re. oil filters and almost brought this up in the original post. Their price has held pretty constant as far as I my experience goes. Perhaps because you really hardly ever buy a filter without buying oil…and oil prices have definitely gone up…the parts stores can afford to keep the price of filters low. I virtually never buy filters outside of some kind of package price or kit along with the oil nowadays.
Rain-X wipers bought last week at another retailer also starting with A (hint – online). $24.35. I suppose if you need items like wipers immediately, you will go to an auto parts store. Otherwise you get them on Amazon.
Actually, when I check Amazon, I find that an exact wiper like the one I priced at the A-named autoparts store costs nearly the same. Now, what Amazon offers is a tremendous range of brands that I’ve never heard of before, many of which are quite inexpensive.
But since several of these other-branded wipers call out the fact that they are “water repellent” in their initial description, I do tend to wonder about quality. I mean, “water repellent” is a good thing for a windshield wiper, but it does make me question if the manufacturer actually has a firm handle on what the windshield wiper is/does.
Tires, oil, oil filters, and pretty much anything else that cars need are having their prices pushed up and supply chains lengthened in every way conceivable.
When it comes to wiper blades, there are sometimes ways to keep prices reasonable. My family has Honda products, and the best way to replace the wipers is to get the inserts from Honda. Even a gouging dealer won’t be able to charge more than $10 an insert, and there are online sources for less than $6. The only catch is that you need the original blades for the inserts to fit them, and many shops will dispose of the refillable blades if given the opportunity.
Honda dealer is my go to for many replacement parts and supplies. Genuine made in Japan inserts for the Fit are sub $10 and last twice as long as Chinese made name brand wipers that I have bought for the Chevy for a lot more money at the three chains around here, the two that start with A and the one that starts with O. Free installation is one reason I think the prices are high there. Chevy no longer carries them and told me that they go to the O chain themselves.
Brake pads, Coolant and transmission fluids are actually cheaper or the same price at my Honda dealer.
Same scenario applies with Toyota wipers. The rubber refills, which are really the only wear item, are available at the dealer for under $10 each, and they look, fit, and work like OEM quality should. So new Toyota owners, DON’T throw away your factory-installed blades! They are infinitely re-usable!
Good point about the inserts. We get so used to the convenience of simply replacing the whole thing that it’s easy to forget that most of the OEM ones are designed to take inserts.
The catch, as you mention is to keep the OEM blades. I recall a number of years ago being held hostage at a state inspection station which insisted that I replace my wipers in order to get a sticker (which frankly was pure BS, but so it used to be – and sometimes still is – with the state inspection places). They of course didn’t have inserts, and customarily ripped off my OEM blades, threw them in the trash, and charged me for new wipers. 🙁
Yes! I bought wipers for our minivan a few weeks ago, and encountered the same thing. I went to one of the local auto parts stores that starts with the letter A – and saw that regular mid-range wipers cost $40. I figured they were ripping people off, so I went to the other auto parts store. Same thing.
So I sucked it up and bought them, because I really needed new wipers and was going on a trip soon. Otherwise I would have looked at Walmart next time I was there; I wonder if wipers are any cheaper at Walmart?
Of course your QOTD would be easier to answer if it was “What Auto-Related Parts Have NOT Become Crazy Expensive?” Everything has. I now know why my parents told me that in the late 1970s “everyone was miserable.” Well, adults at least… we kids didn’t care.
Tires are the other auto-related thing that hit me hard this year. Again, like wipers, it’s not a great idea to put that purchase off, but mine were a lot more than the similar tires I bought for our other car two years ago. With big expenses like tires, inflation hits pretty hard.
I hear you Eric on tires. I just bought 4 yesterday at an online retailer… since we’re being cryptic about these establishments today, let’s just call it Tango-Romeo.
The same tires for my Civic, a set of Continental Extreme Contact DWS 06 Plus (talk about long names!) 215/50ZR-17 tires were $167.99 each, when back in November of 2021 when I bought these the last time they were $126.54 each, a 32.76% increase. The rebate for 4 tires also went up, from $70 back then to $110 on yesterday’s purchase. That increase is 57.1428571%, which softens the blow a little bit. But even the installer’s mounting and balancing price has gone up similarly.
It scares me to think what the CX-5’s tires will be years from now when I need them… For now, we’re ok, as the vehicle came with new ones when I purchased it, and we don’t drive it that much.
I used to be a strong proponent of the T-R place, but in more recent years I’ve found that the difference in price between what I could find there and what my local (family-owned, been in business since the 1920s) tire store charges is minimal. And maybe I’m just too lazy in my advancing years, but buying tires one place and then arranging for them to be mounted and balanced somewhere else is just a hassle.
I’ve even had my local folks price-match T-R on occasion…although usually that’s not necessary as the prices are pretty much the same when all costs are considered.
That said, yeah, tires have gotten expensive like everything else. Between winter tires and 3-season tires and with 3 cars actively on the road, I’m buying a set of 4 of something/for something every year and it’s usually about $500 – $600 each time.
Who the hell is T-R?? Please don’t be cryptic; this is not a tv game show.
Come on down, Paul (P)! There are three vowels and the last letter is a K, they are online and their biggest competitor is probably DT. One guess and then someone else spins the wheel while you go for a drive in your SxB and maybe get gas at C, or do you prefer S, before picking up lumber at HD, or maybe you prefer J’s, your local choice. BTW, I’m looking forward to the next post on CC. I know, WTF, right?
LOL
-JK
I hadn’t really thought of extending the acronym thing to Tire Rack, but I sort of just went with the flow here in the comments 🙂
As for being cryptic (although clearly everyone seems to get it) with the ___Auto___ twins, I just didn’t want any robots out there to give any credit to direct mentions of those places since I personally consider both necessary evils more than desirable businesses.
Now, as far as a CC tv game show. Hummmmmmm. Something to think about perhaps?
I agree that the TR price difference is minimal now (especially since we now pay sales tax on online purchases), but I like being able to peruse tire options online, and do my own research, at my leisure. I find buying tires at tire shops stressful – buying online less so. So I’ve continued ordering from there even though the price advantage is largely gone.
This year when I bought tires, I opted for TR mobile installation (TRMI) – a little bit costlier than the local shop, but it avoided the hassle of dealing with a separate tire shop, and they just installed the tire in my office’s parking lot. Plus, it seemed that whenever I’d have tires installed at a local tire shop, they’d inevitably try to sell me on an alignment I didn’t need and tell me that I also need a new timing belt or something. I was skeptical of the mobile installation at first, but I read a good deal of positive reviews of the process, the guy who installed my tires was knowledgeable and professional.
That’s why I love my local tire shop. They don’t do alignments or actually anything other than selling and mounting tires (ok, they also sell wheels if you really want, but they’ll generally try to talk you out of it…and if you have a bent wheel and want it straightened, they don’t do that either. But that’s ok, I have a wheel straightening shop down the road in the other direction. Something that’s pretty much mandatory here in the land of potholes.).
I guess they’ve been doing this for 96 years in the same location, so they’ve kind of found their groove.
Great QOTD, Jeff! And rather poignant (CC-Effect™-wise), as I dealt with this just this past weekend.
I went for the Bosch ICON(s) having had awesome success with these on the Civic, whose driver’s side wipers are 26” long! I used to use the Rain-X brand “Latitudes”, but I found they don’t last as long. I got 2 years out of the Bosch wipers on my DD, the Civic, whose wipers have always been less than stellar until I tried these.
I already had a new set for the Civic waiting in the basement that I bought about a year and a half ago that cost about $25 for the 26” and like $22 for the 18” passenger side Bosch ICON wiper. This was before the $10 AAP rebate gift card for that purchase….
FFWD to this past weekend, I needed these for my Mustang along with some other items as I was spending my Sunday doing maintenance on 2 of my 3 vehicles, plus the lawn mower.
My Mustang’s wipers are 22” and 20”, driver’s-side/passenger-side, respectively. The price? $29.99 each for the same brand. I did get 20% off with a promotion code for buying them from my iPhone using the AAP app, but I needed to spend $100+ (on selected items of course) to get this deal. Naturally, oil and such are not included in the promotion….
While you can save money there, the hoops through which you must jump are astounding.
The only cheap part on my $140 purchase? The lawn mower’s spark plug was only $2.79 after this 20% discount.
The STUPID EXPENSIVE part? The Purolator BOSS Oil Filter was $14.99!!! WTF?!?! Weren’t oil filters like $3 just a few years ago?
Bosch Icons are my go-to wiper too, despite the high cost. They clean excepitonally well, don’t squeak, fit perfectly without any extra adapters, and last a long time. One of the “A” auto parts chains, don’t remember which one, sells an even more expensive Bosch Envision wiper which I tried once, and while they cleaned well, also squeaked. Back to Icons for my latest set (only two aftermarket manufacturers seem to make the rear wiper that fits my car, and I’ve found VW’s OEM wiper works better than either of them, which seemed to put more pressure on the center than the ends (or vice versa).
Costco still had Michelin wipers for $9.99 as of last week, usually they go down to 6.99 when they go on sale.
Oil seems cheapest at WalMart when buying in 5qt form, they sell a decent amount of actual manufacturer branded filters too (Motorcraft, Toyota, Mopar in addition to Fram and the generics.
Auto parts stores seem to have become “specialist convenience stores”, where you pay for convenience of the more commodity items with little return benefit.
I wouldn’t be too upset if all the automotive price increases industry-wide though would just be loaded onto the fuzzy dice. I wonder what Little Trees go for nowadays?
I had a Costco Michelin blade come off the Transit a few years ago. It seemed flaky when I installed it. I’ve put on a lot of blades in the last 50 years and this is the first problem I’ve had. Coincidence? Maybe, but I haven’t bought them since. RainX or Goodyear (all licensed brands, I’m sure) have worked well for me.
I know Michelin doesn’t make Michelin wiper blades; I don’t know how good they are having never bought them. Last year I bought some LED flares to replace traditional pyrotechnic flares, and while most of them were from Chinese brands I’ve never heard of (and many of seemingly identical design), there was also a Michelin LED flare set on the market, which were clearly of their own design, though again not actually made by Michelin. And in comments from people who bought them, there were numerous complaints (several with photos) that they shipped with leaking off-brand batteries and were a mess. I wonder why Michelin isn’t more careful about who they license their name to; it’s a great way to ruin a good reputation.
That’s an interesting take, and after buying my wipers last month, I was wondering about that. Similar to drug stores like CVS… a few years ago their prices were only slightly higher than big box stores, but now they’re way higher, and (like Rick mentions above w/ auto parts stores) you need to jump through hoops just to get a reasonable price.
I buy stuff like wipers at auto parts stores because I usually install them on the weekends, and there’s a few stores close to my house. So I’ve been suckered in by the convenience. I’m curious now to price this stuff at big boxes and see if it’s much cheaper.
Well, for the record, I just went online with Walmart and discovered that the two wipers I needed for the Toyota (a 19″ and a 22″) would total $34.23 in the rain-x vision beam technology version I mention in the post. That’s supposedly a “pick up today” price and includes some kind of discount…so perhaps that’s less expensive than if I simply wandered into Walmart (although armed with the online price, I’d make sure that’s what I got them for).
Good points well taken though about the “convenience store” nature of national-chain auto parts stores.
Costco is where I buy most of my wiper blades. Unfortunately they don’t have the smaller sizes used on the rear of our SUVs. Those I buy at Walmart along with OE oil filters and oil.
Yessir, I bought wiper blades for my Focus (it uses an uncommon mounting so I just get the Ford ones) and I think they were $38 each.
Just bought 4 tires for the Mustang, $1,503
I think you guys in the USA are still doing better than the rest of us.
Gas as high as $1.60 Canadian per litre at the pumps lately is another example.
I’m guessing those are in Canadian dollars so, although still pretty stiff, it’s not quite as bad as it would first seem from a US perspective.
At today’s exchange rate, $1.60 CDN = about $1.16 in USD. So about $4.43 per US gallon in USD.
The cheapest in my California area is $4.85/gallon at Costco. $4.99 at independent stations (credit price). Saw $6+ in smaller towns recently on a trip up the Coast. Not posted to complain, but filling up for over $100, sometimes more than once a day when traveling, puts $40-60 wiper blade replacements every two-three years into the small potatoes category for me. Though I confess I’ve recently switched to Kirkland motor oil, the synthetic kind.
OK, so this is kind of off topic and maybe demands its own post someday so that someone finds the question and has a good response, but….
Last weekend I was in driving in Canada (south of Toronto) with my son, and he noticed that all of the Canadian gas stations priced their gas by the liter (that makes sense), but the liters were priced in CENTS per liter, not (Canadian) dollars per liter? Why? I can’t answer that question.
I’d logically expect something like $1.60/liter, not 160 cents/liter.
Is this just a cruel Canadian plot to prove that our Northern Neighbors understand math better than we do down South?
I don’t know your year but Motorcraft Standard for a 2014 is $13 and $15 each on the Rock. For my 2004 all under $10 each.
I wonder if this thread can hit 200 responses?
AAP also tried to sell me an “extended warranty”—12 months!—on wiper blades. I asked the guy if they didn’t expect the blades to last 12 months and he hinted they might not. That was two years ago and they are lasting quite well so far.
Paid $2.799 for regular unleaded yesterday in Georgetown, Texas. Tolerable. I last bought wiper blades at Wal-Mart and paid less than $10 each. That sounds good in light of the other comments here, but still strikes me as too much. I also get my oil and filters at Wal-Mart and have found that they are much less expensive than either of the “A” stores.
Good Deal, I gassed up at Sams in Austin yesterday at $2.85 regular…my last purchase at the same station was $3.17 maybe a month ago (I don’t use much gas).
Rubber parts don’t seem to last long in Texas. I got my wipers on ebay, less than $10 except for the rear wiper which is 13″ and tends to be pricey. I used to replace just the inserts but frankly I don’t see them for sale (maybe that’s on purpose or I’m too lazy to look for them). Plastic too; the shift mechanism failed on my car due to cracked bushings cost about $1000 to replace. On my last car I couldn’t find any weatherstripping that was even as good as mine (which wasn’t good) and resorted to buying the piece from a northern salvage yard….it looked like a big hockey stick as it went from the A pillar back to the C pillar but at least it stopped the water leaks. I think the first time I noticed expensive wiper blades was when my Dad replaced them on his 2006 Impala in 2008; I was used to maybe $15 but they were twice that. Maybe parts aren’t so universal so you pay for inventory cost that used to be smaller, since they sold more of a particular application so turn around was frequent.
Some parts on my car seem expensive, but I think partly that’s due to the soaring prices for vehicles, it’s usually still cheaper to fix than to buy something else if you can and and you don’t have something major wrong. Fluids in particular, if they’re specialized which most of mine are, but don’t want to risk problem using wrong fluid. Also noticed spark plugs go for $10 each pretty routinely, when did they go from $2-$3 each (maybe I don’t replace them very frequently).
Windshield wiper maintenance wasn’t nearly as expensive when you could just replace the insert instead of the whole blade.
It’s still possible to get ‘cut to length’ rubber blade inserts, but the process to replace them is more difficult and involved than it used to be, owing to multiple, different blade types for different vehicles (which is very likely by design).
My Dad still does it this way, but I’d like to know where he buys just the blade inserts… You never see those in the auto parts stores… you need to buy the whole assembly.
I use the house brand wipers from the store with a Z for the second part of the name. I have found they work and last quite well.
I may try those next time!
Rock auto has wipers cheap still, some time’s less than 2 bucks. Of course, you pay for shipping so I usually just tag them on when I order something else. Local stores seem to make alot of their money on things like oil and wipers that you can get cheaper elsewhere but are often bought in person. On hard parts I have found the local stores are at least trying to be competitive with online retailers, A few times oddly enough I have found NAPA to have the lowest cost on some parts.
Any of the chain auto parts stores are rip offs for things like oil, wiper blades, car wash suds, detailing products, etc. Wiper blades I go to the Lexus dealer, I think its $20 for the rubber inserts. I need to look on amazon again, but heck I think Ive changed them twice and Ive had this car for 3 years now.
What was really painful was the tire bill last year. $1000 for a set of new Michelans out the door at discount tire. And its just a 2014 ES350 with the base 17″ wheels, no fancy low profiles or 20’s. But you get what you pay for, car was a BEAST in that 7-8″ of snow we got here in January and sat on the roads for 4 days because we have 3 snow plows for all of Nashvillr.
To answer your question I have to say not really. When one has 11 cars you get really good as to where to buy parts for those cars. For oil one can’t beat Walmart and they deliver in less than 24 hours to me. I buy lots of oil. Filters, wipers, shocks, struts, hoses, and on I buy from the Rock. The Trico Ultra Beam for you was $8.98. For five of my cars I need to use just the insert since the arms are the originals in chrome or stainless. The others use regular replacements since this is California which means Rain-X is overkill.
Tires can be either Costco or Tire Rack. I have a small tire shop 1 1/2 miles away that is more than happy to balance and mount any tires I bring by for me for a reasonable fee. Fortunately my tires are all 14″ and 15″ while my wife’s Mazda 3 is 16″. One reason I picked her particular Mazda 3 was to stay away from any tire larger than that. I will never buy a car with larger tires because each inch causes an increase in price by several factors.
Lastly, I have a particular seller on eBay where I can get my NORS parts from. That means main bearing, rod bearings, cam bearings, tie rods, and so forth from brands like TRW, Sealed Power, and Perfect Circle that were definitely made in the US and not China. No off shore bearings go into my engines. May cost a tad more than brand new but my peace of mind counts for something also.
Why be cryptic about the names of these stores? There’s zero reason to do so; articles like this are a benefit to consumers, so let’s not be vague or coy about their names.
I think we were just having a little fun when Jeff started this post being cryptic about Advance Auto Parts and AutoZone. It just went off the rails from there.
The tire place I mention above: TireRack.com
There’s also one I’ve used called TireBuyer.com that is usually competitive with the other one.
I will say that in the past, when I have mentioned company names in my posts, Akismet yanks my post and throws it in the trash thinking I’m some sort of spambot or something, so other than having a little fun, there may be something to our being cryptic here. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this when commenting, but it does happen.
I only buy wipers from Rock Auto where my memory says I pay $6-8 per blade. More than the $3-5 I remembered paying not that long ago but so much better than anywhere else. I started getting some any time I ordered anything assuming the prices would shoot up there one day.
For me, like others have said, tires are the onse that gives me the biggest shock. I’ve been putting off getting new cold weather tires for about 4 years because of it. The ones have are fine except for being 14 years old now. Excellent tread, no dry rot, and still grip so I haven’t had the real motivation. This year for sure though.
My DD uses 3 blades and the rear wiper is somewhat of a specialty unit, not available on store shelves. Even the dealer doesn’t stock it, and if they did, they want $28.
Amazon to the rescue, where I bought a set of 3 no-name wipers for $23. Here in the desert, wiper blades don’t fail from usage, they fail from heat and sun exposure. Really doesn’t matter what brand I buy.
Air filter prices are also a lot higher than I expect. I would think you could walk into Trak Auto, Western Auto, or Auto Palace and find an air filter for $6 or 8. Nope, $18 seems to be the floor for a brand you’ve ever heard of. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them in the mid $20s when I have looked in the recent past.
Trak Auto!! I haven’t thought about them for years, but recall that those were the first of these auto parts stores that I visited when I was a young driver and beginning to be tasked with buying the service parts (wipers, oil and such) for the family cars…and eventually my car…I was using. I never really knew if Trak Auto was national, or was it a DC-area thing. They didn’t have them in GA or MA, the two places I landed after the DMV (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia) area.
IIRC, Trak Auto was part of the same company that ran Dart Drug and Crown Books.
Oh, and to your point about air filters, yes, I see those with high prices in the places where I buy wipers and oil and filters. Thing is, there’s always a deal where you get a better price if you buy oil/oil filter/air filter together…so I often wind up with air filters sitting on my garage shelf as I don’t need to change those as often as I change the oil and oil filter. I suppose I should just change the air filter anyway, but somehow it seems wasteful to install a new part (even something like an air filter) when it’s not necessary.
I should probably get over that.
What I’ve found to be particularly expensive are CABIN air filters. The autoparts place wants to charge me $16 for one of those for my Honda Fit. I can buy it on Rock Auto for $2 sometimes (but then they want some crazy amount for shipping).
I used to patronize Trak Auto when I lived in northern Virginia in the 1980s. They went out of business along with Dart Drug and Crown Books at least 25 years ago. There was a big blowup involving the patriarch and his sons, and everything went down the tubes.
Yes, this was a DC/MD/VA chain only, and Dart Drug (which was larger and had a wider variety of merchandise than a CVS or Walgreens) was succeeded by Fantle’s (new company, same owner) which only lasted about two years before closing.
I can confirm we had Trak all the way out in Winchester, Va. That was my shop of choice at the same point in life as you. In fact, I still use the not-that-nice Remline branded 9 drawer toolbox I got there in about 1995. It isn’t great, but it managed to survive the first 14 years of service outside my parents house covered by a somewhat waterproof tarp.
Dart Drug was gone from town before Trak even opened, I think. Though I didn’t go to Dart that often, we were a Nichols Discount Department Store family.
Not related to wipers, but in keeping with our running theme of vintage photos, here’s a picture of my local auto parts store in the late 1970s:
I think that’s my wife’s first truck parked up there on the right! 🙂
I miss my old 1979 CalTrans Dodge D150, very well equipped and a slant six too .
-Nate
Like Mopar4wd, I’ve been using Rock Auto for wiper blades and various other items. The difference in price is profound – when there is a difference. One needs to shop around as Rock Auto isn’t necessarily the lowest price around, as I discovered when I replaced the radiator in the old Dodge pickup a couple months back.
Another nicety is I recently discovered is NAPA running sales on house brand motor oil – it’s half the price of name brand equivalent.
Also be careful about where you source various items – having bought wiper blades from WalMart I was allowed the honor of replacing them again quite soon. That’s where Rock Auto entered the picture.
Thankfully, other than the radiator, I haven’t had a need to buy any parts lately – which, now that I said that, I likely will.
I have been very happy with the Michelin blades from Costco Canada. They stand up well and handle ice and snow well. When I first owned a car in the 60s I used to buy winter blades that had a thin rubber cover over the metal supports. They would only make it through one winter. The current one piece blades are so much better in winter.
In those days both blades were the same length, so as a broke student I would buy only one blade and it went on the driver’s side. The old blade from the driver’s side was moved to the passenger side.
A lot of my vehicles still take a matching set and yeah for the trucks I still do the 1 blade at a time put it on the driver’s side and move the one that was new last year to the passenger side.
I’ve found that most any brand wiper blade lasts about a year, give or take, regardless of brand/ price. I order from Rock Auto before they are needed. As at least one commented “what hasn’t gone up in price?” to which I wholeheartedly agree.
With SO many reasons prices have gone up dramatically I’ll limit myself; quality (defective returns) having a store front (and competitor) on every corner, and display items purchased via the 5 finger discount.
Wiper blades have gone up just replaced the fronts on my car $80, it took ages to find them. Have to replace in pairs they differ in lengths and two short ones wont clean the rain and light sensors properly.
Yikes. By my calculation, that’s almost $50 in USD. I think you win the prize for most expensive wipers!
Keep some alcohol wipes in your glove compartment. When your wipers are starting to smear, give them a wipe with an alcohol wipe. The wipe will quickly turn black. That’s dead burnt rubber. Keep wiping until the wiper feels smooth and the wipe starts to be cleaner. You may need two or three. You’ll notice a big difference. Those worn out wipers will seem new.
P.S. The wiper manufacturers don’t want you to know this.
I do this but with glass cleaner (Windex) or windshield-washer fluid if it’s not available. Wet a paper towel or napkin and run it up and down the wiping surface of each blade. Repeat with a new wet paper towel until it doesn’t turn black. Then clean the entire windshield (and rear window if it has a blade) again with Windex or wiper fluid. Your old wipers will be almost good as new, if they’re not several years old already.
I wash my cars often, and part of the process is to just wash the wiper by running the carwash rag down the length of the wiper blade to remove the black stuff.
Using this method, I got nearly 2 years out of a set of the aforementioned expensive Bosch ICON wiper blades on my Civic, and I probably could’ve gone longer, but had a new set lying around the basement for a year and a half and thought I’d best be changing them.
Even if I’m not washing the car, but just doing the windshield, I’ll always take the paper towel with some window cleaner and wipe the blade.
Pro-Tip: Get yourself the foaming window cleaner that Safelite AutoGlass uses. That stuff is amazing, and they sell it for only $5 a can at their locations. And no, I don’t work for them, so there’s no incentive for me to hawk their product.
When did transmission fluid become liquid gold?! At A-Z, prices range from $7.99 to $10.00
per QUART!! If it’s for a CVT, then it costs $15.99; even the house brands are no longer .99 a quart!!
When did transmission fluid become liquid gold?! At A-Z, prices range from $7.99 to $10.99
per QUART!! If it’s for a CVT, then it costs $15.99; even the house brands are no longer .99 a quart!!
ATF (and coolant) used to be simple, two universal formulas that benefited from economy of scale. Now, due to delicate high tech automatic transmissions, for gas mileage, viscosity and friction have to be very exact for each design. That raises cost, both for ingredients and licensing.
I’ve definitely noticed the thing with wipers. Years ago I thought $10 a wiper was nuts, now it’s $20. I can’t even find the old Anco winter blades anymore that I used to run year round with no problems, unless I look online. As mentioned earlier, I too will wipe the black residue off my wipers from time to time, using a paper towel dipped windshield wash at the gas station.
Tires have gotten crazy too, but that can be partially explained by how huge they have gotten over the years. Last year I bought a set of 14 inch tires for one of my old cars for about $40 a tire. And some pretty good Coopers for my old Jeep for $70ish each. What is really nuts is the installation costs. Installation cost me almost as much as the tires themselves, and that’s with loose wheels (since I won’t let the shops mess with my cars). Belle Tire wants $30 a tire, Walmart isn’t too far behind. Another thing I notice is despite how much more the tires for modern cars cost, it seems like you’re not getting the tread depth that you got in the past.
Oil has definitely gone up. Even 10 years ago when gas about what it is now, I could get cheap oil for $2 a quart. Didn’t care as the vehicle burned a quart every 400 miles anyway. Now I can opt for something better, many times I find the best deal on Mobil 1 at the farm store. Same with all the other fluids and solvents.
These days I don’t know who to trust anymore when buying parts. So much counterfeit garbage out there. So if it’s something critical, typically I’ll go to EBay and look for NOS parts with photos. If the shipping ain’t gonna kill me, I’ll also check Rockauto.
Oh man, don’t get me started.
Wipers. The part that really p******** me off is I can’t find refills. Got some from Rock for cheap and after 2 weeks they were chattering like crazy. Even the Bosch low end I bought years ago were absolute junk, I mean I took them off in a matter of a few weeks. Apparently the good ones from them are very good, but once burned, twice shy. I did find some beam blades, which I’ve had really poor luck with at the big A last winter that were inexpensive, came with an extra pair of refills and are perhaps the best wipers I’ve ever used. So bargains are out there, but short of trying a dozen or more to find out, who knows.
Batteries. They’ve really gone up and down. I remember splurging on a new Die Hard for my VW Bug after I did a 12 volt conversion, back around ’73. High 50’s in $$$. Come Walmart in the 90’s and I could get a good Johnson Controls housebrand for barely 30. Then around 15 years ago the price for a good battery went up close to $200! Yikes. Not that bad inflation adjusted from the 70s, but a big sudden jump.
Tires. Got a set of Goodyears for the Wife’s BMW touring just before covid. Got lazy and didn’t rotate and now I need a new set of rears. Same local tire shop that was ~$130 each now wanted $312 a couple of weeks ago. From what the service writer said much of it is Goodyear playing politics with distribution, but damn.
ATF. Not so much the base price, but it seems everyone has their own special magic juice that’s hyperexpensive. Again, see BMW, and others. But some fluids claim to fit almost everything and aren’t expensive. Maybe they do and maybe it’ll be a $5K tranny because you used the wrong fluid,
“Do You Feel Lucky”
I haven’t owned a car in what is now over twenty years, so I can’t even tell someone what a bottle of Armor All or tin of Maguiar’s carnauba wax costs these days. What I wanted to say, more about parts and not products, is that once simple things like headlight assemblies can now cost literally over a thousand dollars for some higher end cars, like the ones my company insures. All the new tech is driving up prices, which in turn affects rates, in general. Tech means safety, which I get. Plusses and minuses
And the Trico condo building is so cool. Detroit vibes…
Yup. Should someone destroy one of the headlights on my BMW, and were I foolish enough to try to claim it on insurance, I could wind up having my car totaled by insurance. Crazy.
As far as that’s concerned, I miss the days when I could go down to one of those autoparts stores and just get a big round sealed beam “headlight” for $10 to replace whatever was broken or not working.
I used to date this girl from Buffalo, we lived in NYC bur we always went up for the holidays with her family. The Trico building is now a mixed arts space. Very neat! Excellent that it has a use now. And now its a luxury development – https://kroggrp.com/project/listing/trico-redevelopment/
Good Deal, I gassed up at Sams in Austin yesterday at $2.85 regular…my last purchase at the same station was $3.17 maybe a month ago (I don’t use much gas).
Rubber parts don’t seem to last long in Texas. I got my wipers on ebay, less than $10 except for the rear wiper which is 13″ and tends to be pricey. I used to replace just the inserts but frankly I don’t see them for sale (maybe that’s on purpose or I’m too lazy to look for them). Plastic too; the shift mechanism failed on my car due to cracked bushings cost about $1000 to replace. On my last car I couldn’t find any weatherstripping that was even as good as mine (which wasn’t good) and resorted to buying the piece from a northern salvage yard….it looked like a big hockey stick as it went from the A pillar back to the C pillar but at least it stopped the water leaks. I think the first time I noticed expensive wiper blades was when my Dad replaced them on his 2006 Impala in 2008; I was used to maybe $15 but they were twice that. Maybe parts aren’t so universal so you pay for inventory cost that used to be smaller, since they sold more of a particular application so turn around was frequent.
Some parts on my car seem expensive, but I think partly that’s due to the soaring prices for vehicles, it’s usually still cheaper to fix than to buy something else if you can and and you don’t have something major wrong. Fluids in particular, if they’re specialized which most of mine are, but don’t want to risk problem using wrong fluid. Also noticed spark plugs go for $10 each pretty routinely, when did they go from $2-$3 each (maybe I don’t replace them very frequently).
I’m glad that someone finally mentioned batteries! I remember when they only cost around 50-60 bucks for my big American cars. They used to last 5-7 years on average. They would do that slow gradual fail, where they would crank slower but finally start the motor. That’s when you got careful not to run the lights or play the radio without the engine running. Now my batteries run me around 200 bucks and they might last four years. Now they fail like a flipped switch, completely and without warning.
I’ve got four hobby cars so I keep an eye on them and will connect a trickle charger once a month or so. I’ve also got a new charger with a “recondition” mode that revives flat batteries and that gets used frequently.
Tires are expensive, my brand of choice is Hankook. They make a great truck/SUV tire and I have them on my Mustang and Riviera. I buy them at the Hankook distributor. They don’t speak much English, but they give me a good deal.
Of the cars I have, the one that is easiest on batteries is the 48 year old Volvo. And this is the car that gets driven the least…often sitting for a month even outdoors during the coldest days of winter, and it always starts right up. No trickle charging needed.
My other cars seem to go through expensive batteries on a much shorter cycle. Worst is the Highlander hybrid, which eats a battery about every 2 years. The problem with that vehicle is that the standard lead-acid battery is simply way too small for the vehicle. Supposedly this is because all it needs to do is to fire up the computer and the hybrid batteries take care of everything else. Nevertheless, if one forgets and leaves a light on or makes some other mistake, the standard battery takes a dive.
The Volvo’s battery probably lasts as long as it does because all it does is start the car and there are no electronics (like, virtually none) on the car to create parasitic draws or to run after the car is turned off. More modern cars pretty much always have some intended draw on the battery as there’s always something needing power even when the car is not running.
(I can’t believe that I just wrote a comment praising anything electrical in the Volvo. Well, even if the lights don’t come on, the instruments seem to be lit by candle light, and the fuel pump eats relays regularly, at least the battery works.)
I tend to buy wiper blades at Costco, then let them sit in my garage until I get irritated by the ones on the car.
It’s not really an accessory, but I recently needed a new key for a Honda. Yoiks!! Even one without fob buttons cost $100 from the dealer, and even then they cut it wrong.
I think you are the first to mention Costco. They carry Michelin branded blades, and I believe they are about $10.00 when on sale. Maybe a bit lower than that.
I also tend to stock up, and recently lost track of my stash, and stocked up again. I’ve got the market cornered.
The Michelin blades have been pretty good, but the several plastic adapters included to accommodate various arms are not always optimal. But, dealer prices are way too high to consider a custom fitted blade.
Was quoted yesterday $750 by my Ford dealer for a water pump for our 2013 Mustang 3.7 V6. Seems to be the going rate for that car.
I took it in for an oil change. Ford dealers offer “The Works,” a change and inspection and tire rotation. Looking at the coupons that backed up in my file, the cost was $48.95 in 2022, $58.95 early 2023, and $68.95 in late 2023. Current coupon is $79.95.
My wages have not gone up 63% in the past two years. Due to this, I’ve done a few changes at home for the first time in years with Costco oil purchased when on sale.
Bought a battery for the Mustang two years ago from Costco. It failed last month and they provided a new battery under warranty. I was not expecting it, it was not pro-rated, they charged me only the price difference from when I bought it until now, about $15.00. I think that was $105 to a current price of $120. They gave a me a full warranty on the replacement, but have gone to a pro-rated 36 month warranty. All in all, pretty amazing treatment by Costco.
Your mention of pro-rating reminded me of a recent experience I had with tires.
I have gotten used to the idea that tire warranties are pretty much nonsense. They’ve existed for years, but by the time you get through the whole pro-rating thing you’re usually denied any claim. Or so I’ve found until my experience with Nokian Tyres (maybe the y is important?) and the set of Nokian Ones that I had on the Toyota. I had two wear tremendously faster than the other 2…like 60% worn after 28K miles when the warranty is 80K miles. And yes, I rotated them. So, I asked about the warranty at my local tire store (which sells a lot of Nokians, it’s New England after all) and lo and behold I got 2 new tires, mounted and balanced for a grand total of $80. That would have been about $250 if I’d just gone and gotten 2 new tires.
So, tires are also quite expensive now, but at least the warranty worked out for me on Nokians.
Sticker shock is real.
Last week I needed to replace a wheel bearing. The last time I had one done eight years ago, the job cost $160. $100 for the part and sixty bucks for an hour’s work. I figured it would be a bit more today, like everything else, so maybe $200 or $250. Well, I was quoted $780! I walked out and found another place to do it for $400. Better than $780, but still. In just 8 years, the price more than doubled, and that’s if you’re not completely clueless and are willing to shop around. Otherwise, you can easily spend 4X what it used to cost!
For many years I paid $50 for a synthetic oil change. I cannot find any for under $100 anymore, and that’s with coupons.
Wiper blades are the least of it. I just get them at flea markets and auto swap meets. Easy enough to find for about $10 if you know your size, and get some extras to last a while. I refuse to pay forty bucks for a pair of wipers.
I have a recommendation for tires, classic or odd sizes. I have had a Citroen 2CV for many years, so I have had to buy several sets of tires for it, not due to wear but age. It uses a special skinny size (125SR15), so you have to go to some sort of specialty dealer. The last set I bought was about 6 years ago, and there was a recommendation from my club to try Longstone Tyres in England. I live in small town Ontario Canada, but the tires arrived at my post office within a week (yes, they came by post). The price was great and the tires were fresh (I.e. recently manufactured). So, if you are looking for an unusual size, check out their web site.
The last time I ordered wiper refills from NAPA, they cost as much as the wiper blades; and they were selling them individually instead of as a pair like a year or two ago. That represents about a 4X price increase.
As bad as the Chinese wiper blades are, there’s now wiper blades made in Viet Nam. The Chinese wipers don’t last six months, I bet the Viet Namese wipers won’t go four.
My buddy is an automotive machinist. He can’t take on work any more without checking parts availability. His shop is a total mess–work half-done because he’s gone as far as he can and then the work get set aside until replacement parts show up. Stuff that used to be shelf-stock at his usual suppliers is now days or weeks out of stock. He told me about buying valves for a certain Diesel; his cost went from about $15/each to $45/each over the course of one month. Worse, he has to buy the (now) more-obscure things from specialty suppliers at specialty prices.
This is the part where I go political and blame Virus Manufacturers and Communist Collaborators in this country for “supply chain disruptions”; so I’ll just stop here.
I’ve been buying mostly BOSCH brand wiper blades for over a decade now, cheap and they work well .
I bought a new pair last weekend, $23 each ! wow . I’m in California yet I still buy “Winter” blades when I can find them, the in store catalog didn’t mention Winter but that’s what was in the Rain-X box, we’ll see how good they are and how long before the smog makes them crumble .
-Nate