Dont’ Buy Trico Flex Wiper Blades!

The other day I went to the auto parts store to pick-up some Trico Flex Wiper Blades I had purchased online for my Mom's Chrysler van.  (I usually do this to save time and hassle.)  I assumed spending money on the frameless wipers, like the Trico Flex Wiper Blades, would be a good investment.  However, when I went to install one of the Trico Flex wipers on one side of the van, I noticed that it wouldn't fit.  I thought for a minute I was doing something wrong and starting fuss with the wiper arm and the wiper blade.  This is when I noticed what the problem was.

The Trico Flex has the wiper attachment mechanism on one side of the wiper blade instead of being embedded in the into it the body, like most wipers.   This makes the Trice Flex line of wiper blades not usable for a lot of vehicles like my Mom's van.  Talking with the girl at the auto parts store only confirmed this.  She told me when I returned the wiper blades, “Yeah, I need to exchange a lot of those because they won't fit on customers vehicles.”  I returned the Tricos and got another frameless wiper for the other side.  It was kind of ridiculous and a waste of my time.  Wish I had taken a picture before I returned the blades so people could see what I am talking about.

Some stupid Trico engineer probably thought this was a smart move.  I am fairly sure he/she has never actually every installed wiper blades on a car though or they would have realized this serious design flaw.  Bottom line Don't But Trico Flex wiper blades and save yourself hassle.

I recommend Bosch Icon frameless wipers and have them installed on my Honda Accord.  They are usually expensive, but worth the cost and investment since they last for quite a long time.  The set on my Accord have been installed for a year without a problem.

 

Why Windshield Wipers Should Be Recyclable

Let's start a Recycling Revolution!

The other day I replaced the Windshield Wipers on my Honda Accord and our Toyota Camry.  After I was done I took all the packaging, and put it in the recycling bin.  I usually try to recycle as much as I can, as I feel this is being a responsible and respectful citizen.

Something occurred to me while I was about to throwout the old Windshield Wipers, Why aren't they recyclable?  Think about this for a moment, there have to be millions upon millions of Windshield Wipers that are replaced every year on all the cars and trucks on our roads.  Then there must be millions and millions of old ones being tossed in the garbage.  All those Windshield Wipers and Wiper Blades are crowding our landfills.  I think they are going there unnecessarily.

Wipers are made of plastic and rubber, meaning they should be able to be recycled easily.  I bet it wouldn't be to hard to reconstitute the plastic and rubber in them.  TV's and old electronics are broken everyday and are given new life in form or new metals, glass, plastic etc..  So why not Windshield Wipers and Wiper Blades?

There might even be savings involved if manufacturers didn't have to spend as much money on buying new materials to make Windshield Wipers and Wiper Blades.  They could be collecting old ones, and breaking them down to be recycle and reused for maker new Wipers.  This would save money and precious resources.  (They would also get extra brownie points from environmentalists!)

To start what I think could be a revolution of recycling Windshield Wipers, I put the old ones in the recycling bin.  I don't know if they will be recycled, but it would be cool if they were!

Please share your thoughts on this.  Do you think Windshield Wipers and Wiper Blades should be recyclable too?