I bought two nice NAPA wiper blades last month. I noticed that one did not click into the slot well but the other did.

Of course, the first time I fire them up, one promptly falls off. I stick it back on and it again doesn't click in marvelously, but it works.

Last weekend, I decided I'd better check them. Sure enough, the one that never clicked in well is completely off the wiper arm, and the other that did click in well is still on the arm, but the plastic guts are gone and it's hanging by a thread.

NAPA says, "Not our fault."

To anyone who has experience in this: Do you think I need new wiper arms? Or, should I go to something else, like Walmart or similar. I've heard bad stuff about the Bosch wiper blades.

83 300SD 172K

Without seeing the actual arms it's hard to say if they need to be replaced. That being said I have the original arms and had problems with replacement wipers falling off. The replacments that I purchased had an adapter to mount on the MB hook style arms that rarely mounted severely. Two years ago I went to Bosch wipers and have not had a problem as the wipers were made for the hook type arms. I have not noticed a problem with the wipers. This also goes for my Civic which has the hook style wiper arms. I also replace the wipers twice a year.

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Fred Johnson
1977 240D
1983 300SD

We had a thread about this awhile ago. It seems that no one makes a perfect fit for these cars. I buy had to modify mine to get it to fit on and stay put.(I bought mine from NAPA too)
Might do a search here and see what all we decided.

__________________
past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

And I thought my son had picked up the wrong ones!! My blades from NAPA were doing the same thing. I poked out the plastic locking tab that wasn't locking anyway and ran a plastic tie wrap through the hole in the wiper blade and arm and secured them down. Looks ole yankee cheap but works great.

Jerry

JerryBro,

Good idea. I think I'll try that.

I recently went to my local Discount Auto Parts store for a remote starter button to spin the engine and line up the plug on the torque converter to replace the transmission fluid.

Discount Auto sells a Chinese-made gizmo, made by Actron for $13.99, while Autozone sells the exact same thing for $9.00. I am sure our fine oriental friends got all of three bucks for it.

I am annoyed at these clown using the name "discount". Perhaps they are cheaper than NAPA or the local Rolls-Bentley dealer.

What have YOUR experiences been? Who sells tools cheapest?

My guess is that they all discount oil and the cheapo sort of filters for Big Three American cars, and paerahs little three (Nissan, Honda Toyota) as well, but tend to rape the hapless customer on the less common stuff.

A curse on Marketing!

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Semibodacious Transmogrifications a Specialty

1990 300D 2.5 Turbo sedan 171K (Rudolf)
1985 300D Turbo TD Wagon 219K (Remuda)

"Time flies like and arrow, yet fruit flies like a banana"
---Marx (Groucho)

Here's my experience.

AutoZone: They've had some of the best prices on parts, but the quality is sometimes questionable. I had a rear axle seal go bad on my Dodge diesel, so I went to AutoZone and picked up two new ones. One month after installation, one went bad.

NAPA: I bought a headlight switch from them for $27.00. The dealer wanted $40.00. Guess what, the one from NAPA was bad.

Kragen: Burned out bulb sold to me as new.

Final analysis: Careful examination of all parts IMMEDIATELY. Also, IMMEDIATE installation, no waiting for a couple of weeks or for that matter, even a couple of days. That way you can run back to the supplier and slam dunk them.

Tools? Tough to beat Sears (Proto or Snap-On.) Lifetime guarantee and right around the corner for Sears in most places in the U.S.

Sure, some of the stuff from Walmart, Target and others have lifetime guarantees, but that doesn't do you much good when you have a wheel off and you snap the head off of the only 3/8" socket you have in the set you just bought from Target to throw in the trunk. Of course, this didn't happen to me about a month ago when I......I mean a friend, was changing out the brakepads on my......I mean his, girlfriend's car.

83 300SD 172K