New wiper blades for old. Jaguar OE in the bin. Bring on the Bosch!

[J44EAG]

After just 11,104k miles and 18 months on the car, the Jaguar OE wiper blades are off to the local Council land fill site and not before time. They have never been any good. Despite a frequently cleaned screen, Rainex and all sorts of other treatment, the OE blades squeaked from day one. Its driven me nuts! Not only that, they have always failed miserably to clear the screen to my satisfaction and the other day, the near side blade started to shred risking damage to my recently fitted new windscreen..... Most disappointing. Should blades last longer than this? You tell me.

So now I have a set of those funny looking Bosch Aero Twin blade units on the car. A friend has a set on his old Astra and I was quite impressed when I drove the old bucket the other day. Certainly vastly better than the blades I`ve just condemned. Early trials with the new blades seem pretty good. They clear the screen well and are flexible enough to conform to the screen profile...something the Jag OE blades have never been able to achieve.Internet reviews all said these Bosch blades were the ones to go for.

http://www.windscreenwipersdirect.co.uk ... 480mm.html

These new Bosch blades came to me for £18.95 delivered. I recall the genuine Jaguar OE units were around £32 a pair.

Is it unreasonable to expect better quality from Jaguar? I think not.

Next job. Fit a new wiper switch and arm to the car. The 92,697 mile original unit and is now parking the wipers in the middle of the screen. Cost new, genuine Jaguar part, just under £40 delivered. I gather these switches are notorious fail items which result in un-parked wiper arms. The new part is in the post. Two cross head screws fix the switch and control arm to the top of the steering column. Hopefully and easy fix. Further details in due course.

Mike

[steve_m]

I've long given up any hope of getting a decent wiper blade these days.
There is either something completely different in the composition of the blades themselves or something completely different in the composition of the stuff that is thrown off the roads on to your windscreen; whatever it is the blades are rubbish.
I think that the correct blades for the XJS are, quick search, £14 each, so £28 a pair.
Life expectancy; 3, 4 weeks?
Go to a local motor factors, get 2 for £7 and change them every 6 weeks.
The new (correct spec) ones on my X Type are awful; less than 500 miles and they smear white all over the windscreen.
Swing the lantern time here; on my MGB, my MGC and my brother-in laws TR5 and all of those cars of that era, you had 6 inch wipers and you only changed them when the split in the rubber went over 50%; you could see quite happily in any kind of weather right up to the moment where the flappy, peeling rubber started to annoy you.
Or the MOT tester looked at you a bit sideways.
I mean, is it really that difficult a problem to solve, a clear windscreen in the middle of a dark winter night?
Is all the 'green' stuff that we put in our washer bottles just a waste of time?
Female donkey wee will definitely keep your screen clean; unfortunately it will also rot the wiper blades, screen surround and the tyres.

[J44EAG]

The Army had trouble with animal effluent. They would put a fort at the top of the hill where the horses also lived. The ammunition dump used to be sited at the bottom of the hill and well away from human and animal accommodation. Then it would rain and all the pee and poo got washed down the hill into the ammo dump. When the fort was attacked, the Army grabbed all the ammo and banged it off in the guns. All would go well until a shell cartridge would split due to corrosion.....this spoilt the aim of the shot as it tended to split the gun barrel and upset the gun aimer and the loading crew.

At one time airfield runways were sprayed with pigs pee to stop icing of the landing strips. This was welcomed by airlines as it avoided paying unexpected landing fees to the local golf courses. Most airfields have golf courses at the end of runways. In the event of a crash, it is a cheap way of having bunkers dug. The situation could become very embarrassing though if you inadvertently landed your 747 on a municipally owned golf course fairway. The trouble is that with Council owned golf courses you have to pay before you play. Most airlines were reluctant to do that due to sensible financial management which preferred payment after you had enjoyed a service.

A negative effect of pigs pee was the effect of the high salt content. Whilst it did much to avoid paying golf course fees, the salt got in all the panel gaps on the aircraft and eat the thing away. Parachutes were then issued which were not popular with aircrew or passengers as that idea also coursed a general issue with increased urological flow increases whilst airborne. When dump tanks filled to capacity, the aircrew would let it go. This was ok unless you happened to be below the aircraft when a dump took place. This is why the pith helmet was conceived. It stopped the pith running down the back of your neck!

Mike

[steve_m]

You are definitely taking the pith now; everybody knows that word was only invented for Kenneth Williams.
Anyway, I raise your pig pee with my female donkey pee.
I've been around a bit of the world and even the smell in Lagos, tied up between the abattoir (morning breeze) and the OMO factory (evening breeze) cannot possibly compare with sheer eye watering, pickled onion effect of female donkey wizz.
I love these grown up conversations, I'm so pleased that I don't own anything so plebeian as an Aston or a Ferrari, their forums are probably quite dull.

[poprivet]

I've long given up any hope of getting a decent wiper blade these days.
....
I think that the correct blades for the XJS are, quick search, £14 each, so £28 a pair.
Life expectancy; 3, 4 weeks?
Go to a local motor factors, get 2 for £7 and change them every 6 weeks.

Steve,
The trick with the XJS is to find 15" blades, not easily found in shops so many owners put 16" on them which results in it resting over the window trim ruining the wipe very quickly. Bosch 15" via Ebay is the way to go.