A strange garage experience.

[Rhymes with Paris]

Today I called in to a garage that calls itself a Toyota specialist for a front nearside wiper blade ,and to see whether the outfit seemed professional and well run with a view to future servicing.

The first thing they asked for was the key to the car so that the car "could be driven to where the wipers are" the car stayed where it was while a "mechanic"removed the wiper blade and disappeared for a while.

Anyhow a little while later I was handed my key back and gave them the £10 asked for.

Driving home I tried the wash wipe and noticed an unswept area on the screen ,got home measured the blade at 14" where it should be 15", also noticed the wiper arm was not replaced with the blade .

So rang them to ask if they could save my old blade as intended to return tomorrow for a refund and buy the correct blade elsewhere and do it properly myself.

Well here the bull starts, "the blade was in the wrong package "

"The old arm was reused as the fittings where wrong"

So will pop back tomorrow and try to get a refund and my old blade back (simply to protect the screen while I get another blade/arm.

I know this is small beer and easily put right ,but with such a simple job gone wrong and the obvious lies , I would not trust them to lift the bonnet , never mind a service.

Not coming across as a rant hopefully , just an observation on total incompetence doing just about the simplest job on a car as it gets.

[Steveieb]

Had lots of noise problems with a Bosch wiper blade so I took advice from a Toyota engineer who suggested fitting a genuine Toyota blade. They are a little more expensive but I notice it is not as long as the Bosch one.

So maybe Bosch have not supplied a blade the same as the one fitted at the factory.

Result no scraping noise !

[MikeSh]

I recently bought a 2018 from a Toyota dealer. The (single) wiper wasn't clearing a band and on investigating the blade had actually split for a few inches. I guess it was the OEM blade.

Dealer is 40 odd miles away, so I just looked on eBay. From past experience I know Wiper Blades can be 'interesting' so I did some due diligence and eventually got this one: TOYOTA YARIS 2011-Onwards Wiper Blade 28" 700mm Aero Flat Style Replacement Kit

Not the cheapest but Heyner seem to be reputable as a make (though their UK ebay feedback isn't perfect). However it works well the few times I've used it so far, so I'm happy.

[FROSTYBALLS]

9 minutes ago, MikeSh said:

... eventually got this one ....

Just the rubbers are available - either Toyota's store on eBay or from Toyota Direct Parts, etc.

[MikeSh]

10 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Just the rubbers are available - either Toyota's store on ebay or from Toyota Direct Parts, etc.

Strange, I saw no results from Toyota at all on eBay.

That said, I've wrestled with changing rubbers in the past and I'm not sure it would be worth the small saving.

[mrpj]

15 hours ago, Steveieb said:

advice from a Toyota engineer

I almost had an incontinent moment reading that!