Ralphalph said:
That bothers me as well, but where were you buying just the rubber blade, and not the "bayonet"? I don't recall ever seeing just the rubber for sale. Might look into this for my wife's subaru since it uses standard stuff. You should be able to still do this for the rear blade, eh?
Yeah, I think the rear blade will still take just the rubber insert because it's the correct width. That's the thing that stopped me when I bought blades for my Nox last year: rubber-only blades weren't the correct *width* (Length is no problem - you just snap it off at the correct length). And when I looked elsewhere, all I saw were sales of the entire bayonet. Advance might be the last store around still carrying just blade inserts - but they barely have any left. 95% of their selection is the entire bayonet (at the ridiculous prices, of course).
I've been buying the "snap-offs" for my other cars for years. Before the "snap-offs" it was blades sold to fit with the spring-lock mechanism on the very end, but someone decided it was a better idea to standardize the overall *length* (easier for manufacturing), then provide graduated, pre-scored lines where the blade could be "snapped-off" to fit various wiper arm lengths. Snap-Offs are really easy to install: just push the blade through the "claws" until all the (temporary) black plastic "holders" fall off, then snap off the end on one of the pre-scored lines closest in length to your wiper arm. Just have to watch those "claws" closely to make sure you thread the blade through correctly. It's easy to get the "claw" suddenly running on the wrong side-track of the blade.
When I went to buy a set of blades for my Nox last year, I discovered I couldn't buy the snap-offs because they were the wrong width blade. I think I did a cursory search on the web, but then just bit the bullet and paid the ransom for the whole bayonet. But it *really* irks me how profiteers ream us all the time with these "solutions" that are borne totally out of profit, completely ignoring the waste that's created (and money that's wasted). They get everybody on the bandwagon and then laugh all the way to the bank. So instead of paying $3/blade, you're paying $15-$20. Wonderful.