UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Was in Costco this past weekend and came across the above mentioned flat blade wipers for £5-and-some-pence per blade. Was intrigued enough so bought a set for my Mothers Polo.

Genuine OE wipers costs £30 (set) from local Dealer, while Halfords sell Bosch blades for £25. If these are worth the money, then they would be a definite bargain.

On inspection the blades looked good enough, proper metal construction with good quality rubber blade and meaty enough [in terms of weight]. Had to read the instructions to identify the necessary adaptor, once done and fitted, the blades were affixed to the car.

Now a word of advice, OE specification for the blades is 21" (driver) and 19" (passenger), but if you buy a set of these blades, then you need to buy the 18" [for the passenger] because the 19" catches on the A Pillar.

IMHO they work very well; genuinely silent and do the wiping job very well indeed. I have no doubt they should last as long (if not longer) than the Bosch blades and have no real complaints. Unfortunately, once fitted they do not sit as flush and aesthetically pleasingly as OE blades. To my mind they look pretty ugly ... which is a shame because they are a very good product. I'll post some pictures for people to make their own minds up.

One thing to bear in mind, if you have the Aero wipers on your mother's Polo - ie not arched with exposed back bone, then the blades VW fitted will be Bosch - exactly the same as those sold in Halfords (for once!). I made the mistake a while ago, of buying NOS VAG blades from Ebay and ended up paying more when you factor in postage, than Halfords were charging - well maybe not but almost the same price! Next set I bought was at a local VAG meeting as there do tend to be trade stands at these events and buying ahead does pay - especially when you include oil and filters - all genuine VAG parts.

I've seen these Goodyear ones in Costco but I've always found that original is best as aftermarket (and in this application Goodyear is I think only aftermarket) blades do tend to be either harder (judder/squeel) and/or higher profile (judder/look crap) - but that is only my experience. One thing, in general, to avoid, is buying VAG blades from VAG when the supplied items are aimed at aftermarket and not the exact item for your car - doing that does mean that you are getting mugged for paying dealer style prices only to find that it parts are for general use - what out for that one!

I totally agree with you RUM4MO. But sometimes, its worth a gamble

Thus far, these blades have acquitted themselves very well indeed: very quiet operation and super-smooth wipe action. For the cost, remember they were a little over £10 for the pair, they do appear to be excellent VFM. Time will tell how they behave - so I will wait and see. I don't want to pay £30 if I can pay £10 for something that does the same job. I admit,aesthetically they are cumbersome given the adaptor, but otherwise, do what they say on the tin.

I used to think that Trico were the only company to make proper wiper blades - but I think that they disappeared a long time ago - Ford used them a lot. Trico also sold a glass polish that was meant to be very good, so good that I bought a couple of bottles of it at a motor factor's closing down sale - that was about 20 years ago - they still stand unopened on a shelf in the garage - handy eh?!

Valeo tend to be the other blade manufacturer that VAG use, again I bought a set via Ebay (for the Passat) and they were exactly the same as VAG dealers in UK sells - set up for LHD! - but that is easy enough to change.

Going back to the Bosch blades on the Polo, I avoided buying Bosch blades for it at Halfords simply because I wanted to fit "same as factory" and not "roughly the same as factory" - it was only when I checked the name on the ones I bought from Ebay and found they were Bosch, took the original ones off and discovered they were also Bosch - that I was keen enough (anorak!) to open up a box the next time I was passing Halfords - and found that the internal packaging and blades were indentical to the VAG dealer supplied items!