Got my S2 505GTi wagon back on the road after the fan pulley debacle (see other posts) and decided to test it by going on a 1,000kM round trip (as you do). Eden on the far South Coast NSW was the destination and the outward leg took the coast road with return 'inland' via Cooma, Canberra, Yass, and Cowra. Unsurprisingly for the time of year we had intermittent showers most of the way there and I noticed that what started as less than perfect contact between wiper blade and screen quickly developed into an unwiped streak then a gap in the blade visible as it swept. Made a note to attend to that upon return together with two other issues that became apparent - headlamp aim (particularly nearside) needed adjusting, and I've lost about 50% of the instrument panel lighting. In order of hassle I'd mentally assigned these to wipers (easy), headlamps (bit of a faff), and panel globes (horrible) - how wrong can you be
I think for the last three or four wiper replacements "cheating" has been the modus operandi and the new blade's simply been clipped into the old plastic gismo on the end of the arm, well now those placcy things are cracked and brittle like you wouldn't believe. Went to Supercheap the day after return (but I've no doubt result would be same with any of the auto chain stores) with the old blade, easily matched to an "SC18" from their own brand range (once I'd ignored their computer which insisted I needed 22" blades). First hurdle, minor so I thought was there was only one left in stock so I paid an extra $5 for a "Tridon TBL18" supposedly higher quality - 'that'll go on the drivers side I thought. Shaking out the multitudinous plastic adaptors it quickly became apparent that only one would let the arm pass through and when I tried to 'click' that into place it wasn't held very securely. This adaptor also came with two 3mm dia. screws so the obvious thing was to drill and tap the Peugeot arm to receive the screws, checking with the thread gauge the pitch of these screws was 0.6mm and my tap & die set had 3mm at 0.5 pitch. Checking online there is such an animal as 3mm x0.6 but none of the local tool shops had one, 'Plan B' was to visit the green shed and buy the same screws in 0.5 pitch - a whole $3 worth. Then to get the arms removed, drill and tap. When I tried to replicate the system for the 'Tridon' blade the 'dogleg' adaptor was different - made of metal and too small to envelope the Pug arm. At this point luck played a part since I'd already bought two SCA replacement blades for the ute recently and still had the adaptors - which perfectly fitted the Tridon blade. Only downside is for the next replacement I'll need to throw away the screws supplied and go to the greenshed as well.
One job down, two to go
I think for the last three or four wiper replacements "cheating" has been the modus operandi and the new blade's simply been clipped into the old plastic gismo on the end of the arm, well now those placcy things are cracked and brittle like you wouldn't believe. Went to Supercheap the day after return (but I've no doubt result would be same with any of the auto chain stores) with the old blade, easily matched to an "SC18" from their own brand range (once I'd ignored their computer which insisted I needed 22" blades). First hurdle, minor so I thought was there was only one left in stock so I paid an extra $5 for a "Tridon TBL18" supposedly higher quality - 'that'll go on the drivers side I thought. Shaking out the multitudinous plastic adaptors it quickly became apparent that only one would let the arm pass through and when I tried to 'click' that into place it wasn't held very securely. This adaptor also came with two 3mm dia. screws so the obvious thing was to drill and tap the Peugeot arm to receive the screws, checking with the thread gauge the pitch of these screws was 0.6mm and my tap & die set had 3mm at 0.5 pitch. Checking online there is such an animal as 3mm x0.6 but none of the local tool shops had one, 'Plan B' was to visit the green shed and buy the same screws in 0.5 pitch - a whole $3 worth. Then to get the arms removed, drill and tap. When I tried to replicate the system for the 'Tridon' blade the 'dogleg' adaptor was different - made of metal and too small to envelope the Pug arm. At this point luck played a part since I'd already bought two SCA replacement blades for the ute recently and still had the adaptors - which perfectly fitted the Tridon blade. Only downside is for the next replacement I'll need to throw away the screws supplied and go to the greenshed as well.
One job down, two to go