Our throw away society makes car maintenance expensive

[mcginnpm]

It's kind of off-topic in some senses, but, as I was changing the wiper blades on my wife's Hyundai Tucson today, and I looked at all the parts laying on the hood after I was done, it kind of sunk in just how much money we waste on our cars (and other stuff in general) from the perfectly good things that simply get thrown away (or hopefully recycled) at the end of the job as a matter of "convenience".

All I needed to bring my wife's car back up to speed was 2 wiper blade inserts (see the attached "Wiper Inserts" photo). What got thrown into the recycle bin after spending $29.96 at AutoZone can be seen in the attached "Landfill" photo.

I'm old enough to remember when you could actually buy wiper blade inserts (or "refills" as we called them) in your local auto parts store. None of my local stores carry them any more. It's a special order item if you want just the inserts.

I've frequently heard that it's a matter of convenience, speed and simplicity, but I spent far more time just reading the instructions to figure out which parts to use (or not to use) and how to install them, than it took me to pull out the old wiper blades so that I could take a picture of them. I could have popped in a fresh set of blades in a matter of seconds.

- - - Updated - - -

Sal, Can you move this to the "Community Lounge"? My apologies. I should have posted there, not in the "Genesis Motors General Discussion" forum.

 

[jimmy buoy]

Agreed. I also remember getting replacement wiper "rubbers" that didn't even have the two stainless stiffeners included, just two soft rubber blades in a long plastic bag. Take the old rubber's off and remove their two stiffeners, install them in the slots on either side of the new rubbers, then slide the new blade onto the wiper arm by threading the new blade through the guides until they lock in place - done! Just multiply the additional waste by the number of cars in the world - it's astounding just how wasteful we've become. I long for simpler days...

Crap - I've become my father!!

 

[balfor]

hmmm, I know on my Lexus models you can order just the rubber blades with nothing else, is that not available on any hyundai? If so that is annoying.

 

[kn5owa]

One of the arguments for the paper "cartridge type" oil filters on the Hyundai's is that they are more recyclable than the spin-on filters with a metal housing.

I don't know if I buy into it, but that's the rationale.