I'm the kind of a car owner that really hates it when his wiper blades streak, so while getting my oil changed I asked the dealer how much it would take for a new pair... $50, (not including "installation",)... yeah right

So I went to AutoZone to get a reasonably solid $20 pair. Although, they did have some that matched in their system, the salesperson assured me that I'd have to buy some more expensive ones because Volvo likes to mess with the connectors.

So I bought them, went outside.. wrong connectors... Went back inside bought another more expensive $37 pair... wrong connectors. I then proceeded to go through every pair that matched my model number in the system. They did not sell a single pair that were compatible with my Volvo branded OEM Bosches...

Refusing to let Volvo profit off their attempt to monopolize their own market, I took to the internet, and bought some Aftermarket Bosches that matched my model number online. After I received them in the mail I could see that indeed Bosch did make these, as the wiper design/length were identical. Wonderfull... except the connectors were different. It became blatant Volvo on purpose changed the connectors between aftermarket and OEM.

After coming to the realization that Volvo did monopolize their own market... I scavenged the internet to find them OEM. I was able to find Volvo branded one's on ebay for $40 shipped from a volvo dealer. I was pretty upset that I went through all that effort now to save $10... but what could I do.

But hey, that's not all, they came in the mail, and guess what??? DIDN"T FIT!! Furious I called up the volvo dealer that sold them to me, and they asked for my VIN number/car information etc...

So apparently within the SAME YEAR of production for the s40 (2006), they created two different versions of wiper blade connectors!

Now I await my replacement blades, and I'll pray this story doesn't get any more "interesting".


I love my Volvo, but really??? The fact that I can't buy aftermarket wiper blades for a $25,000 non-exotic mainstream sedan is completely ridicules. I don't believe for a second that they keep changing it to "redefine" the future of wiper blade... connecting technology.


So gripes about volvo aside, for the future, anyone know of a good site/wiper brand that is known for fitting Volvos?

 

That sounds like PITA! I go to Walmart and use the Michellin brand that are 9bucks ea. and are compatible............

 

my story is the same as TeeFives'...

Somthingfrce, how do the connectors work on the $9 Michelin Brand wipers?

 

LOL - Welcome to my world!! The early & late production models always causes a challenge with wiper blades.

Trico just came out with (october 2009) a new beam wiper blade called "Trico Tech" that has a new SWIFT mounting system that fits a large percentage of wiper arms. For the 2006 s40 they only list one pair combo which means they should fit both the early and late production models.

To answer your other question, you can lookup trico part numbers online (search "lookup wiper size")

Jeff

 

I have PIAA high performance silicon wiper blades. They are awesome.

 

I too found compatible Michelin wiper blades at a Target...but they started sucking after about 4 or 5 months. Let me rephrase: They aren't horrible, but they do leave streaks behind.

Has anyone else had success with other brands?

Volvo is ridiculous for creating a monopoly. I have had awesome success with Tripledge wiper blades for other vehicles. These silicon blades are unbeaten. And Tripledge says their blades are compatible with 95% of the vehicles on the road...of course my s40 is among the 5% that isn't compatible. Lame, especially because Tripledge blades leave no streaks and are supposedly able to last the life of the vehicle. I guess we're all stuck with replacing our cheesy Michelin blades twice a year...

 

I've found that nothing is perfect and the older the vehicle (and windshield glass) the shorter period the wipers work great. Lets face it - old glass is like fine sand paper on the rubber edge. Also keep in mind that consumer reports basically said no matter what you get, they all last about 6 months before dropping below "very good".

My favorites by far are the trico neoforms. Very smooth and quiet and wipe well. No additional snap-on adapters that viberate and/or break - they direct connect to the S40 wiper arms.

 

Man, I got some nice RainX Latitudes and they are awesome. I didn't have any "connector" problems...and spent $19 per blade.