Hi. Just went to Halfrauds to get a new rear wiper blade for my Octavia VRS hatch mk1 (2003). Upon getting home, I unboxed it, and was surprised to find it was so small, it looked like it was for a mini. I held it next to my existing (shot) blade, and it was indeed about 3 inches to short. I then discovered that I could not actually figure out how to remove the original blade anyway. Upon searching here, it looks like the rear blade is a dealer only item, which is not a problem, cuss their only about 2 miles from me. I suppose my questions are, therefore, (1) How on earth do you remove the blade from its housing, and (2) Why are Halfords a bunch of freaking donkey's. Not only is the blade they list the wrong fitting, it's not even the right length

Indeed rear wipers have to be sourced at least from the dealers and was another of the things to do on my list for the car until i decided to put it up for sale...

As i understand it you have to replace the actual rubber blade rather than the assembly that holds it like the fronts which had been done via halfords.

Other than that i hope your still loving the car... i see from the car details in your avatar its running a tad more power than when you bought it... which remap did you go for in the end ??

I got my blade from Hellfrauds without any problem? Mine is just a standard blade?

{snip}Other than that i hope your still loving the car... i see from the car details in your avatar its running a tad more power than when you bought it... which remap did you go for in the end ??

Hi Nigel,

Car is running great thanks. I had a custom remap done by Jabba Sport last week just based on what you had already done to the car (although I did do the pikey mod you left in the boot before the remap). I also put it through it's 40K service before they thraped the nuts out of it at J/S. I did not change the zorst as I could not justify replacing a perfectly good system. Everybody comments on how tidy the car is which is down to you mate.

Anyway, she's still running great, and gleaming and sparkly clean.

Thanks for the info re: wipers. I'll pop down to the Bowling Green Garage at the weekend.

Cheers bud.

Edited: Sorry to site admins - I should have done this as a PM really ;-/

I bought a refill...just a bog standard refill blade to put on the rear of my Octy vRS worked a treat and only cost pennies. Just cut to size

Dealer ones on the octy I hatch are slightly curved and also are cheaper than halfords at about £3-4

I went into Halfords over the weekend to get a replacement rear wiper blade as mine had split. There was another guy there looking for the same part as me for his Octy. He was shaking his head and quizzing the pimpley youth as to why Halfords specify a 13" blade when the one fitted to his and my car are 16".

I checked both the Halfords Wiper book and the Bosche Wiper book and both specified the wrong part. The other guy walked out in disgust. I thought I would persevere and borrowed a 16" Halfords replacement blade. The clip was slightly different but it did look as though it should fit. After wrestling with it for five minutes or so it became obvious that the wiper arm was slightly too wide for the clip and would not fit.

I too left in disgust and will now have to make a special journey to a Skoda Dealer. I should have tried the Bosch replacement though but forgot in my uncontrollable rant at the pimpley youth:mad:

Anyone know if perhaps the 13" one is for the estate model?

Anyone know if perhaps the 13" one is for the estate model?

The estate blade is indeed much shorter than the hatch one - 3" shorter sounds about right...

Rob.

15" Bosch one fits the hatch, but doesn't wipe properly in my experience.

I too was left guessing, but now completely ignore anything in a halfords book.

HTH

15" Bosch one fits the hatch, but doesn't wipe properly in my experience.

Yeah, I find it doesn't push against the "outer" edge of the sweep arc so the results are a bit patchy...

Rob.

I got mine from the dealer. It was a Bosch part, but I can't remember the length. I'll get the tape measure out tonight if I remember.

I got the aero wipers and a new rear at the same time, and was sent a 13 inch to replace the larger one I had originally. Bit miffed at first but it works fine and fits. Someone somewhere must have provided aftermarket companies with 13 inch as the size to supply.

Put 2 new ones on the front (halfords) and put the best fitting one from the front on the back - works fine