lessons on the aftermarket

[stevo <stevo@xxxxxxx>]

its a bit of work replacing a window scraper. not rocket science, but the
window area has to get yanked, and its an hours operation. i collect window
scrapers at junkyards. i need 'em; my friends need 'em. unfortunately
there's a recent shortage of prime passenger side scrapers off low mileage
buses so i caved in and used a wcm scraper to replace a less than adaquate
scraper i picked last week. the one i picked last week sat on my bus for
one day, and i said nahh. months ago i bought the wcm scraper on that
online auction thing for nine bucks. big deal. never really hoped i'd have
use it - experimental as it were.

so i pulled a less than adequate junkyard scraper to try a wcm product for
the first time. i figured new could be better, and was i sorry. the
aluminum is okay, but the rubber is so sorrowful. on the driver's side
scraper, my replacement picked from a 60k mile bus still snaps against the
glass. the wcm rubber is LAME. makes me glad i didn't buy it retail, and
moreover, i hear their prices shot up a lot this year. moral: junkyards.
i'd even re-rivet good rubber canabalized from a bent metal scraper to put
onto a good metal scraper hanger.

fun fact: the less than adequate scraper i picked last week was found to be
a wcm product. live and learn.  AND, the replacement door seals on the same
bus in the junkyard were newish, and a thrashed. hard to tell where they
came from. what a mess.      - steve