johna's automotive blog

Review of Max Power V8 Frameless Car Windscreen Wipers

2020-01-12T12:00:00+10:00

This time when I needed new windscreen wipers I thought I would give the modern, all plastic, frameless style wipers a try instead of the traditional metal frame wipers.

As usual, I hopped onto eBay and bought the cheapest ones I could find -- A$15.99 for a pair that fitted my car (20" and 21").

The brand of the ones I bought is "Max Power V8", and the box says "design by Wan Yang". There's no mention of where they are made, but I am pretty confident they are made in China.

They arrived very quickly and were well packed and even include a protective piece that covers the rubber blade in transit.

Fitting is extremely easy, much easier than fitting metal frame wipers. You just need to unlatch the cover and slide into the "U" part of the wiper arm until it clicks into place and then re-latch the cover.

As you can see in the photo, the wipers do not contort to the shape of the windscreen on one side when parked, but they do seem to wipe the windscreen well enough. I recall that the metal frame wipers also didn't confirm too well in the parked position on the same side.

I've included a photo of the metal-framed wipers (before) and the new V8 wipers (after).

Do they look better? It's not a big difference but they do look a little more modern. However, the clip that holds them to the wiper arm is quite bulky compared to the metal-framed wipers.

I do have concerns about how long they will last, only because they are made of plastic and plastic doesn't always last well, particularly in a hot climate like here in Sydney. Will they lose their ability to conform to the windscreen shape after some time?

I'll post back here with how they perform in the longer term.

Update:

Having now driven in some heavy rain I can provide some better feedback about these wipers.

As I mentioned, the passenger side wiper does not conform well to the curvature of the windscreen. The result is that it does not wipe the far passenger side well. I've included a photo and added a red line to highlight the area where the wiper blade does not make good contact. It's not really a problem, as it is not on the driver's side, but worth mentioning.

Perhaps a more expensive brand like Bosch would be better in this regard.

The wipers work as well as any other wiper blades I have had, and they are reasonably quiet.

They do look much bulkier than metal-framed wipers when they are running in front of you.

My opinion? I will probably go with metal-framed wipers next time because I think they actually look better as they are less bulky, and they can conform to the shape of the windscreen better.

BAPMIC BMW parts review

2019-06-29T12:00:00+10:00

I've recently come across the brand BAPMIC when shopping for BMW parts, and they are usually some of the least expensive parts available. Are they any good?

Who are BAPMIC?

According to their website (www.bapmic.com), BAPMIC was established in Germany and have been operating for around a decade, or possibly a lot longer based on their website's copyright date of 1994.

However, their logo is trademarked to a Chinese organisation, Shanghai Tongzhi Auto Parts (website), who also have trademarks for two other auto part brands: Autopa and Topaz.

Shanghai Tongzhi Auto Parts (Tonzie) was established in 1998 so I am guessing they might have bought the BAPMIC brand name at some point.

I think it's safe to assume that their products are made in China (their Linked In profile confirms products come from factories in China).

Strangely their website mentions to only contact them for legal reasons and although it makes mention of sales offices in many countries (including Australia), there are no contact details for them.

Internationally they seem to be known as Sourcemost International (www.sourcemostmotor.com) and have an office in Mt Kuring-gai, Sydney.

Online reviews

I couldn't find many reviews for BAPMIC products but there were a few.

Amazon had some reviews of BMW E46 control arm bushes. Although most reviews were very positive there were a significant number of people who said the bushes failed after a short time.

Of the other reviews, I found there were usually around 20% negative reviews, mostly claiming low quality or short lifespan.

My experience?

So far I have bought two BAPMIC parts for my 1998 BMW 318is coupe: a pair of front sway bar links, and a camshaft sensor.

The sway bar links look good quality and have been fitted and made a noticeable difference to the car, but they did replace parts that had been in there for a couple of hundred thousand kilometres so anything probably would have made a big difference.

They have only been in for a few months so far but I have no complaints.

The camshaft sensor has only just been fitted and is working fine so far but I will keep this post updated.

Conclusion

Based mostly on other people's reviews and not my own experience, it looks like BAPMIC is just another cheap, low-quality Chinese brand of car parts. You should weigh up the cost and expected lifespan compared to genuine or known good brands, and consider the labour time and cost involved if you need to replace the part more frequently. Also consider safety and reliability and what would happen if the part failed.

Review of International Auto Parts Australia

2018-12-15T12:00:00+10:00

I recently needed some BMW parts and, as usual, was looking for the best possible price.

I often buy from Clickable Automotive but they were out of stock of one of the parts I needed, and don't carry another.

I could have bought from ebay but I came across International Auto Parts Australia's website and I had never heard of them before.

In addition to BMW parts, they seem to cater for almost every brand of car.

Their prices were mostly very good (although some OEM parts were expensive or marked as price on request) and freight costs were extremely cheap, but as they show a USA address in their footer I had no idea if the prices were in Australian Dollars or US Dollars.

I tried a test checkout attempt and found it IS Australian Dollars, and there were no hidden surprises like taxes.

They don't have a huge range of parts for my car but they had the parts I needed (just some gaskets and o-rings), the prices were equal or less than elsewhere, and shipping was only $5.

But I couldn't find any reviews online and didn't really trust them as it seemed too good.

In the end I decided to give it a go with a $70 order as I could pay with PayPal and I presumed I could get a refund if it turned out to be a scam.

How did it go?

Well I ordered on 19 November and after a week I hadn't heard anything - not the email they said I would get when they shipped my order. So I emailed them and asked about my order. No answer. *Worried*

But a few more days later (30 November) I got the email saying my order had been shipped and with a US Postal Service tracking number. I got a few notifications from USPS tracking but after it left the USA nothing further.

Then two more weeks later (14 December) my order arrived. Reasonably well packed and undamaged.

So I can recommend them and offer some reassurance that they are a genuine US-based seller targeting Australia.

International Auto Parts Australia website: www .iapaustralia .com [Edit: no longer around]

(I have no affiliation with this company, and posted this review in case anybody found themselves in the same situation of not knowing whether they were genuine or not)