I never park in the garage and the stock factory wipers were fine until my last service where the mechanic decided to replace them front and rear. The new ones work well also.
OTOH, we don't get snow where I live, but we do get some torrential rains.
I got a flat a few months ago, same as the OP, drivers side rear.
Found out about it when I got a TPMS notification on the dash. Stopped at a gas station and put another 10 pounds of air in it and went to my friendly local Discount Tire store.
They said they were very busy, and it was...
The wife and I got a really nasty cold a few weeks ago and didn't want to spread it around, so we ordered some groceries and NyQuil and DayQuil and picked it up in the store parking lot.
The employee came out with the stuff, I opened the gate from the driver's seat and we thus avoided...
My Avatar is USARHAW, United States Army Headquarters Hawaii.
I spent time with the 11th Infantry Brigade in Schofield Barracks Oahu, where the OP got his Avatar. The 11th Infantry Brigade occupied Schofield Barracks after the 25th (Tropic Lightning) Division proceeded to Vietnam.
My Avatar...
Again, it's on the outside and the factory tint is on the inside. That may be why it's on the outside, but I could be wrong.
It's very easy to see it's on the outside. I lower my window where the top is just out of the channel. I look at it from the inside and I can see tint, they around 3MM...
They aren't doing it because they're cheap, they're doing it for liability reasons.
I recently flew a couple of long haul flights in an AirBus A330. They have USB charging ports and they're 1 amp. They didn't do it to save money either. My solution is simple, I carry a charging bank with me...
I'll be the odd man out.
I tried the 6 months free Sirius service and liked it a lot. I could get the music I like anytime I wanted. So when the 6 months was up, they didn't call me, but I went online to their website and signed up for it. It costs a little over $16.00/month with tax and I...
Your experience is the same as mind. OTOH, I've owned nothing but Fords all my life.
Edited to add:
Just got back from a vacation trip where I rented a Jeep Compass SUV.
If you think Ford makes a lot of noise, seems cheap or tinny, take a ride in a Jeep Compass.
I wouldn't buy one of those...