does anyone make a decent wiper blade?

[songbird]

the common ones have been utter crap. i replaced mine last fall and already one has torn.

songbird

[bobm3]

I've used Rain-X and lots of Bosch ICON. But just recently I purchased a pair of Good Year at Costo and quite frankly, so far they'be been the quietest and cleanest "Wipe" I've seen for several years. I paid $7.99 each at Costco and checked Amazon and they wanted $34.95 a pair.

Just my $.02 worth

[Wade Garrett]

If you drive a Honda, buy blade refills from the dealer. Perfect fit, very high quality, do a great job, last a long time.

[ItsJoanNotJoann]

If you buy the size designated for your auto, no matter the make or model wouldn't you get a perfect fit?

I don't drive a Honda but I have used the RainX and Anco and whatever brands on the market all did a good job, not great, just a good job. They cleared the rain and that's all I asked of them.

[badgolferman]

The premium replacement wipers are Bosch Icon and Rain-X. My experience with Rain-X wipers is they don't last long and are streaky. The Bosch Icon are better but still only last six months or so.

The factory wipers on my Lexus lasted at least two years before I bought a new pair and that was only because they were TWO YEARS old. They were cheaper at the dealer than either of the other two.

[Unquestionably Confused]

GMTA, Wade. I was just about to comment on this thread. I use the Rain-X on the Corvette (thanks for that link, Uncle) but the Odyssey and CR-v just get the refills for the OEM Honda wipers. They work great and are quite long lasting (so long as you don't turn on the wipers when they they a frozen to the windshield ;) ).

They see a fair amount of use here in the Chicagoland area and I still get almost a year out of a set before I find it necessary to replace them.

Wade. . . I do my own minor stuff on the Honda and find excellent prices and delivery times at

All OEM Honda parts and I'll buy three sets of blades at a time for both vehicles.

[Wade Garrett]

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

The aftermarket manufacturer may specify his 18 inch long refill for your ride- but your metal blade may actually be 17 3/4 or 18 1/8 long. The refill width may be off a hair over/under from what yours actually is- or the clamping groove configuration may be a bit different too.

Over the years, I've done OK with aftermarket refills on American brand cars. But I've found Honda (and Toyota OEM) refills superior and used them when I owned those makes of car.

As others mentioned, some car dealers sell OEM parts online at a good discount. I usually buy my routine wear/maintenance items like wiper refills, engine air filters, oil filters, crush washers, etc., from them. But I always cheap-out at Walmart or Auto Zone for my cabin air filter!

[rbowman]

It never crossed my mind to buy wipers from the dealer but I've never been back there since I bought the car. Nothing against the dealer, but I find it more convenient to service my own vehicles. The wiper blades usually come from the NAPA store up the street from my workplace.

The pita is they are different sizes and I have trouble remembering one size. I've had two Yaris's and I also have to remember the right year of the current one since the sizes changed during the model run.

[Naturous]

songbird formulated the question :

I paid over $15.00 for one blade two years ago. That's a big jump from the early 70's were a single wiper blade was less than 5 bucks.

[notbob]

Amazing how many different stories pop up. But, I feel I should weigh in with my poor opinion of Rain-X.

I've had nothing trouble from my Rain-X stuff and would not recommend Rain-X products in any form! I bought Rain-X blade refills and used the gallons of Rain-X windshield washer fluid my late mom usta buy. What I ended up with, in her low-mileage '91 Toyota mini-motorhome, is blade chatter, most severe. The blades almost chatter completely off the windshield on the rebound stroke, thereby rendering the wipers almost useless during a heavy rainfall.

I've never experienced this phenomena, before. Ever! And I'm almost

70 yrs old and have owned/driven many car types/brands, over the years.

Since I dumped all the Rain-X windshield washer fluid and will prolly lose the blades, this Spring, I'm hoping the issue will be in the past. Just using a different windshield washer liquid (no matter how cheap) has reduced wiper "chatter", dramatically. I'm confindent losing the Rain-X blades will eliminate the problem, completely.

I have no proof this is strictly a Rain-X problem, but none of this was EVER an issue before I got those damn Rain-X blade refills.

BTW, sometimes cheaper 3rd party wiper replacements (not jes blade refills, the entire blade assy) are no bargain. I once bought some cheapo replacement wipers ('87 Honda Civic Hatchback S model), and they allowed zero air-flow through the plastic wiper arm sections. The entire wiper blade assy would lift completely off the windshield at any speed above 65mph. I finally hadda buy some factory Honda wiper assys, at 4 times the price of the cheapo's, to get wipers that actually worked, properly. ;)

nb

[makolber]

put new blades on after each ice season is over, i.e. in the spring

m

[notbob]

Testify! ;)

nb

[Naturous]

on 2/1/2017, [e-mail] supposed :

We seldom get snow here. Temp gets down in the teens sometimes, but mostly in the 30's in early spring.

[anon]

It happens that Naturous formulated :

I read elsewhere that you have an s10. How could a like-minded s10 fan email you?

[badgolferman]

I bought the wipers from the parts counter and installed them myself. They are silent, clean perfectly, fit perfectly, no big bulges where it attaches to the arm, and all three cost $54.75.

[songbird]

this set ran $10, so not too bad, but they seem so cheaply made that they are designed to fail.

the other thing that bugs me is that i drive this car so rarely that they've hardly had any use at all.

probably ripped when i lifted it up to get the ice off the windshield, but i was careful. maybe not careful enough.

thanks to everyone for the replies. i don't think i can get refills now that i've changed the factory blades out for replacements (and yes, by chance it is a Honda will be 20yrs old this spring :) ) (ahem, the car, not me). this was the first and only car i've ever bought new. i still love driving it.

still collects mice in there too. very expensive mouse trap.

songbird

[Tekkie®]

notbob posted for all of us...

I agree with everything here. Must use soft scrub to remove it.

See my other post. The Bosch IIRC have the vents.

Another thing to think about is that the arms can get bent using drive through car washes and sloppy handling.

The best test is to pour a bucket of water over the windshield and if it sheets the the glass is squeaky clean and to move on to further diagnosis of the problem.

[Tekkie®]

ItsJoanNotJoann posted for all of us...

Not necessarily they may be shorter or longer and made of inferior materials. They are the makers 'equivalent'

[Ed Pawlowski]

I used to do my own work but quit some years back. I never went to the dealer for service until my last two cars. The dealer is cheaper than the dedicated oil change shops and they wash the car too. They sometimes have a special and put wiper blades on cheap too.

[Naturous]

anon explained on 2/1/2017 :

No, the other goon THINKS he has an s10 but he doesn't. I have a promod 68 chevy c10.