Mine now have a dead spot on the far left of the driver’s side, work like crap whether it is raining or I have a lot of fog to wipe off in the morning. My next pair must be guaranteed not to streak, have no dead spots, and overall should actually do the job as advertised. TIA.
OEM from your vehicle’s dealer. I’ve never had luck with any after market ones.
All the wipers I’ve put on all my cars have done this. Same spot, drivers side, down low, right in my line of sight. In winter it leaves a big chunk of ice to try to look over, even once it melts I’ve still got that big chunk of salt to deal with and since the wipers don’t really clean it well, the best I can do is clean it by hand the next time I get gas.
A few months ago I swapped out the OEMs for a name brand aftermarket set because the OEMs were doing that, now the aftermarkets are doing it as well.
It seems like auto manufacturers haven’t figured out how to put enough force in that area to keep the blade touching the window.
Oh, also, I should mention that I’ve had both traditional wipers and the kind where they are both mounted at the edges and come up from the center. They looked like this. Ignore what the guy is saying, I just wanted to show what they looked like.
Eventually the rubber in wiper blades dries out and they start to get stiff. So somewhere (perhaps in an earlier thread here) I read the suggestion to replace them with silicone rubber ones, as they won’t get stiff from UV exposure. I’ve looked into them; they might cost $20 each instead of $5-10 for the typical ones at Walmart or an auto parts store, but I might get them next time.
A deformed wiper arm can leave areas that are not wiped. If the arm is deformed, you can change blades all day long and it won’t help.
Anco’s winter blades work very well but they do look like shit.
Replace them at least once a year, twice if you get extremes. There’s no silver bullet out there, as I’ve sadly learned.
I’ve found that aftermarket “exact fit” blades generally work well.
It can’t hurt to make sure the glass is CLEAN. Fine steel wool and acetone work well for this.
If there’s a consistent problem with part of the wiped area having a dead spot, most likely the arm tension is low from its spring having gotten weak. A new wiper arm is the cure.
Try the Michelin blades from Walmart, good quality and cheap.
You will need to measure your existing blades before you go into Wallyworld.
I’m generally happy with the RainX Latitude wipers. Eventually they’ll start to have problems as the material making up the wiper blade breaks down but all blades do. They’re a little pricey at about $20 a blade, but if you’re only going to replace blades about twice a year it’s a reasonable cost.
I hate the new wide blade style wipers-the old narrow style were much better. Who dreamed these up?
According to Consumer Reports (subscriber-only link):
Valeo 600 series, Rain-X Latitude, Anco 31 series are the top 3 blades.
Thirding RainX. I just switched to those when they were on sale, before the winter, and am very pleased.
And also agreeing that you should change the blades at least once a year.
$80 a year on wiper blades? That’s get kinda pricey. But I don’t change mine twice a year anyways. Hell, if I’m lucky, I change them once on a three year lease. That works out having a new set, waiting a year and a half (6 months past ‘change them once a year’), put new ones on, then trading in the car with old the old ones.
Doesn’t always work out that way but if I get a good set and the weather is fair sometimes I can make them last quite a while. But then, I probably shouldn’t complain about that patch that always shows up.
I find that all of them, both cheap and expensive, don’t last very long so I go with the cheap ones and replace them at least once a year.
I disagree. The OEM doesn’t actually make wiper blades, but buys them from a 3rd party just like the rest of us. Just like OEM tires, these are bought mainly on price and aren’t always the greatest quality, especially in terms of longevity. If you were going to splurge on wiper blades, you’d be a lot better off buying some of the fancy aftermarket ones than paying a bunch of manufacturer and dealer markup on an OEM set.
My OEM blades (2008 Nissan Altima) lasted 18 months. I replaced them with Rain-X Latitudes which also lasted 18 months. I’m on my 2nd set of them and should replace them this month, given my history with them, but they’re working great. I can probably get another 6 months out of them.
I make the recommendation mostly for exact fit, which is at least as important as any issued with compound or blade shape/design/fanciness. I don’t know how many “exact fit” aftermarket blades I’ve thrown on a garage shelf or the trash because they turned out not to fit the existing arms, or didn’t conform correctly to the windshield shape.
I do agree that blades are pretty much blades - they all wear, chip and nick about the same, no matter how good they are for the first month - so low-bidder OEM blades that fit precisely are just as good as super-compound magical blades that may or may not fit properly.
OTOH, I have a car that’s had the same wiper blades for 5+ years and they’re just like new. Of course, the car never sees rain and the wipers are about six inches long, existing only to meet inspection standards… my wife calls them Barbie-car wipers. I get a laugh every time I flip them on for a passenger…
Are silicone rubber blades better? Natural rubber blades are destroyed by sunlight and ozone-I assume that silicone rubber would last longer.
YES!
PIAA wipers are made out of silicone rubber. I installed a set of refills (keeping the original frames) on my wife’s car in 2004 and they still work, no streaks. The silicone rubber doesn’t rot. They will last a very, very long time. All of our cars now have the new style PIAA flat blades or refills for the frames. Online, the price is comparable to what you will pay at the dealer for the originals that will rot away.
Highly recommended.