It’s that time of the year again. The monarch butterflies and geese have headed south for the winter, the bobcat and the deer have grown thicker coats to protect against the winter chill, and the snow bunnies are donning bikinis in the freezing rain. (Though I may have imagined that last one.)
And curiously, my car’s windshield wipers suddenly become relevant again.
I’ve only had this car for a couple of years (Kia Optima), and I’ve gone through at least three sets of wiper blade refills. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong - the first set was a not-too-expensive set bought at Wal-Mart, the second one was Autozone’s top model, and the last set was an emergency purchase of now-forgotten value. I couldn’t really tell any difference between any of the brands. Each one performed well for a couple of weeks, then crapped out. Now, when I turn the wipers on, I get a thin film of water spread across the windshield instead of clear see-through goodness. It seems it’s time for me to buy another set.
What recommendations do y’all have in regards to windshield wipers? Any good brands, or things to avoid? Should I replace the whole wiper blade? How long should they last?
Before you buy another set, take a paper towel and clean off the blades. Sometimes they get gunk on them so that they smear instead of wiping. This is especially true in the winter, when you get snow and ice forming on them, and salt from the roads.
Your blades should definitely last longer than 2 weeks.
My husband is a wiper blade fanatic. He bought some “winter” blades that are designed to get all the evils of Chicago weather off the windows and don’t freeze up nearly as fast.
You have to clean them by hand. When you fill up, push your windshield squirter to get some cleaner on your window and use that with a paper towel.
Bits of leaves and bugs get caught under them or leave waxy spots that skip.
I used to prefer the red (natural rubber) blade inserts to the black neoprene ones, but they are hard to find now.
You should be swapping out the inserts (called “refills” in some stores) and not the whole blade. They cost about half as much a set.
Just curious - how long do you think wiper inserts should last?
It always seems to me that when I’m driving in the rain or snow I turn on my wipers and realize they are crappy. But then when the weather is clear I never think about or get around to changing the blades. Of course, next time it rains …
Clean your windshield!
Seriously, your windshield is probaby dirty. Wiper blades and squeeges just won’t get a windshield really clean.
When I would get wiper complaints as a technician I would clean the windshield with either sudsing ammonia or a strong window clean with ammonia in it. I would scrub the windshield with a sponge and the cleaner, and then rinse with clear water. Also I would clean the blades with the same stuff.
This would remove all the oily buildup on the window and allow the wipers to work better.
In sunny and or smoggy weather some blades don’t last a whole long time. I go though 1-2 sets per year here in LA. However the Google ads at the bottom of the page may be to the rescue. I see an add for silcone wiper blades. Might be worth a shot.
My windshield wipers?, well, first off, they’re EVIL! (i got them off that car that played Knight Rider)
Woohoo, first one with a gratuitous Futurama reference
anyway, during winter, i just use the basic Anco Winter Blades, heavier duty, encased frame blades, during the summer, i use Tripledge blades and Rain-X washer fluid
I have had wiper blades dry rot away. I have an old pickup truck that I use mainly for trips to Home Depot, so its wipers don’t move too often. When I took it for inspection one year, it failed for wipers. It was quite interesting: the rubber was crumbling.
Unrelated wiper story:
A couple of weeks ago I was driving in a heavy downpour with the wipers flipping away, doing their job. Suddenly, the passenger-side wiper slipped a little on its shaft, getting an inch or so out of sync with the driver-side wiper. Though the error was subtle, it was enough: they smashed into each other, bending the driver-side wiper into an wild S-shape that immediately started scratching the windshield.
I had to act quickly to avoid worse damage by shutting off the wipers. The remainder of the trip home (on the highway) was no fun at all.
The windshield still bears about five arc-shaped scratches from the event.
Very timely thread. On my desk, to my left is a wiper blade from our pickup sized van. We have three vehicles (and four drivers), and the old van sits outside. I got to drive it this morning, because I’m the only one comfortable driving the van on the ice left from this week’s snow storm. Same storm left a lot of snow, and resulting ice, on the windshield. When I tried to pul the driver’s side wiper free of the ice, the wiper stayed firmly welded to the windshield. Great.
I’ve been told that wiper blades should last 1-2 years, depending on uv exposure. I can see where the smog in LA might eat them faster than that.
I’ll be damned, a thread I actually know something about.
Do not buy silicone wiper blades; they are a gimmick. Now I’m sure someone may come along and tell about the great success they have had with silicone, but for the most part they are a gimmick. Although I do like enclosed blades for winter.
Most of the other blade types are gimmicks too. Just get the re-fill, they are about the best you are going to get.
Wiper blades are usually made out of natural rubber and will naturally disintegrate over time.
The blades are chlorinated to “harden” the rubber. One can “rejuvenate” them a little by cleaning them with a chlorine bleach solution.
But sometimes the blades themselves are just crap. Either by the manufacturing process or by the material used.
Anco blades used to be made in the states but most of the manufacturing has been sent to Mexico. They are a decent blade.
Just out of curiousity, is there a name for the kind of lever/bogie system that the typical wiper blade uses? You can see it in this wikipedia image - it’s the part with five curved bows, starting at the hinge at the end of the wiper arm, and ending just before the rubber bits. I’m sure it’s used to ensure that many points of the blade touch the surface of the windshield.
You also see something similar to this in the beginning of Disney’s Dumbo, when they’re setting up the main circus tent. The elephants are pulling up a large tent pole using a system of ropes that link together via pulleys into a single line; thus this line is pulled with the combined strength of all the elephants. (Engineering 101 from a Disney cartoon!)
I know there’s a name for this type of assembly, but I can’t seem to find it.
What I want o know: cars tha have wipers that wipe from out to in (both passenger and driver side)-are they better thta the ones that move the same way?
Years ago, you could buy a wiper blade dresser-you ran this along the blade edge, and it would cut a new edge in the rubber-you could rejuvinate an old blade this way-where can you buy these today?
