Replacement Wiper Blades

[BOB OLINGER]

I couldn't help but notice that replacement wiper blades were about $5 to $28 while in the farm and home store last week. Over time I've usually went for the cheaper end. I've just not have sufficient good results from the higher priced ones to justify the cost. What do others think; any recommendations?

[Matt Day]

I haven’t had good luck with the frameless ones that don’t have a brace behind it.

[Frank Pratt]

The replacement blades from my Honda dealer are just the rubber refill. They are cheap & work as well as any blades I've used.

[Rick Potter]

Where I live, you can pretty much count on 8-9 months without rain then the year's supply in the remaining months. I buy a new car, and the wipers last about 4 years before needing replacement, because the sun has dried them out.

Name brand replacements last one year, from then on, and I have always wondered why? If I went to the dealer to have them replaced for $30-40, would they hold up longer??

[Tom M King]

It takes about 15 seconds to change a wiper blade, and most of that time is opening the package that the new one is in. I like clean windshields, so they get changed out about every six months anyway. The store brand ones from Auto Zone work great for that length of time, and are pretty cheap. I pull up beside one of their trashcans in the parking lot, so I can toss the old ones, and packages right away.

[Frank Pratt]

I'll add that around here wiper blades need to be change a couple of time a year for optimal cleaning. In winter, the slurry of sand, salt & muck is pretty hard on the wiper edges.

[Steve Eure]

I get around a year at best here in the SE part of the country. Dust, bugs, especially those pesky love bugs will eat up a set of blades quickly. I have to keep chastising my wife for using the blades to try and clean her windshield instead of using some sort of cleaner and a water hose to clean. Those bug guts really do a number on the cheap blades.

[michael langman]

There are summer blades and winter blades. The winter blades have a rubber sheath over the entire blade to keep the ice and snow from getting in between the arms of the blade. The summer blades do not have this.
For some reason the summer blades last for years on my wifes car and my car. The winter blades always begin to split at the end of the blades. Usually after the first year.
I do not buy winter blades any more.

[George Bokros]

I have had good luck with the Bosch premium blades. The ones on my Ranger are going on three years and still wipe excellent. I have also had good luck with the premium Rain-X blades. Thes blades are not inexpensive but the wipe excellent and I feel are worth the cost. My vehicles sit outside 24/7/365, my toys (muscle cars from the '80's) reside in the garage.

[Brian Tymchak]

I have had good luck with the Bosch premium blades. The ones om Ranger are going on three years and still wipe excellent. I have also had good luck with the premium Rain-X blades. Thes blades are not inexpensive but the wipe excellent and I feel are worth the cost. My vehicles sit outside 24/7/365, my toys (muscle cars from the '80's) reside in the garage.

+1 on the Bosch blades. Way better than the OEM blades for the Tundra.

[Ronald Blue]

If you run the "beam" blades there is no reason to do the winter/summer thing. They are by design pretty resistant to ice and snow build up. There is no exposed metal to have it freeze to. You might get a little better resistance with winter blades but not enough to justify changing just for that reason. I've had great results with the "beam" blades. There is less mass there so wind doesn't seem to try to lift them as much.

[Jim Becker]

For my previous vehicle (Grand Cherokee) I used the Bosch "beam type" replacements and was very satisfied with them. I bought off of Amazon. For my Subaru...they are covered under warranty for three years, so I'll not have to worry about buying them for a bit.

[Doug Dawson]

I couldn't help but notice that replacement wiper blades were about $5 to $28 while in the farm and home store last week. Over time I've usually went for the cheaper end. I've just not have sufficient good results from the higher priced ones to justify the cost. What do others think; any recommendations?

The dealer wipers on my cars are about ten bucks apiece. They last around 2-3 years, with the extreme abuse that the pollen accumulations give them here. (Although I'm in the habit of cleaning the windshield whenever I gas up.) I don't have to worry about it too much. It helps that the insects are dying out, FWIW.

[Doug Garson]

Saw a tip on Youtube, clean your blades with WD40 to extend the life, anyone tried it?

[Doug Dawson]

Saw a tip on Youtube, clean your blades with WD40 to extend the life, anyone tried it?

Could be "toxic" to the soft rubber compound, maybe? It's cheaper to just run the windshield "cleaner shammy" along the blade while it's up. Smearing WD40 on your windshield sounds wierd.