How long do your windshield wipers last?

[John105]

Most of my vehicles that sit in the garage are good for 2-3 years. My Honda Civic needs new wipers every year. We get snow and ice storms which freeze the wipers and my Civic sits outside. Almost every year I end up damaging them from pulling them out of the ice when I am in an extreme hurry to get in my vehicle. Just this last winter I left it sit in the airport and it was extremely cold and the wipers were frozen and we had a lot of new snow and the roads were ice covered. I pulled on the wipers and damaged both of the fine rubber inserts. I just replace the inserts and as others stated they are about $12 each.

The Enclave needed OE blades made by Valeo due to the means of attachment (called pinch tabs?). When using aftermarket and adapters, blades lifted up due to the adapter and fell off.

Today one blade is $44 list. I would get them $18 on eBay and it seems to have gone up to $23+. This is why I got into the habit of replacing when worn. And very frustrating tearing one of these new, because of ice.

https://www.gmpartsgiant.com/parts/gm-blade-20945800.html

 

[Capt W]

I change them whenever I feel they need a change. Over the years I've built a large bench stock of Trico and Valeo wipers from the Rock Auto closeout bin, most of which cost between $1.00 and $1.50 apiece. I still add a pair to my RA orders every now and then.

Can't see paying asinine prices for so-called premium blades when perfectly good Tricos are available for about a buck. If they last six months to a year, that's great. If they last three months, that's also great. They cost next to nothing.

 

[andrew_j]

12 months using Honda OEM inserts. Our VW uses full blades and they last 9-12 months. Winter is hard on them.

 

[PWMDMD]

I do them once per year unless there are obvious issues.

 

[Donald]

If you get streaking you can clean the wiper blade with a wet paper towel.

 

[himemsys]

If you get streaking you can clean the wiper blade with a wet paper towel.

That's what I said in post #34. I wonder if at the first sign of streaking, people tend to replace them when a simple wipe-down with a wet cloth is all that's needed.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Plain rubber lasts 4 months. Silicone blades last for years. I clean them with alcohol pads to get the garbage of them. Works well. Nice little trick.

 

[iCurious]

One thing I do that helps is wipe down the blades with a wet cloth every once in awhile. Crusties get dried up on them and affect their performance, but they come right off with a wet cloth and normal performance is returned.

This is actually how i get it to last 3 years. I wipe my windshield and wipers very often with rinseless wash.

 

[ATex7239]

Every 1-2 years with Rain X wipers.

 

[JohnnyG]

Central Florida 2018 MB still has the original factory blades on. Car is garage kept, but it routinely gets over 95°F in the summer. These must be common failures for MB, since the dealership salesman gave me a set when I bought the car.
Replacements cost north of $60.00!

We can get some rain here, but the wiper blades are still working fine, noise free and streak free.

My conclusion is that it's the suns rays that degrade the wiper blades quickly, not so much heat.

 

[97prizm]

2018 Santa Fe Sport using Trico Force or Trico Edge Beam blades. Two years of great service and then they peter out on the third year. I pull on the rubber one a month to make sure they don't seperate. I just replaced the rear wiper for the first time. Found a compatable blade at O'Reilly. The Force/Edge may be overkill for So. Calif. but very effective for winter driving in Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and Colorado. I only use Rain X washer fluid. It cleans off bugs and helps to move rain off the glass even more.

I like the Rain x washer fluid as well. The prestone yellow fluid keeps from re-freezing but is pricey.

 

[si1491]

All my vehicles have Aquapel coating. Prior to applying it I used Stoner glass striper kit.

Toyota Matrix: change once a year or earlier if needed. Car doesn't get driven as much in the last few years. Michelin wipers from Costco do the trick. The windshield was replaced within the last year due to a large rock chip/crack and Aquapel applied the following week with new wipers from Costco. Should last at least one year.

Toyota Crown: similar to @skyactiv, Kimblade CarbonFit wipers installed a few months ago. Far better than the OEM wipers with the Aquapel. I originally wasn't going to do anything to this and see how long the original wipers last but the windshield does not come from factory with any coating so in heavy rain, even with wipers on high, is unbearable. Applied the Aquapel and it was soooo much better, no need for wipers at higher speeds but in mist or light rain, the OEM would chatter due to the coating. Kimblade was installed and broken in per instructions, no issues so far, don't chatter, and are quiet.

MB GLA: (Prior to Aquapel) OEM wipers every 6 months or earlier if they started chattering earlier. Tried Valero, chattered within a week. slow-mo videoed the wiper action from inside the car and did stop/start to see position of blade. adjusted wiper arm angle to ensure blade flipped at each reversal, only helped longevity of wipers prior to chatter by a month or so.
Applied Aquapel, still didn't change longevity for OEM wipers. Installed PIAA silicone wipers, started chattering in less than 2 months.
Just purchased Kimblade CarbonFit and they will be installed next weekend.

 

[rszappa1]

All my vehicles have Aquapel coating. Prior to applying it I used Stoner glass striper kit.

Toyota Matrix: change once a year or earlier if needed. Car doesn't get driven as much in the last few years. Michelin wipers from Costco do the trick. The windshield was replaced within the last year due to a large rock chip/crack and Aquapel applied the following week with new wipers from Costco. Should last at least one year.

Toyota Crown: similar to @skyactiv, Kimblade CarbonFit wipers installed a few months ago. Far better than the OEM wipers with the Aquapel. I originally wasn't going to do anything to this and see how long the original wipers last but the windshield does not come from factory with any coating so in heavy rain, even with wipers on high, is unbearable. Applied the Aquapel and it was soooo much better, no need for wipers at higher speeds but in mist or light rain, the OEM would chatter due to the coating. Kimblade was installed and broken in per instructions, no issues so far, don't chatter, and are quiet.

MB GLA: (Prior to Aquapel) OEM wipers every 6 months or earlier if they started chattering earlier. Tried Valero, chattered within a week. slow-mo videoed the wiper action from inside the car and did stop/start to see position of blade. adjusted wiper arm angle to ensure blade flipped at each reversal, only helped longevity of wipers prior to chatter by a month or so.
Applied Aquapel, still didn't change longevity for OEM wipers. Installed PIAA silicone wipers, started chattering in less than 2 months.
Just purchased Kimblade CarbonFit and they will be installed next weekend.

I also use Aquapel for many years and I have found it to be the best around and lasts a long time....