Rain X water Repellancy blades "worn"?

[A_User55555]

In June, I purchased new Rain X Water Repellancy wiper blades for my car. They were good at first. The water repellancy was great and they made no streaks.


However recently, Ive noticed that they streak kinda badly. If I use the orange Rain X washer fluid during a wash cycle, The blades will leave a thick "coating" like streak on my windshield. Eventually it fades after a minute, But it is kind of annoying.

Normally in this case, Id take a rag and clean any buildup on the wiper blades. However, these particular blades have a "coating" on them and I think that if I tried to clean them, ill just wipe off the coating that made the blades more expensive.

What should I do? I love how the water beads up when it rains, and don't want to get rid of that. Im not sure, but is the water repellancy the same with just the orange Rain X fluid? Or does having the Rain X blades provide more water beading?

 

[Skippy722]

I'm a big fan of Rain-X, I use their windshield fluid and the booster... just wish it didn't have that orange color, leaves orange streaks on my white car! But for their wiper blades, I ran into the same streaking issue you are. I just wiped them off, any coating that was on the blades has since worn off by now.

I can't speak for longevity, but so far I'm incredibly impressed by the Trico blades I just bought. More than the Bosch Icon's I was using! The icons started chattering, and that's an instant toss into the garbage for me.

 

[bbhero]

Had the same problem... Get rid of the water repellecy blades. They are not good. If you find the regular rain x blades without that junk on them... Get them. The Rain X Latitudes without the repellecy stuff are hard to find now though.

 

[CharBaby]

I find the Rain-X Latitude at Walmart & AAP in my area. However, I have never had good luck with the Rain-X washer fluid. This fluid is what was causing a haze on my windshield after each swipe of the blades. The haze would remain if the wipers were in Full ON and would disappear after each swipe ONLY if the wipers were left on intermittent but would return with each swipe again. I stay with the standard BLUE -20f washer fluid.

I use CRC Dry Silicone to clean my wiper blades. Not the wet silicone lube. Put it on a paper towel and wipe the blades clean.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/CRC-Heavy-Duty-Silicone-Lubricant-11-Wt-Oz/16817419

 

[Cujet]

I like those blades and I'm not at all sure they apply any sort of coating to the windshield. I use the orange rainx washer fluid in PA and the green stuff in FL.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I bought Rain-X blades like the OPer's and they were the worst I've ever purchased due to the terrible streaking.
I think I used them for a few months and bought Bosch Icons to replace them, was much happier with those despite the price. Made several more Icon purchases.
Just a few weeks ago, I tried some noname brand on Amazon that offered both front blades for my car in one package for a very reasonable price (under $20 for beams) and also had very good buyer reviews...haven't been using them long enough to have a clear opinion, at the very least they are not terrible. After paying $50 or whatever each time I replaced the Icons, I started to wonder if I was really getting good value for the money as I was still replacing them every 6 months or so like other beams. We'll see!

 

[mclasser]

The original Latitudes were excellent. I haven't heard such great things about the new coated ones.

 

[WylieCoyote]

The Latitudes I put on my Canyon turned hard as soon as the temps dropped, and started dragging and streaking. They're not even a year old. The Michelins I attempted to replace them with don't come with the proper adapter on the small blade, so I'm back to Delco. Nice blades.

 

[Ihatetochangeoil]

The only people who use RainX are those who have never heard of Aquapel. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aquapel+vs+rain+x

I put nothing on my wipers and they're 4+ years old. I'm using PIAA silicone wipers...https://www.ebay.com/itm/Piaa-Aero-Vogue-Windshield-Wiper-w-Silicone-Blades-22-22-Set-Made-in-Japan/262104033258?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

I'm the guy on the Interstate who will pass you doing 70 mph when it's pouring sideways and semis are on the shoulder because they can't see. I CAN see, without wipers.

 

[GZRider]

Most wipers are 6 months to a year, I've had good luck with Denso wipers Japanese makes, (like the Avalon in the sig) they make some of the OEM wipers for Toyota, Nissan and Honda products (and probably others) and can often be had dirt cheap on Rock and other discount autoparts sites. I'd also second the PIAA wipers for those willing to spend $50-100 on wipers.. I'm using the PIAA SI-Tech's on the G, for the past 8 months and they are still working like new.

 

[A_User55555]

Thanks for the suggestions! Today I took a paper towel and some home made APC and cleaned the wiper blades.

A LOT of black residue came off. It felt like it wouldn't stop coming off. Would De Natured Alcohol have been better?


The wipers streak much less now. They still streak on the first washer wipe, but the streak fades after 1 second.

 

[dogememe]

Not a fan of RainX or any coating on the wipers or windshield.

I find that Trico wipers last longer than Bosch. Recently I put Trico Titan on both of my vehicles. Oke of them as a replacement for a set of Bosch blades that made it less than a year.

And to the person saying they go 70 in the pouring rain... Yeah, I was going 80+ in the pouring rain the other night when most people were going half that. Had no problem with visibility. Doesn't mean it was safe.

 

[PimTac]

I did the same with my wipers when they streaked when new. I cleaned the blades themselves and removed quite a bit of black substance. I also cleaned the windshield with NextZett Scheibenklar full strength which I had used on the blades as well.

As the windshield wash reservoir went down I replaced the fluid with Scheibenklar at a dilution of one part to five parts distilled water. I can now clean my windows easily and keep them clear with no streaks.


https://www.autopia-carcare.com/1z-921410.html

 

[bobdoo]

The type of rain-x wipers I tried needed to be 'bedded in' to the windshield.

Surgically clean wipers and glass, then you need to run the wipers against the dry glass to transfer the rain-x compound back to the glass.

I needed to do this several times over the life of the blades, and it restored the good wiping.