Winter wipers

[Donald]

Does anyone get winter wipers each winter. Maybe I should get some and just replace wipers 2x a year, once with regular and once with winter.

I have on occasion used my wipers to get off ice, which hacks them up, needing new ones in the spring.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I usually get 3 or 4 years out of a set.

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
I usually get 3 or 4 years out of a set.


6 months in the winter here! I would like to get a year out of a set!

 

[redhat]

I normally replace my inserts twice a year. Still the best wipers I've ever had on a car.

 

[dparm]

Wipers ideally need to be replaced every spring and fall, but depending on where your car is garaged, you might be able to do it once a year.

If the fitment exists, get the metal-armature blades for the spring through fall (warm months), and run the beam/winter style for fall through spring (cold months).

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Does anyone get winter wipers each winter.

I used to, but the beam blades seem to do well with resisting ice buildup. Do, however, be careful of the hybrid blades. One of my suppliers has discontinued them because water works into the joints and breaks them when it freezes. He was getting too many returns and simply dropped them.

I usually go six months on a set of blades, but as I've mentioned before, I'm picky about them.

 

[Rolla07]

My wipers typically last 2 seasons each. Cheap anco winter wipers for winter and they last 2 seasons.

 

[ronbo]

I replace them when needed. The summer yearly and winter 2 years. Consumer reports did a test many years ago and they claim a life span of 6 months. Two exceptions that lasted longer were silicone blades and Toyota OEM which were expensive.

 

[dparm]

Silicone's wipe is inferior to natural rubber. Don't bother.

 

[cp3]

I had Motomaster Reflex Ice wipers last winter on the G5 and I was really impressed. They are a beam style but seemed to have a softer blade as it worked really well in the cold. Both cars have hybids now and the ones I put on the G6 are already skipping and it's only around 0C. Very hard blade. I'm very likely going to grab a set of the Reflex Ice for both cars and take them off when I take the winter tires off.

 

[ronbo]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Silicone's wipe is inferior to natural rubber. Don't bother.

A surprise to me. I've had a California Water Blade that's made of surgical silicone to wipe the vehicle glass and body after washing and it does an outstanding job for the last 10 years.

 

[eljefino]

Those old school "condom covered" blades are junk. They don't flex, they chatter, etc. Glad beam blades were invented.

I keep spare blades on hand but don't specifically pull the summer ones when snow flies. I have wrecked week-old winter blades so now I wait until I wreck my older summer ones for their replacement.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: ronbo
Originally Posted By: dparm
Silicone's wipe is inferior to natural rubber. Don't bother.

A surprise to me. I've had a California Water Blade that's made of surgical silicone to wipe the vehicle glass and body after washing and it does an outstanding job for the last 10 years.

Apples to oranges.

Bosch had independent testing performed decades ago to assess if they should offer silicone or switch to it outright. The results showed that natural rubber wiped better.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: Miller88
I usually get 3 or 4 years out of a set.


6 months in the winter here! I would like to get a year out of a set!


I swap them in and out in the summer.

Usually the clips break - the wiper and rubber is still good.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Bosch had independent testing performed decades ago to assess if they should offer silicone or switch to it outright. The results showed that natural rubber wiped better.


Yes, I wish that PIAA offered their blades with a good natural rubber compound instead of silicone ONLY.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: dparm
Bosch had independent testing performed decades ago to assess if they should offer silicone or switch to it outright. The results showed that natural rubber wiped better.


Yes, I wish that PIAA offered their blades with a good natural rubber compound instead of silicone ONLY.

So why not just buy the Bosch ones then? I doubt PIAA is even making the blades. It's probably private labeling.

IMO PIAA needs to stick to making all those cheap blue bulbs...or whatever it is they actually do.

 

[DBMaster]

I used to buy PIAA Super Graphite inserts for my Honda. They were natural rubber with a graphite coating on the wiping surfaces. They were great, but alas, discontinued. You might still find some around. I used to buy them on Amazon as recently as two years ago.

 

[artificialist]

The first time I bought a set of beam blades at Wal-Mart, the guy behind me commented "Those would be awesome for my ski trips!"

But I have never driven in snow, so I don't know what works best. I regularly replace those cheap winter wipers that simply have stuff wrapped around the hinges. They certainly don't work year-round.

 

[sw99]

I replace mine with Anco Winter wipers every winter. $8 each at WM here and they do a great job for the Colorado snow.

 

[Donald]

I ordered some Trico winter ones on Amazon. The winter ones at WM were 20 or 22, no 21.