silicone wiper blades worth the expense?

Are silicone wiper blades worth the expense? I'm looking at the PIAA Super Silicone blades as OEM replacements, they'd be about $50 for my car.

RainX Latitude.

I don't want the beam style though.

I have the Super Silicone on my 850, best blades I've tried on it, for the longest time I just used the cheap Ancos, and replaced them every 6 months or so. Rain X were good, Bosch meh, but the Piaas have been great.

Through a mix up with an order from Tire Rack, I got 1 front window blade & 1 rear window blade instead of 2 fronts. I drive a sedan, don't have a rear wiper. I never consulted with them, about the mix-up, just put the wiper I could use on the driver's side, and left the passenger side be, until it was literally falling apart. Then I bought a new Super Silicone wiper, transferred the old Piaa from the D/S to the P/S and put the new one on the D/S. The old one, now on the P/S is over 2 years old now and still doing great.

Disclaimer, the "old" Piaa only saw 1 OH Winter before moving back to AR, and the 850 hasn't been driven much since SWMBO and I can now car-pool.

Additional disclaimer, I put Piaas on the Jetta, it uses a beam style wiper blade, and I wasn't too impressed with those. The factory (Bosch maybe?) blades sucked. I replaced them with another set of Bosch blades, they were better, but didn't last quite a year. I replaced those with Piaa, I got a defective blade, little nick in the blade, left a streak right in my field of vision, I lived with it, it didn't bother SWMBO, it's "her" car and at the time I didn't drive it much. Those lasted about 18+ months, though really I should have replaced them 2 or 3 months before I finally did. I recently replaced them with another set of Bosch, and these have been the best we've used yet, better than any of the others. The newest Bosch are an "Aero Twin" pack I got from IDParts.com, I'm not sure which version the previous Bosch I've used were, but I hope these last at least as long as the Piaas did.

• Lee

Cool, thanks! I always used to use the OEM insert replacements, but it seems like those have fallen out of favor, as the OEM replacement for this car (2012 Mazda 3) is a full blade and is actually more expensive than the PIAAs.

I also had back luck with the beam style wipers. The ones I used actually lasted a shorter amount of time than the generics I got from Menards for $4.99.

I use the cheapest blades and clean and wax the windshield about once a month. I never have to turn on the wipers in a heavy rainstorm doing it this way.

I'm not looking to start a debate regarding the philosophical ramifications of wiper blade choice, but why avoid the beam style blades? Do they not conform well to an oddly shaped bit of glass on your car or something? I'm curious.

bigdaddylee82 wrote: I recently replaced them with another set of Bosch, and these have been the best we've used yet, better than any of the others. The newest Bosch are an "Aero Twin" pack I got from IDParts.com, I'm not sure which version the previous Bosch I've used were, but I hope these last at least as long as the Piaas did. - Lee

Boom. Bosch Aero Twins are the single best wipers I have ever used. They are available at every single parts store in Germany, and will fit/lay like OEM (not raised with a huge bump like most aero blades in the US), plus they are affordable. Huge bonus if you have a VW product, as they are the OEM aero wiper blade without the dealer markup from about 2004-up.

Powar wrote: I'm not looking to start a debate regarding the philosophical ramifications of wiper blade choice, but why avoid the beam style blades? Do they not conform well to an oddly shaped bit of glass on your car or something? I'm curious.

I've had problems with beam-style blades on my S2000 not laying flat to the passenger side of the windshield. Though, the S2000 has a much curvier windshield than most modern cars too.

In reply to Powar:

No clue. I run them on everything. They last between 1 and 3 years and work great until they die. I even get a couple of years out of them on my work van and it sees 50-70K a year.

The only thing I see that could be a problem, is they will lift off the windshield of my van at speeds over 85.

I use the top-of-the-line Bosch ones and love them. Damn things last YEARS.

In reply to Powar: Yes, for some reason the passenger side outside end would not lay flat on the glass, and left a huge portion unwiped and would generally freeze and then really not work at all. Additionally the ones I had (Bosch) wore out really fast (less than a year, and even the cheapies would last a full year). This is not to say that all brands are the same, but it definitely made me hesitant to try others.

Also I would prefer blades where I can replace the wiper part if I want, and beam-style doesn't provide that (AFAIK).

I run the cheapest metal framed blades I can find. Swap 'em out every 6 months (usually more like a year). UV/heat/dirt takes a hell of a toll on the material. As someone else pointed out, a clean windshield that is rain-x'd will make the most difference (actually, a brand new windshield will if your's is sandblasted to E36 M3).

Remember the old snow blades with the rubber boot that went all the way around the wiper? Remember how you could smack them down on the glass to clear of the ice and snow?

You can't do that with the silicone-beam-wonder blades. The blades are fine but the adapters shatter. Rain-X, Michelin, Trico have all exploded like they were glass.

the only blades that i found that would wipe off the windshields of my Cavaliers were the beam style ones... i forget which brand they were, but i got them at Wal Mart for like $9 each- maybe Bosch?

tried the same ones on my 86 Camaro, and they miss a huge part of the middle of the windshield... $6 Ancos work perfectly on that car.

The PIAA super silicone is a nice wiper blade, but you can get ~90% the performance from the cheap Michelin blades lately(both are graphite coated IIRC). I've always found wiper blades to vary wildly in quality, even sticking to one model. The cheap Bosch beam blades USED to be excellent, they went to hell a year ago, cheaper rubber or something.

I typically use the Bosch or Rain-X wipers, but the biggest difference comes from keeping the windshield fluid topped off with some Rain-X fluid and giving the windshield a good wax once a month or so. In almost everything up to an absolute downpour, I really don't use my wipers that much. I hardly ever turn them on at night as the water just beads right off.

Thanks guys! Sounds like I have to experiment and find what works best for my car. For waxing the windshield, do i just use regular car wax (I have Meguiars NXT right now?)

Rain-X.

slowride wrote: Thanks guys! Sounds like I have to experiment and find what works best for my car. For waxing the windshield, do i just use regular car wax (I have Meguiars NXT right now?)

I use the cheapo turtle wax.

I have had the same rubber wipers for 4 years no idea the brand, but the cheapest I could buy at a discount store.

To get this sort of life out of them. I first, clean the windshield with Laundry soap(not detergent). Then wax the windshield (which takes 10 minutes once every few months). Also whenever I wash the car, or clean and wax the windshield. I get a wet paper towel pinch the blade on ether side and run the paper towel down the length of each blade; until there is no black E36 M3 that comes off on the towel. You would be amazed how many passes it takes until there is no black E36 M3 that comes off..

I have been doing this for years on a few different vehicles, I have always had phenomenal wiper life.. Although by waxing the windshield regularly, I rarely have to turn them on. I only turn them on in heavy rain while going slow. At highway speeds, I only turn them on for a monsoon!!

I have Bosch Icons on both of my DDs. Love them. They don't work very well above 70 mph on my Impala SS, but that seems to be a problem for any blades I've had on that car.

I use Rain-X once a year on the glass, and I use the rain-x additive in the washer fluid. Makes one sweet combo.