Aerotwin windshield wipers

Unless your wipers have been scrapping over ice and snow on the windshield, they should last at least a couple of years.

Nope, no ice or snow in my area, rain only...

Ivan

Papa wrote:

windshield,

Hardly, most people keep their wipers on their car WELL past the wipers useful lifespan. If I get a year out of them I'm happy. Frankly it seems to be better to just buy mid-market wipers and replace them more often than to buy overpriced ones that you try to keep using too long.

Maybe for you, but in over 40 years of driving, I don't think I have have had blades that were functioning properly over a year. I generally buy good blades and replace them about every 6-8 months.

That's not true, at least in my experience. I purchased my 1995 Buick new. It is going into it's twelfth year, and I am on my fourth set of wipers. I live in Ohio, which has lots of snow and ice. The windshield has no scratches whatsoever, and I change the wipers as needed (when they stop doing their job properly). So, for my car, the average useful life for the wipers is about 2.7 years.

Thus I've found it a waste of money to bother buying anything other than the basic wipers. If you're going to replace them in a year don't pay extra. I've certainly had a few vehicles in my time that got longer life out of their wiper blades. The cabrio seems to go through them in about a year. A jeep gets about two. An older Buick seemed to get three. Varies quite a bit, probably dependent on all sorts of factors. So given the likelihood they'll fail I just get the standard ones.

I find that good blades (I use Bosh Excel) do a better job of cleaning the windows, less streaks. The better ones seem to have softer rubber. That could account for the difference in life you have observed.

I consider the inconvenience and small cost to replace them often a small price to pay on a misty night driving on the freeway.

Have you tried cleaning your windshield? The real problem is often the film of "oil", which builds itself on the windshield.

Try searching

for info. Two years ago, some guy had a procedure with pictures, etc of how to put regular refills in the Aerotwin arms. You pry off the end cap and bend a little metal tab up to slide the old blade out. Bosch refills would probably be best, but they are hard to find except mailorder or at the dealer. Presumably, the blade refill for the pre-2002 Passat would be the one to get.

The guy that wrote the procedure used those blades that you can buy at Wal Mart that have silicone in them. I used one on my 95 Golf, and didn't like it. The blade constantly puts a "RainX-like coating on the windshield. For that matter, maybe your problem is that someone put RainX or a similar product on the windshield. When that stuff starts to wear off, the blades chatter, etc.

You might try cleaning your windshield with a wet cloth and Bon Ami. It's messy but it will usually remove really stubborn windshield grime.

Also use a cloth and some window cleaner on the edge of the blades. They get kind of a "crust" on them and cleaning them sometimes renews the wiping action.

FWIW, those Aerotwin wipers lasted almost three years for us. New ones were about $40/pair at Clear Lake VW in TX.

Bill

78 Rabbit...10/77 - 4/02 82 Convertibles(s)...since 93 95 Golf GL...since 11/99 02 Passat 1.8T Tip GLS...since 4/02

I just did this for my 2005 Passat. I got replacement blades from the dealer for $8.50 (Canadian dollars, equal to about $US 7.25) each and followed the procedure above. The diagram was wrong for my wipers, and I popped the cap off the wrong end first time. I used dish soap to lubricate the new blades before I slipped them in, then rinsed it off. It took less than 5 minutes each.

The service advisor I saw said they had done the same thing for a few customers who has requested it. He said new replacement Aero blades run about $25 (CDN) now, so $8 was a 1/3 of the cost.

The results were great! We've had rain, freezing rain, snow, and salty spray from big rigs since then, and my windshield has been streak free.

Ivan, I don't have an answer to your specific question, but I have a couple of comments.

Bosch wiper blades are both the most expensive, and worst, wiper blades I've ever used. They were $24 for the pair (not "Aerotwin" just regular "microedge" or something like that), and they were shot within a couple of months. No amount of cleaning would revive them. Avoid Bosch blades like the plague.

Regular old Anco "31" series wiper blades are as good as any blades out there. There is absolutely no need to buy fancy, expensive blades. In fact, if you buy expensive blades, you will have a disincentive to replacing them regularly, which is, hands down, the best policy.

You should change your blades at least once per year, and any time that cleaning will not improve them.

If you change your blades as often as you should, streaking and other problems are caused by dirty blades or dirty windshield, or both. Always wipe off the edge of your blades, every time you clean the windshield.

Windex and other similar glass cleaners are fine for periodic cleaning, but they won't cut the oil and bug guts that make your windshield streak and smear. You have to use a strong detergent and/or a mild abrasive every now and then. I use Bon Ami, with liberal amounts of water, so as never to rub dry powder into the glass. Rinse thoroughly, and clean off the edges of the wiper blades. If there are still streaks or smears after that, it's time for new blades.

Never, ever use RainX or any similar product on your windshield. It's fine for all the other windows, but on the windshield, never. Even the best wiper blades leave a very thin film of water on the glass, and RainX will cause even that thin film to bead up, making the glass look foggy.

Never, ever use the windshield washer liquids that claim to be "de-icers." They contain glycol, and leave an oily film on the glass that will make it impossible for your wipers to clean properly. I think that stuff oughta be illegal -- really!

Brian Running wrote: ..

Frankly the are not the most expensive I have seen, but they are the best I have used. ..

I sure agree with that.

More very good advice.

Some people love the stuff, I personally hate it also.

...

Amen to that. I've never had to replace wipers as fast as I have with Bosch Microedge. One set didn't even last me a year before they shredded like string cheese. Most people seem to think that if it's German and priced at least 50% more than anything else it therefore must be great and worth the cost. Not true of everything German and this is one of those things.

Even my current I-forget-the-name-but-it's-some-pep-boys-only-thing-made-in-china wipers currently on my GTI have lasted 2x longer than those Boschs have and still work great, the only downside being the metal frame doesn't quite bend enough in that last 5 degrees of sweep before parking so there's a small unwiped area in the lower right corner of my windshield. BFD.

Yup.

Matt B. wrote: ...

Maybe that explains part of the reason I like the Bosh and some others hate them.

The rubber appears to be a little softer and provides a cleaner sweep. However that also means it may not last as long. If you expect wipers to last several years, then Bosh would not be a good choice. I generally replace mine about every 6 months to a year. On my Miata I tended to replace the driver's side and move the older one to the passenger's side for the next six months. I can't do that now so they both tend to get replaced at the same time.

I found that most other makes did not maintain the really clean sweep I liked for more than a few weeks after which they did OK, but not really good for a long time after that.

I guess I am really picky about how well they work.

They don't provide a cleaner sweep. They're worse than Ancos, right out of the box.

If you expect them to last more than two weeks, Bosch is not a good choice.

Sure doesn't look that way to me -- I'd say just the opposite, you are satisfied with substandard quality. Since I only tried one set, it's possible that I hit a one-in-a-million bad set, but I bet not. At the price, there's no way in hell I'll give them a second chance.

I get the impression that the Robert Bosch name just doesn't mean what it once did. Time was, if it said "Bosch" on the side, you knew it was a quality piece. Nowadays, from auto parts to power tools, they just don't have the same aura of quality. The Bosch name is being put on things that are manufactured by someone else, and the price is boosted. Bosch dishwashers, however, are still the best -- but, I notice that the identical machines also appear under other brand names, such as Siemens.

Well they do for me. I can't say what they do for you.

They last a lot longer than two weeks for me. Sorry they don't for you.

I guess for some unknown reason our experiences are different.

That happens! :-)

My experience is the opposite of yours. I found the Bosch blades to clean better than the Anco ones that preceded them. And I don't pay that much for Bosch blades at Auto Zone, unless the price went up in the last couple of months.