Need windshield wiper recomendation

Can anyone recomend a replacement widshield wiper blade?? I put Anco on my PT and my wife's Alero. Within a couple of weeks they were making a terrible noise when wiping the windshield unless it was raining very hard. Hit the squirters, one silent pass and then the loud noise. It was caused by the blade's contact with the windshield. Is there a make that can wipe the windshield silently in a drizzle??

Reply to
tomkanpa
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I have never tried any aftermarket blades or refills that I've been happy with. I was going to get some silicone ones for my 944 but it's been in and out of various shops for months so I haven't had a chance to try them (I finally did find a shop that recognizes that there's something wrong with the car and is actively trying to fix it however. yay.) But IME there really isn't any such thing as a good wiper blade; they never last longer than six months at the outside. The problem that I have, and the one that I expect you are having, is that the blades become hard and don't "flip over" properly when wiping. This can be caused by the blades not being exactly parallel to the windshield; bend the arms with a crescent wrench to fix. But even with the arms properly bent I still can't get them to last.

nate

Reply to
N8N

A couple of months ago, I put a pair of Michelin arms and blades on my wife's 2003 Grand Cherokee. So far, they seem to work as well as (maybe better than) the originally equipped blades.

Reply to
klutz

My recommendation would be either oem or silicon blades, but neither are perfect.

You might consider getting some wiper snuggies from your local Napa dealer. I had good luck with them on my truck, although you may have to bend them a little to tweak them. See:

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Reply to
mrdancer

A friend of mine bought some for his pickup, they didn't seem to last any longer than the Bosch ones that I've been in the habit of buying.

nate

Reply to
N8N

Original Equipment blades are definitely better than anything you could get from Anco or Trico or Bosch. But they cost much more money.

Reply to
treeline12345

I posted using OE wiper blades. But I did not see it appear so it might appear later - a redundant post. Why not try OE blades from the dealer? They cost more but they are regarded as better than anything you buy from a parts store. I had your problem when I tried wiper refills instead of replacing the entire blade.

Reply to
treeline12345

The Bosch Excel line of wipers have done the job for my on my PT Cruiser.

Richard.

Reply to
Richard

Ditto- Bosh seems to work the best. Did you all see the new Bosh wipers?? They want $22.00 a piece for them at my local AutoZone. I can't see paying that much for wipers.

Scott

Reply to
Scott Koprowski

Has anyone tried silicone? The Bosch don't last any longer than any other brand for me (i.e. they're all dead after a couple months) Most common brand of silicone seems to be PIAA which makes me a little skeptical...

nate

Scott K> Ditto- Bosh seems to work the best. Did you all see the new Bosh wipers??

Reply to
Nate Nagel

I have always had good luck with the OEM blades. It seems that whichever aftermarket blade I purchased, they have not lasted very long.

Ken

Reply to
NJ Vike

Why not try OE blades from the dealer? They cost more but they are regarded as better than anything you buy from a parts store. ____Reply Separator_____ This seems to be the most suggested remedy. Just one question. I know GM or Chrysler don't make their own windshield wipers. They must contract it out to ANCO or one of the other manufacturers who also supply them to the after market stores. Why can't you get the same quality there?

Reply to
tomkanpa

I have consistently had good success with Anco's regular yellow-box wipers, and with Trico's units with the embedded teflon strip, and most recently with the Motomaster (Canadian Tire house brand) spring steel blades without the normal bridge-and-truss structure. Have had bad luck with Bosch's overpriced junk, and refuse to spend a dime with the scam artists at PIAA.

With any brand, you must clean them thoroughly before using them, and in many locales, the contaminants in the local air mean you must clean them again frequently to prevent chattering and maintain a quality wipe. Get a bottle of denatured alcohol ("Methylated Spirits", "Methyl Hydrate") from a paint or hardware store. Wet a folded paper towel with it and really scrub the wiping edges of the blade by pinching it between your fingers with the alcohol-wetted paper towel. You'll be amazed at how much gunk comes off the surface of the rubber. Keep on refolding the towel and rewetting it until it comes away clean from the blades. You should then be back to a quiet, quality wipe.

Rain-Xing your windshield will also help quite a bit.

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Reply to
Jetson

If a subcontractor makes the blades for his own brand to the exact same specification as the OE, then yes, you would get the same quality. THEORETICALLY.

But it is possible for one manufacturer to put out different grades for the same piece. Take the rubber for example. If the rubber is not as fresh, it will not last as long. There may be a premium for the most recent rubber that the OE is willing to pay because the OE will charge more for the product, at least twice as much or three times as much, as the manufacturing subcontractor for his own product.

These are all guesses on my part. I am not privy to what is actually happening in wipers. But I have seen what happens in subcontracting and manufacturing. It's not all that obvious as you would think.

I do know that one parts' store said Trico, e.g., made all the blades for Chrysler. But I am skeptical since I have found differences between Trico and even the generic blades that the Chrysler dealer sells instead of the more expensive blades. I cannot even buy the OE blades from the dealer because my vehicle is just out of the 10 year range that the Chrysler dealer stocks. So I must buy non-OE blades and thus cannot make a recent, personal observation on this topic.

I have tried unsuccessfully to buy the OE blades to see if they are truly better. The only survey in this regard has been conducted by Consumer Reports. According to them, Chrysler and Toyota made or sold blades as OE that were better than anything one could purchase in a parts store, such as, Anco/Trico/Bosch. They rate d the common Anco 31 series as best. They are also the cheapest at AutoZone, around $5, I found, as opposed to $10-13 for Bosch which came in 4th and 6th for their Excel lines. Trico Exact-Fit filled the other slots. Pep Boys sells Trico for $8 or so and I found them not as good as the generic non-OE I bought at the Chrysler dealer since I could not get the true OE wiper for my 1994 vehicle. And forget about trying to replace my rear windshield wiper with the squirter. I cannot purchase a a GOOD replacement so I make do with the narrow refills I insert by hand. All the replacements, the generic stuff from the dealer or parts stores are not quite the proper width for the squirter to stay on snugly.

Now people in the NG contemn and condem CR, fine. But they are the only band willing to play. If you can point me to any other survey, that would be great. But I cannot find any other survey so CR is a starting point. And wiper blades is not difficult science so I trust CR in this particular survey as pointing the way to whatever is true for the moment. Not the absolute truth but better than anything else I have found - and what CR says is also what some of the very experienced posters here have also expressed. So now there double confirmation to a degree.

Whew, what a lot of words. Did any of this make any sense or be of any use?

Reply to
treeline12345

Regarded by whom? The automakers buy their wiper blades from the same suppliers as you and I do at the parts store.

Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

Longer wearing blades tend to make more noise. This is worse in colder weather. If your arms are properly aligned try softer blades, which should reduce the noise, but will wear more quickly.

Reply to
Spam Hater

My experience too. For my Concord I've been using Chrysler's refills, but last time I bought the last they had. I get a good year or two out of them, long considering we get a lot of rain here. I make sure I'm on delayed wipe so then don't wear our on a dry windshield. Also I clean them when I wash the car.

Not having the refills presents another problem in that my washer nozzles are on the custom Chrysler arm. The Chrysler dealers here now only sell a generic arm that presents a problem with those washer nozzles. I guess I've to look into moving the nozzles to lower on the hood where they won't be as effective.

Reply to
Spam Hater

H'm.

Perhaps what is needed is something like the Silblade or Ultra Silblade,

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. I've not used them yet (though I may try a set). They're said to be made in the USA of genuine GE silicone, have a 5-year unconditional warranty, and come in a bunch of different colours. Found a review of them here:

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Reply to
Daniel J. Stern

$25 per side - a little pricey, but if they live up to the billing...

come in a bunch of different colours.

Now that's difficult to do! :)

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Reply to
Bill Putney

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