Sonata wipers are different length.

I bought wiper refills for my 06 Sonata today after stopping at the dealer and finding that they wanted "$12-14 a piece" (he didn't look it up to get an exact price) for wiper blades and they don't sell refills. I then notice that the look-up computer at Wally-World lists two different sizes for the Sonata, 24" for the driver side and 20" for the passenger side. Thinking this must be an error, I buy one set of 24" refills. Guess what? This isn't an error. The geniuses at Hyundai that designed the Sonata used two different size wiper blades! I haven't seen this in 30+ years of car ownership. What a stupid idea.

I've always in the past carried a spare blade in my cars in case one came apart when not near a store. Now I have to carry two blades as spares!

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting
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Get used to it Matt. Lots of manufacturers are doing the same thing and have for several years now. Does not make any difference in how you see out the windshield, but obviously some engineers somewhere think it does.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

Had the same problem with my wifes Sonata, Solved the problem by buying a set of 20" !!!! A loss of 2" at top and 2" at bottom is not noticable all and does not impare vision at all !!!!

']['unez

Reply to
']['unes

Which manufacturers? This is the first car I've ever seen with different sized wipers side to side. Sure, lots of rear wipers are different size from the front.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

GM has been doing it across some of their product lines for almost 10 years that I'm aware of. I've owned two GM products now that use different size wipers, dating back to a 1998 model. I've seen it on other manufacturer's cars also, but couldn't tell you who they were. It's just that like you, when I first encountered it I thought it was pretty silly, and then I started noticing more and more of them on cars. Kinda like the way you notice all of the cars of the same model you just bought - right after you buy it.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

Matt Whiting wrote in news:3CeVg.1697$ snipped-for-privacy@news1.epix.net:

Funny, I haven't owned a car in about 15 years that had the same size on both sides, except for my '88 Chevy P/U. I am pretty sure that is the norm now, Matt, but I am sure there are a few manufacturers out there that use the same size. I know for a fact that Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, GM and at least Ford P/U trucks all have different sizes on each side. And no, it doesn't make sense to me either, but it also is no big deal. All of the replacements I have purchased are sold individually anyway.

Eric

Reply to
Eric G.

Add Chrysler products to the list also. I have a 2002 Intrepid with different lengths.

Reply to
Marc

Our Ford Taurus and Toyota Camry have different length wiper blades. This is common.

Reply to
Mark W.

Neons since the beginning.

Reply to
jtees4

"Matt Whiting" a écrit dans le message de news: w1kVg.1709$ snipped-for-privacy@news1.epix.net...

Ford, on my old (!!) 2000 Windstar, 24" driver's side, 22" passenger's side, and 16"" backglass.

Shaman

Reply to
Shaman

The first one I can remember was my wife 81' Ford, from that year on, at least one of the family cars had different size ones, right now all 4 have different ones, only 3 wipers are same length out of 10 total. Cars are 1 BMW, 1 Honda, 2 Hyundai, so as of now NORMAL is: 'different length'.

Reply to
Victor A. Garcia

Blades, yes, refills, no. At least the Pylons I bought this week still came two in a package. This may explain why refills are getting harder to find.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

Matt Whiting wrote in

Yes, blades, sorry I should have qualified that. I've never had the rubber wear out before the blade anyway. I clean my rubber regularly and they seemingly last forever.

Eric

Reply to
Eric G.

Funny, I've never had a blade wear out. I've had a couple get pretty rusty and ratty looking, but they help the refills just fine. I find the rubber lasts one year at best. I just replaced my OEM Sonata rubber at 9 months and 13,000 miles. It was streaking very badly on the back stroke. It would remove the water fine coming up, but then leave a film on the way back down. When I got the rubber off, it was polished shiny and smooth near the locations where it was supported by the wiper blade.

Life of the refill probably depends on where you live. How have your blades worn out?

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

My Chrysler minivans have both had the same size on each side. They are long, something like 28" if memory serves, but equal on both sides. Yes, the rear is shorter but that makes sense as the window is much smaller than the windshield.

Score one for Chrysler engineering.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

Matt, Living out here in the desert, wipers last about 4 -5 months at MOST in the summer heat they just dry out and dont work worth a crap. I have a 2005 XG350L that I bought in August 2005 and Im working on my 4 th set of wipers since then. I usually go to Wally World cause thier about the cheapest in Vegas. Since Im not into spending the big bucks for something I dont use and Im gonna throw away I wish the $$Stores sold wiper blades then I wouldnt feel bad about changeing them once a month.

']['unes

Reply to
']['unes

I've got a '99 Honda Accord EXL-V6 that has different size blades on each side. Good to find out about this on the wife's Sonata LX as it's time to replace them.

KW

Reply to
KW

Matt Whiting wrote in news:otBVg.1725$ snipped-for-privacy@news1.epix.net:

Pretty much as a result of the tons of salt they put on the roads around here in the Winter. They rust, rot and pit. OTOH, I've never seen the rubber get shiny like you mentioned. I'll have to watch for that on my Sonata too, but I've already past 1 year and just around 17,000 miles with the originals.

Eric

Reply to
Eric G.

The only wiper blade that got bad enough that I had to replace it was the rear wiper on my minivans. The road salt just accumulates there. My 1994 Chevy pickup still has its original blades after 13 years of PA/NY winters and road salt.

My Sonata wipers were wierd. The rubber looked pretty good generally, but it was clear that the one side of the wiper was rolling over too far and thus losing the squeegie (sp?) action of the blade. It would clear the windshield nicely on the upstroke and then smear it miserably on the way back down! It may be that the wiper arm is bent a little such that the blade isn't perpendicular to the surface. I'll check that if the refill does the same. I sooner think it is just from the wipers parking on the downstroke and thus always having the blade bent the same direction which tends to make the rubber take a "set" that direction.

Matt

Reply to
Matt Whiting

My finance' purchased a 2007 Sonata Limited V6 las week and I noticed the difference in wipper lengths. I have a 2006 Honda Ridgeline Truck and it has different length blades as well. This is not an unusual thing these days.

One of the best things you can do for your blades is buy the Protectall blade treatment wipes (this is from the company that makes Protectant

303). Once a month or so a quick wipe down and they stay nice and soft, increasing their effectiveness and their life span two or three times.

MARTY

Reply to
shortspark

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