The question relates to a car part - the windshield wipers. I own several cars here in Montana and I have noticed over the years that windshield wipers that use to last 3 years or more, now only last maybe a year!
What’s up? I also remember when you could buy just the replacement blade, now you have to buy the whole damn expensive wiper, with all kinds of crazy adapters! Can’t they make it simple again and lasting?
Bob Andreozzi
Depends on the brand of the wiper blade and some brands have different levels of quality in their lines. I have had some that only lasted a few months, the ones I have now are still going strong after three years.
I certainly agree with you the mounting systems should be simplified and standardized.
If this person would think back he might remember how those replacement blades could slice your fingers . I get quite a long time out of quality wiper blade assemblies and it is not that hard to put them on . Some places where the vehicle sets outside in really hot weather blades might only last a year.
Wiper blades from the store are universal fit so they come with the extra mounting devices. You pick the one you need and install the assembly. It’s not hard once you get the idea. Quality? Now that could be a really variable thing.
I have Bosch Icon blades on my car for 5 years now and they work really well yet. Pricy though. I bought them at Advance Auto parts and they put them on free.
I had a sat of 28" Rainex beam winter blades on my Town and Country until thy cane apart where the blade mounts to the adapter. they told me at Advance they have had returns in the 26 and 28 inch sizes so it looks like the mount just can’t take the load of the large blades. They worked well until they broke.
Bosch Icon blades are very good. I have a set, in the sunny south that just now need replacing after 3 years or so. Other brands roast after a year.
I got them from Amazon for about half what my local store sold them.
+1
These seem to be the best, and most durable.
I also had a bad experience with Rainex wipers, and would not buy them again.
Same here with Bosch. Other brands would not hold up in Florida’s sun.
I’ve never had wipers last three years. The regular/cheaper ones tend to last about a year, the higher end ones, about two years.
Replacing the blade alone hasn’t been a thing in a decade or two. I don’t mind it, as on all the vehicles I’ve owned, replacing the entire blade assembly only takes about 3 or 4 minutes for both of them.
You shouldn’t need any kind of outrageous adapter for a 2007 F-150. I’ve found that the higher end blades ( I’ve been using Bosch ICONs for all my vehicles over the past decade or so), tend to last longer. I can get 2 years out of a set of ICONs. I typically buy them when there’s a two-for-one sale at Advance Auto or Autozone.
I don’t recall what brand my wipers are but they were one of Oreily’s top of the line and they have lasted several year’s in the southern sun and still wipe good just started having an annoying squeak recently.
The Trico direct fit wiper’s for this truck are the 20" with the most common hook style wiper arm, Many years ago when I worked for a parts store the right adapter was already on the blade since so many brands used the same thing.
For my Pontiac I buy the OEM blade and refill because of the connector. They are about $25 each but last at least several years. For the Acura I get just the refill from Acura for about $20 for front and back. They seem to last quite a while too. When I bought just the Anco refills for past cars, they never seemed to last and didn’t seem to do as good a job. Of course if you drive in the winter, the salt and junk is hard on blades.
Actually, Mazda sells replacement inserts for the factory wiper blades on my Mazda 6. I replaced the first set after a year and a half because vision is supremely important for driving and the set of inserts was about 10 bucks and took about two minutes to replace on each blade.
Most OEM’s still sell inexpensive inserts for the OEM wiper blades that come on the vehicle. You just need to keep the OEM blades. Once you toss them for a set of aftermarket blades then you are doomed to stay in the vast and confusing wasteland of aftermarket blades with variable quality or (in the case of Bosch Icons) high prices.
Bonus - OEM inserts are much better for the environment since all that is left over after a replacement is a thin plastic bag and two slender (used up) rubber wiper inserts. If you know of a rubber recycler you can even recycle the inserts.
Just a thought but there’s probably more ozone in the atmosphere these days and ozone is destructive to rubber.
Never had to worry about wipers much, my 03 trailblazer had a replacement windsheild, wipers were lucky to last a year. I never paid uch attention to brand, bought some goodyear wipers at costco, had to dump them as at high speed the aerodynamics of the blade made them useless. Still on oem on our 2 2017s
If you live where you need winter blades, you sort of have to go aftermarket. I ued to like the factory Mopar blades of the late 50s and 60s that had a metal airfoil atop the blade so the faster you went, the tighter they pressed against the windshield. They were refillable too.
I used to switch between summer and winter blades but with the beam type winter blades, I just leave them on all year.
At work had some winter blades, but I really never got the concept of why I need them.
What area of the country do you live in? The heavy wet snow we get here will build up between the blade links and curl up the blades making then useless.
WI, never had a problem. You?
I have a son who lives in WI, much less snow and it is colder and drier because you live West of Lake Michigan and your prevailing wins is from the West.
I live near Buffalo NY.
Our prevailing wind sweeps the length of lake Erie picking up moisture all the way before dumping it on us.