Our area is hard on winter blades if you don’t practice a little common sense, regardless of the brand. Not completely scraping the window and beating them up on ice/frost until the defroster clears it for you is a good way to limit the life.
The blades that have lasted me the longest have been the triple edge blades. They used to sell for about $8 at Walmart, but Walmart no longer carries them. I have used all the brands listed above except the Bosch blades.
I also use and highly recommend Rain-X. It increases forward visibility far more than any wiper blade alone can do. It does make frost and ice removal a lot easier in the winter, but you have to reapply it just about every other ice/frost cycle.
Keith, just get the Rain-X washer fluid. I just squirt a little on when it starts to rain and I’m good to go.
This past January, I spent 35 bucks on a good pair of heavy duty wiper blades. The effect I felt the minute I turned on my wipers made it worth every penny. Clean, precise and quiet swiping…the glide of good blades acrost the windshield. Worth every penny out here in severe weather, sitting on the lake, Cleveland Ohio.
Worth every penny.
I go to Walmart (best prices for great wipers) and buy Anco brand winter blades when I need new blades (which is usually about every year and a half). I like to use the Anco Winter Blades all year round because they seem to do the best job. Also, every couple months I clean the old dead rubber off the blades and they perform as though brand new with no streaks and they stay very quiet with no skipping across the windshield. And, you don’t have to cough up 35 bucks for them, either.
I think the Bosch Icons are overrated, or at least not suited to my Honda Odyssey. They wipe fine when the car is at rest, but at any speed above 30 mph, the driver’s side wiper smears. It must be catching the wind and pulling away from the windshield.
It would also be good to really clean the windshield. Even if they look clean, often they are not all that clean. If the glass is really clean the wipers last longer and do a better job.
Best thing to really clean the glass, without damaging it. is the oil BonAmi. That stuff was in a yellow container with out the photo of the chick and the words "It has not scratched yet (not their usual gold color.) Now it appears they have a newer container and an indication of the original 1883 formula.I’ve had GREAT luck with the Michelin blades at Wallmart. I tried the tripple-edge blades once…then I burnt out my wiper motor. The place I bought the new wiper motor asked me I had used the new tripple-edge blades…and I told him “Yes”. He said that they had sold more wiper motors because of those blades. Seems they do such a GREAT job the drastically increase the blade to windshield resistance.
Mike, sorry you had trouble with triple edge, I’ve used them on a lot of vehicles and never had a problem with wiper motors. It might be that I also use rain-X which reduces drag on the wipers.