I can choose between ‘Universal Plastic Refills For Square Claws’ and ‘High Performance Polymer Flexor Design Integrated To The Rubber Element For Durability’ - ‘Polymer Flexor’!! sounds high-tech!
My biggest problem is blades falling apart from the heat. If I accidentally hit the wiper switch in dry weather (I live in New Mexico) the blade sticks and tears off. I keep them wrapped up in aluminum foil most of the time. Whichever would best tolerate being out in the heat and dry weather would work better for me.
Mr/Ms VOLVO_V70: I haven’t. I haven’t paid attention to what sort of blades I have bought. Since moving to NM they’ve all failed not from use but from exposure. Possibly someone in this forum has useful advice. If you do, you’ve withheld it.
You’d think. That hasn’t been my experience. I drive only a few times a year, which makes me an unusual case. I don’t think I used the current set to remove water from my windshield once. Also wipers are overlooked. I’d overlooked them all my life, just replacing them when they failed. That their mount (double screw bayonet) has become unusual has forced me to pay more attention this time.
I also wonder if wiper material hasn’t changed. I lived in the hot desert of California before I moved to NM and didn’t have this problem with my blades. I had snow and ice to remove in the winter, a rarity here.
Whatever you buy, treat them with RainX. Or, better yet, if you indeed only drive every few months, why not take them off in between outings and store them out of the sunlight/heat?
Random Troll , you had a thread in 2007 asking about wiper blades and said you were in New Mexico. I would think after 10 years you would have found the proper blades.
Out here in the wild west the wipers are used for dust and cleaning kick-up more often than that . . ‘‘rain’’. . stuff of legend.
The sun beats them to death first.
My Ohio family will ask if it’s raining out hear and I can only reply . .’‘well . . over THERE is rain coming out of a cloud and if you stood under it you won’t get wet . . just sunburned.’’ ( Virga )
My parked 79 is bad for rotting the wipers between uses but my daily drivers get the Ford / Motorcraft and do well for the year.
I just use OEM in Minnesota. Some say they should be replaced every 6 months but mine last longer. Plow drivers claim they can go through a set of blades in one day depending on the road conditions. So I dunno, maybe just buy an extra set to keep in the trunk.
Congratulations on your scholarship. And you’d be wrong. It takes a while for them to fail. I’ve tried a few different kinds. I haven’t paid attention to rubber v. plastic. I asked here in case an experienced person just happened to stumble across my query. I’m astonished at all the people who don’t want to help but want to ‘contribute’ anyway.
The control is on the same lever with the headlights. I’ve turned them on by mistake more often than purposely since I moved to NM.
Because it controls other devices. It rains occasionally, often by surprise. I like to be prepared. Maybe I’ll be in the middle of the freeway and would have to pull over suddenly if they weren’t installed; it’d be unsafe, if not illegal.
I think they also make silicone or something else that is supposed to last a million miles. I bought some of these but didn’t have the proper documentation to file a warranty claim. I know this is what they are wanting so I threw them away and got some standard ones. The silicone ones didn’t impress me.
Anyway, I think that you should ask the people who work at the parts store where you are buying them at the very least. I suspect they will have an idea of what works best in that area.
The high quality Toyota refills that we use last more than 3 years, they don’t wear out in the desert, they fail/tear from exposure. Aftermarket blades last about 18 months.
Silicone is the most heat resistant material wiper blades are made of. Try a pair of silicone wipers. They are more expensive than many rubber materials, but it’s worth it if they last long enough.
I guess I’ve never experimented w/the various types. They all seem to work ok for me for a couple years, then need replacement. I buy based on price and fitment. For quality, I stick w/a name brand. In Colorado, whichever I purchased, they didn’t last as long as here in San Jose; not b/c of the heat in north-west Colorado (which is considerably hotter in the summer than San Jose), but b/c of ice particles stuck on the windows would tear at the blades in the Colorado winter. I’d be a little concerned w/silicon blades for that issue there in NM, as that material might be a little softer and more likely to have minute chunks worn out during use when the ice is sticking to the windshield.
