One volunteer suggests Rain-X Latitude - $18.
For windshield and rear window, $54!
Are there others less expen$ive?
Thank you.
Robert
I’ve seen a lot of broken Rain-X. You only need the ones on the windshield to be Winter blades. I give up on rear windows because of bright headlights coming through the window. The dirt is a good dimmer. Regular Winter blades aren’t too expensive.
For the past 5+ years I’ve been buying Michelin blades from Wallmart. Great blades. Never had a problem.
I’ve been using Bosch Icon blades the last few years, and they’re the best I’ve ever had.
They’re not cheap, but they work very well in all weather and they last longer than most other blades I’ve tried.
Any brand name blade from Walmart and just keep an extra set with you in case one breaks. The biggest problem is ice…raise blades when parked to avoid damaging blades and motor. When driving most blades perform the same.
What you really need is a good windshield scraper. In my 12 years in Anchorage I didn’t use ‘winter blades’. Make sure the front and rear windows are clear of ice and snow, then normal blades will work fine. I use the less expensive of the 2 Michelin lines sold at Walmart.
I prefer winter blades for the fact that snow & ice don’t build up on them as easily with the rubber covering. I don’t find much difference otherwise.
When parked outside, the vehicle’s windshield and lightbar are covered with a cloth sheet clothes-pinned to the wiper arms and roof rack.
While driving, the Expedition’s wiper’s exposed suspension members became clogged with snow which froze solid. Then there were areas where the blades did not touch the glass.
Just bought Michelin “Radius” blades at Wal-Mart on the way home from a delivery.
I understand - those ‘Radius’ blades would have been my next suggestion, no mechanism to clog…
I find that the “beam” blades are far superior to the bracketed types. I have Rain X Latitudes on my car and Trico Neoforms on our van. Both are excellent. The Trico Neoforms appear to be identical to the Bosch Icons. I put Michelin Radius…er, Radii on my Dad’s car and they work very well. They are around $13 at Wal-Mart.
The darn bracketed types get ice in them and no matter what I do, they leave a big unwiped spot on the windshield, usually right in front of my face. With the beam blades, you just crack the ice off of them and they wipe perfectly! I think being able to see is worth $40 a year.
Another tip: Treating the windshield and outside mirrors with Rain-X makes it a heckuva lot easier to scrape frost and ice off.
Now installed, just noticed that neither wiper contacts the glass at the outsides of the windshield. Buthat is where the most curve is and the glass is dry.
I use the regular rubber-booted wiper available at WalMart. They’re about $6 each and don’t ice up. I compensate for their tendency to chatter on the highway by buying blades 1" to 2" shorter than the summer blades. On my driver’s side I use a 24" instead of a 26" and on the passenger’s side I use a 16" instead of a 17". They have less wind lift.
Cheapo’s once a year…no problems
I have never played the winter summer blade game, so I cannot say if winter blades are better, but have not had a problem with standard blades.
Gotta love those staggered blade sizes huh? 
My car runs 26" and 16". Not sure if the curve in the blades is from the factory blades, or if the mechanism the blades attach to causes them to curve. Haven’t replaced them to find out yet.
Regular wipers can get iced up enough that some of the rubber blade does not even contact the glass.
If the manufacturers would just shield the suspension brackets, there would be no problem.
Buthat would co$t a whole penny more.
+1 to the Icons. I’ve had them on for a while now as well. They do last considerably longer than any other blade I’ve used. Well worth the price IMHO.
When it comes to saftey (tires, brakes, lights, wipers,etc.) I’m willing to spend the extra cash for top tier equipment.
Beam blades are supposed to be a lot better about not icing up, but I don’t really have any experience with them. I recently had a set of cheap Anco blades on my minivan. I have used them before, and they perform well, but there was one thing I overlooked. They have a plastic frame. I ended up breaking the frame knocking ice off of them a couple weeks ago. I replaced them with a set of regular Rain-X blades from Walmart. They were about a dollar more each than the Anco blades with the plastic frames, but I don’t have to worry about them shattering in the cold anymore.
For a long-life wiper blade, I have a set of Bosch Micro-Edge Excels on my old Buick. I installed them six years ago, and they still work like new. Unfortunately, I can’t find them anymore, or my minivan would have gotten a set of them after the Ancos broke.
They do ahield the suspension brackets. They’re called rubber-booted windshield wipers. They’re about $6 each. They’re what I use.