good wiper blades????

Or any idea what eats up blades??? Put new bosch blades on wife's vehicle a few months ago, she barely uses wipers when it rains but it also hasn't rained much this year. Came into a toad strangler on the autobahn last night that lasted for several hours. Wipers didn't work so good, wiped them off and the rag was black, really rubbed them and almost a whole towel is black and still black comes off when you rub them. These two blades cost about 60 bucks. May as well order something from the states. What about these lifetime blades and triple edge blades. Any real longlife or forever blades out there???? Or just good ones that last a year?

Thanks, Dave

In one of my former lives, I was a warranty analysis engineer for GM. For a while part of my responsibility was wiper blades and arms. In this capacity, I worked closely with engineers from Delco, Anco, Trico, etc.

The best performing wiper blases that you will ever have are the ones that come on new cars (My experience is with GM but I assume that other manufacturers followed similar practice.) becaause the blades must satisy customer expections for the duration of the warranty (6 months for wiper blades).

OEM blades are made from natural rubber because natural rubber produces the best cleaning and anti streaking performance. The natural rubber is impregnated with wax (as are tires) to protect the rubber from oxygenation due mostly to ozone.

Natural rubber blades perform best but are not long lived due to the previously mentioned detioration, which occurs most frequently during extended periods of hot dry sunny weather. For best performance these blades should be changed every 6 months.

Few if any aftermarket blades (including service market blades sold by the OEMs) are made from natural rubber due to cost.

The black residue that you found on the rag is probably oxydized rubber from expensive natural rubber blades. Changing to less expensive blades, which will have wiping elements made of synthetic plastic, will likely result in longer lasting blades at the expense of somewhat reduced wiping and cleaning performance. Your wife will likely not notice the reduced performance but you will notice the longer life.

There you have it.

Dean

Never seen any forever blades. Most last a year, or two at the most. It is the sunlight that eats them up, breaks down the rubber, you're getting the carbon black in the rubber caught in the towel. In the states there is a little towelette packed with the blades, is a soap and alcohol mix, after a month or two, I open it and rub down the blade, takes the insect gunk off, makes them work fine for awhile longer.

Thanks! What about these? Gimmicks or OK??

http://www.thewiperstore.com/tripledge-wiper-blades.html

Every time you go past the front of your car, reach out and lift the blade, position it so the "rubber" is stressed to go the opposite way that it stopped. This will make the set of the rubber more compliant as it will be Parked in the wipe direction part of the time instead of the park direction. Easy to do, hard to remember. I have had luck with silicone based blades, but not much more than cheap or expensive. Hand changing the orientation does help chatter, as the blade flex joint stays more flexible. Jim

(quoted from post at 09:46:29 09/05/11)
Thanks! What about these? Gimmicks or OK??

http://www.thewiperstore.com/tripledge-wiper-blades.html

Click to expand...

Never seen em before but why don't you try to be the product tester for em and report back to us yer findings?????? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Rick

Wiper blades are often neglected. I have had good results with Trico and Anco blades but they are cleaned every time I clean the windshield. I just saturate a small cloth with window cleaner and rub the entire length of the blade and then dry.
Bug droppings from trees, along with "road grime" are bad for windshield and wipers!

I agree.

Blades will take a set if left for long periods of time with the "hinge" in the "return" posttion. A return set will cause "chiseling" (chatter) when operated on dry or nearly dry glass and is a major cause of warranty claims.

Manually flipping the hinge to the opposite side during extended positions of non use will help to prevent establishment of set but few (even I) do so.

Dean

Again, I agree. Removal of road dirt, bug goop, tree sap (don't park under trees), etc. will improve performance of your wiper system and extend the life of the blades.

I always wipe the rubber portion of the blades when I wash my car (always manually, never in an automated car wash). Such practice is included in your car's owners manual (or at least was), which few of us read.

Another issue causing warranty claims is wax induced chatter. Regular visits to your local automated car wash results in (spray-on) wax build up on the windshield. Such wax causes chatter and streaking. Windshield wax is difficult to remove.

Believe it or not the factory recommended windshield wax removal procedure (asuming such has not changed since the early 1990s) is an aggressive scouring of the windshield with an organic sponge and Bon Ami. Note: Other scouring powders, e.g., Comet, etc., are NOT recommended.

Of course, none of us actually do this.

Dean

Just something to ponder...
I never watched your weather pattern to know if the southern Pattern comes from the East and curls up to your area. like it does here in the States.

I see below you , that you have many open waters kind of like our Gulf of Mexico between you and the melt down was.

Do you think you may be having excessive amount of acid rain ?

There is a product out there to restore wiper blades it comes in 2 parts a cleaner and a silicone protectant. I can't think of the brand name to Google it .

Aways thought they would be hard on the wiper motor in light rain as you get more drag.

(quoted from post at 18:49:51 09/05/11) I agree.

Blades will take a set if left for long periods of time with the "hinge" in the "return" posttion. A return set will cause "chiseling" (chatter) when operated on dry or nearly dry glass and is a major cause of warranty claims.

Manually flipping the hinge to the opposite side during extended positions of non use will help to prevent establishment of set but few (even I) do so.

Dean

Click to expand...

Yeah--Do you remember when Government motors (GM), used to have a wiper "park platform" that lifted the blades off the windshield. I guess that cost too much to continue???

I use "Tridon" wiper blades and get a many years from them. Part of the reason is my vehicles spend their free time in the garage, out of the hot sun. I don't think anyone makes wiper blades that are protected from the sun's ultra violet rays which destroy most anything in time.

I put Armour all on Blades... makes them more "Supple", and flexable they last quite a long time... Larry KF4LKU

I think that is oxidation of the wiper material, along with oils and
other contaminants in the air. I wipe the blades off with vinegar
and it seems to clean that off pretty good.

I have been using silicon wiper blades on my vehicles for several years and they seem to hold up better than regular blades.

In May I bought new blades for my Chev. S-10, at
NAPA. I had a choice from $8 each, up to $30
each. I was sorta in shock, as this was quite a bit more than the .69 cents that I paid for a
blade for a Model A ford, from Western Auto, in
the late 1950"s!
I got the $16 blades, NAPA brand, Silicone or
Teflon something...real good, i"d get them again!

I hate to say it but When I worked in Bosch's brake division we did not use Bosch wipers on the company cars.....