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October 7, 2008
What Brand Of Wiper Blades Do You Buy, And How Often Do You Change Them?
By Jen Dunnaway
Editor
Worrying about wiper-blade brands seemed to me like the silliest thing in the world, until a friend of mine talked me into a pair of pricey Rain-X Latitudes (18 bucks a pop). The difference between those and my parts-store house-brand blades was so drastic that I felt my Eagle had a new windshield every time it rained, and as a result, I’ve since bought Latitudes for all my cars. However, a new Consumer Reports study named certain cheapie brands as top performers—like the Valeo 600, Anco 31 Series, and Michelin RainForce—but noted that these bargain blades tend to degrade quickly, not lasting much longer than 6 months. So what do you do? Buy cheapskate blades and change them frequently? Shell out for the expensive ones and have a clear windshield for longer? Or just pick up whatever and then run them ragged until you can barely see through the smears?
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Kimberly
Oct 29, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Valeo blades are OE quality blades and offer great performance. They are new to the market and offer superior quality for the price. I highly recommend them against any of the other wiper blade manufacturers.
Brandon
Oct 10, 2008 at 3:15 pm
One car I have no clue whats on them. Other car I have Bosch.
Nes!
Oct 8, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Oh i also used to wait until the rubber started to peel away from the plastic!
oldscoob
Oct 8, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I still have a little windshield. rain-x latitudes aren’t short enough. I get cheap, often.
James
Oct 8, 2008 at 2:48 pm
whatever the OEM Bosch Aero wipers are that come on the MKV Jetta. I’m at 61,000 miles and only on my second set, they last forever.
Soup78
Oct 8, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Carquest bitches!
Jon
Oct 8, 2008 at 1:34 pm
7urtle: US-Spec MGB roadster. Hard to say what year, but judging from the seats and the fact that it has a center console, I’m gonna guess ‘72 or later.
The MGB GT (hard top version of the same car) had a taller windshield, so only needed two. But, the roadster, with it’s short windshield, was determined to need 3 wipers by the US Guv’ment.
As for my wiper blades, I typically end up with Anco blades, because it’s hard to justify spending more cash on wipers. Even here in the Pacific NW where it rains a lot.
Jeremy
Oct 8, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I just use the cheap ones n keep the windsheild rain-x’d. I find the rain-x helps the blades last longer. My buddy had a rack of Anco blades at his house from when he worked at autozone, and over the summer I got Napa ones from work. Still, i run my wiper blades until they just smear water before i change em haha.
7urtle
Oct 8, 2008 at 4:52 am
wats the car with 3 wipers
7urtle
Oct 8, 2008 at 4:51 am
rain x
nigel
Oct 8, 2008 at 3:14 am
i used to buy rainx blade less but they always streaked and lifted off on the passenger side now i am using the cheap house brand 7$ ones at Canadian tire they work better than my rainx did. so far anyways we will see in 6 months time
Heidi
Oct 8, 2008 at 3:04 am
I buy the $10 a piece normal RainX ones and change them once I get fed up enough with streaks. Maybe I’ll check out these Latitude ones at least for my daily driver…
Matthew Niedzielski
Oct 8, 2008 at 1:59 am
I have Bosch Icons on my car and I need new ones, It’s been more than a year. I would definitely get another set of Icons unless someone guides to something else. I really went with the Icons because of the constant pressure they have and don’t freeze/ice up like most regular ones do in the winter.
Jake
Oct 8, 2008 at 1:19 am
At my job, it is my duty to provide fast, free wiperblade installation(weeeeee!). I can confidently say that I’ve probably installed more wiper blades than 99% of the world ever will in their entire lifes.
With that said, the last time I bought wiper blades I got Trico teflons (non-beam). They work good, and last a long time; not too expensive either.
Luke
Oct 8, 2008 at 1:05 am
I work at the parts counter at our for dealership and we sell the latitude blades, after seeing them in action I’ve put them on everything I own. The best part is they fit well on damn near everything without too much trouble, especially if it has a hook style arm. They are definitely worth the money.
fixfixitstop
Oct 8, 2008 at 12:20 am
I just go to the Ford dealership. It might cost me a few bucks more, but it’s worth it to avoid the annoying adapters which come with 3rd-party wipers.
Nes!
Oct 8, 2008 at 12:18 am
I just stand in front of the wiper rack and close my eyes and point randomly and just get those! Most of the time is the Rain x ones.
Anonymous
Oct 8, 2008 at 12:14 am
I buy a pair of Rain-X blades from Wal-Mart every 4-6 months. They work great and don’t smear at all until they are getting old. I bought Mopar ones and they started smearing after a week.
GUTIERREZ
Oct 7, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I used to buy mid priced blades and change them every 6 months. I just got some Bosch Icon blades, so far they good.
SpeedCanHurt
Oct 7, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Good ones, always, and that’s paying $20-$30 each. Might be expensive, but by the time I need new ones, there’s a different brand out on top. Plus, I can be lazy and not change them as often.
Stewart
Oct 7, 2008 at 11:08 pm
I buy cheap ones and change them annually.