Advice - Buying wiper blades...

alfantastic

benson1980 wrote: »

PIAA silicone wipers I would strongly recommend. Last ages and don't squeak

I did take a look at their website today, and I must say I am tempted to try their silicone blades.

Squeaking wiper blades drive me nuts, and I'd rather pay a little more for a set that don't sound like I've strapped a mouse to each wiper arm.

Be interesting to hear from anyone else's experience of silicone blades

alfantastic

Deleted_User wrote: »

I got slated on here 6 months ago because I wanted to buy Wilko's cheap £2 wipers but ended up paying £7.99 each at a motor factors as Wilko were out of stock.

The £7.99 motor factors blades haven't lasted any longer than what cheap £2 blades would have.

The trouble is, they are still made of the same rubber, no matter how sexy the packaging is, or how well marketed they are.

I use a lot of rubber gloves for work. I've tried non branded through to popular branded products. You may not think so, but heavy duty gloves fluctuate wildly in availability and price, so I try to buy the best deal at the time.
Regardless of branded or non branded, cheap or expensive, they probably all get supplied from the same rubber factory.
Therefore, I hardly notice any difference in the longevity of the different manufacturer's gloves.

JustinR1979

Bosch aeros are silent - I'm funny about noises too

atrixblue.-MFR-.

alfantastic wrote: »

The trouble is, they are still made of the same rubber, no matter how sexy the packaging is, or how well marketed they are.

I use a lot of rubber gloves for work. I've tried non branded through to popular branded products. You may not think so, but heavy duty gloves fluctuate wildly in availability and price, so I try to buy the best deal at the time.
Regardless of branded or non branded, cheap or expensive, they probably all get supplied from the same rubber factory.
Therefore, I hardly notice any difference in the longevity of the different manufacturer's gloves.

Its the grade of rubber, open a pack of wilko specials then open a pack of bosch wipers put the two together and tell me how different they are in rubber quality.


working in a motor factors this very question was posed to us, so we opened a set of cheapy specials, and set of bosch put them together, cheap ones were made flimsy, as in the the bladed rubber had hardly any resistance so when flat against the screen the blade almost buckled in on itself, the cheapy ones were dabbed in a grease type substance (which suggests they suffer if in long storage with drying out and cracking).
the bosch ones were sturdy had resistance to them the helped the blade stay where is should be on the screen, the rubber felt completely different too hard to describe but it was different in feel.


we then look at the what the blades are mounted with, cheap ones tend to be cheap alu spray painted pieces with little in the way of resistance to the dampeners that holds the blade to its shape of the screen and apply some force to hold that shape in higher MPH to prevent lifting off the screen, cheap ones tend to have the paint flake off where as the bosch ones are powder coated or fully reinforced plastic housings, the clips and adaptors in the kit were more sturdy and better fit than that of the cheapo ones that tend to snap and the metal retainers in the bosch ones are galvanized to prevent rusting as apposed to spray painted and rust later cheapo retainers.

alfantastic

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

Its the grade of rubber, open a pack of wilko specials then open a pack of bosch wipers put the two together and tell me how different they are in rubber quality.


working in a motor factors this very question was posed to us, so we opened a set of cheapy specials, and set of bosch put them together, cheap ones were made flimsy, as in the the bladed rubber had hardly any resistance so when flat against the screen the blade almost buckled in on itself, the cheapy ones were dabbed in a grease type substance (which suggests they suffer if in long storage with drying out and cracking).
the bosch ones were sturdy had resistance to them the helped the blade stay where is should be on the screen, the rubber felt completely different too hard to describe but it was different in feel.


we then look at the what the blades are mounted with, cheap ones tend to be cheap alu spray painted pieces with little in the way of resistance to the dampeners that holds the blade to its shape of the screen and apply some force to hold that shape in higher MPH to prevent lifting off the screen, cheap ones tend to have the paint flake off where as the bosch ones are powder coated or fully reinforced plastic housings, the clips and adaptors in the kit were more sturdy and better fit than that of the cheapo ones that tend to snap and the metal retainers in the bosch ones are galvanized to prevent rusting as apposed to spray painted and rust later cheapo retainers.

I totally agree with you. I would expect a top branded product to feel vastly superior in quality to a cheapo brand. Unfortunately, rubber, no matter how well manufactured it is, just cannot cope with the conditions it has to endure being a wiper blade. UV light from the sun, screen wash formulations, salty spray from the road, baked during the Summer, frozen through Winter, friction from use where there's little rain on the windscreen etc... It's little wonder they meet the Grim Reaper pretty quickly.
But then wiper manufacturers wouldn't want them to last forever. Where's the business in that lol.

Iceweasel

What brand does the vehicle manufacturer put on at the factory?

Mine are Valeo - but if Ibuy them from the dealer they are approx 40% dearer than from EuroCarParts.

You should also check on CarParts4Less - same company just different sales technique.

Valeo or Bosch Aero type are very good - nothing to pick or choose between them - everything else comes a poor second.

You mustn't just a cheap wiper by it's performance in the first few months after you fit them. Of course a new cheapy will give an improvement over a clapped out top branded one.

I get 2 years use out of the top-notch ones.

benson1980

Iceweasel wrote: »

What brand does the vehicle manufacturer put on at the factory?

Mine are Valeo - but if Ibuy them from the dealer they are approx 40% dearer than from EuroCarParts.

You should also check on CarParts4Less - same company just different sales technique.

Valeo or Bosch Aero type are very good - nothing to pick or choose between them - everything else comes a poor second.

You mustn't just a cheap wiper by it's performance in the first few months after you fit them. Of course a new cheapy will give an improvement over a clapped out top branded one.

I get 2 years use out of the top-notch ones.

My PIAA ones are still good as new after three years.

SeduLOUs

Thanks all, didn't realise wiper blades would spark such an interesting debate!

I realise that like with any other product nothing lasts forever, but often 'superior' brands just mean paying more for a name rather than actually for better quality and it's not an area I know much about. Based on the thread will certainly be opting for probably Bosch or Valeo in future. Even at Halfords prices they don't seem too unreasonable but will certainly shop around.

Thanks also for the links to the various online retailers, it's a minefield on the internet of who is actually reliable so it's good to have a few options to look into.

redux

SeduLOUs wrote: »

Thanks all, didn't realise wiper blades would spark such an interesting debate!

It's still possible to add a rather nerdy point nobody mentioned yet.

I have a VW Lupo, which has a less curved screen than some I suppose.

I bought new low profile wipers. Sometimes the driver's side didn't fully clear the screen, as the wiper skipped over a bit, leaving a wet patch sometimes 6 to 8 inches diameter right in my straight ahead vision.

It varied in degree, and after a few days realised it was worse on colder days. So I reckon the stiffness of the rubber changes quite a bit with the temperature, and when it's cold the pronounced pre-curvature couldn't fully flatten out.

The passenger side is ok, so there might also be a difference of how much springiness in the linkages pulls the wiper on to the screen.

I discussed this with the eBay vendor, who said return them for a refund. Then I bought a more expensive branded one in a shop. Exactly the same problem.

So now I have a conventional multi linked arm one. No problem at all, and I'll have to save the others for the hot days of the summer.

Or maybe I'll take a look at the springs down near the motor end.

Iceweasel

Redux - I had exactly the opposite problem on my old Freelander.

It was the old-style multi-point sprung blades that always missed a bit.

I replaced them with the flat one-piece blades and never had any more problems.

My current car, like most cars these days came with flat blades - so much better - nowhere for snow to build up on in the winter either.

A great improvement.