Wiper blades that don't suck

Don't have a clue what they are, but the wipers that came fitted on the Lexus RX are completely silent. Nothing from the wiper, nothing from the arm, nothing from the motor, 100% of the time.
 
I fitted Bosch Aerotwins a couple weeks ago and they seem ok but not brilliant. They're not completely streak free nor noise free. I would say they aren't noticeably better than the wiperblades.co.uk own brand they used to sell. Maybe they'll last longer though - only time will tell.

Howard: thought I'd give 20" a try on the rear window and it seems to be fine (19" is normally recommended).
 
Decided to risk it and bought a £5 flat pair from eBay accepting that if they were utterly terrible, I'd have to go out and buy another set, plus if a set are going to get destroyed by ice this winter, I'd rather they were cheap.

Initial impressions are actually quite alright, clear well and hardly any noise, yet to try at higher speeds as I normally turn them off and let Rain-X do its job.

I'll update again in a few days when they will have no doubt shredded themselves and be making a terrible racket on every use.
 
Rain-X I found to be quite rubbish.

1: It doesn't last long.
2: For when it is still on, if you use the wipers it smears for a while.
3: If you put it on the side windows then it smears if you open/close those windows the following morning (no longer raining but still damp).

Conclusion was that it's only useful for the rear window if you don't have wipers on there but the E46 deals with the rear screen with air current so this isn't an issue either.
 
mrk said:
Rain-X I found to be quite rubbish.

1: It doesn't last long.
2: For when it is still on, if you use the wipers it smears for a while.
3: If you put it on the side windows then it smears if you open/close those windows the following morning (no longer raining but still damp).

Conclusion was that it's only useful for the rear window if you don't have wipers on there but the E46 deals with the rear screen with air current so this isn't an issue either.
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I completely agree, it's a nice idea in theory but rarely works in practice.
 
Anyone ever had Lucas Clearvision blades? Quick look on wiperblades.co.uk shows that the 'best' available for my car in flatblade guise are these are £15 for the set.

Cheers!
Jake
 
My working theory is it's all to do with screen smoothness. My reasoning...

I've noted a lot in recent years that whenever I have a hire car (a lot), whatever it is from a cheap as possible micro box which must have the cheapest possible wipers, to a half decent Audi A4 type of thing with posh aero blades, they all have perfect silent wiper performance.

My own car, however, is often really noisy whatever price of blades I try. It performs best after a good clean and screen polish, and best of all after I clayed the screen.

My theory is a new screen is perfectly smooth and defect free and this makes wiper performance great whatever the blade. My 60,000-mile screen is, on a micro scale, pitted and scratched to buggery and rough as old leather. I reckon this leads to poor performance and shorter life of any blades.

I have seen the same with RainX - on my car its meh as described above, but on a new car I've seen it amazingly effective.

I'm gonna put this to the test soon as I have gotten hold of a DA for polishing the body and also got some ceri glass and glass pads. I'll restore my screen to like-new and hopefully see wipers performing awesomely.

That's the plan anyway
 
How successful is glass polishing like that though? I have a rotary polisher that I'd like to use to do the same since I agree with your working theory there!
 
Best ones I've found for my fiesta are some £8 aero blades off ebay, tried the more expensive bosch ones and they started streaking after two weeks. The cheap ones I can get 6month out of them which I don't think's bad for £8
 
mrk said:
How successful is glass polishing like that though? I have a rotary polisher that I'd like to use to do the same since I agree with your working theory there!
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Just so you know, it's VERY hard work polishing glass. Better make sure you do it evenly too. Personally would just get a new screen.
 
I'll leave the rotary to the yearly swirl control then :p

A new screen isn't feasable considering how much longer I intend to have the car.
 
mrk said:
Rain-X I found to be quite rubbish.
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I've always had quite good luck with Rain-X, although have found if wipers are on their way out, it kills them very quickly. The streaking I don't mind so much as in my experience it doesn't impact vision too much and always clears very quickly and evenly, plus when doing speeds where streaking would be quite dangerous, the wipers aren't moving and the Rain-X is doing its job.


Imy said:
Mine didn't last long before they started streaking a lot.
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Hmm, looks like a decent set of blades will have to be ordered soon then.
 
Your car's mileage is lower too iirc so your windscreen may well be in better micro-condition to mine which has seen the last 40 odd thousand miles on the motorway :p
 
mrk said:
How successful is glass polishing like that though? I have a rotary polisher that I'd like to use to do the same since I agree with your working theory there!
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I'd read various stuff reporting mixed results polishing glass, and roughly concluded it might be possible with a rotary and probably not with a da. Then I found this extremely informative thread and the stunning results in it, and was convinced it's worth a go even with a da...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/product-reviews/58269-removal-glass-scratches-carpro-griots-da.html

I bought exactly the same compound and pads and also have a powerful rated da, and will follow to the letter.
 
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Ah is eem well you can guinea pig for us hehe :)

Voxination said:
Only just, it's on around 87k now and thought yours was around 100k? Think of all those stone chips :p
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101k! Although astonishingly there aren't as many stone chips as you'd think! The majority of those miles have been spent up and down the M3/A3 corridors :p
 
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