Wiper blades that don't suck

roadie said:
Looks to me like they should be the other way around...

Has anyone experience of the Michelin Stealth Hybrid wiper blades?

http://www.michelin-lifestyle.com/c...-blades/michelin-stealth-hybrid-wiper-blades/
Click to expand...

Got some from CostCo as they're cheap as chips and I happened to need some - they're decent enough. Nothing special but they don't smear or judder or anything either.

Preferred the VW (Bosch) Aero blades I had before but the Michelin ones were considerably cheaper.
 
So the BMW Aero blades were great.... for half a year :/

Recently they started juddering.

So I think with all the flat blades I've tried over the years I'm now done with them and going back to OEM standard blades and will just replace the rubber strip as and when.
Had some nectar points to redeem so used a portion on Bosch OEM ones:

oem-wipers.jpg
 
I've found the Bosch Aero twins to be absolutely terrible for the driver's side.

I love the idea... the whole blade bending rather than a static frame + bendy rubber... but they just don't work on this car.

I've tried both the 22" and 24" on the drivers side and both skip the middle bit (near the mounting point). The official size is 23" but they don't make them in that size, so they recommend either 22 or 24... tried both and they both do the same thing.

Ended up having to buy Halfrauds blades to get the car through MOT as nowhere in 50 miles had stock of the Bosch 20/23 combo and i needed them on a sunday for monday morning MOT.

The Halfrauds blades metal bashes against the metal of the stalk when they're used... LMAO. They're going back tomorrow...

Going to have to order and wait for the proper Bosch blades... the ones you just ordered.

EDIT:

Piccies... taken by wife in passenger seat while driving:

Wiper blade skips this section on its travel downwards:
Y33RuJ0.jpg


Highlighted badly with laptop trackpad:
DNinclp.jpg


Different pic from different wipe, same thing:
Gv8x50K.jpg


Swapped them over from left to right too, in order to check it wasn't just a faulty blade or two... even the 20" blade that works perfectly fine on the passenger side does the same thing on the drivers side... there's nothing wrong with the spring in the lever. The 22" blade works fine on the passenger side.
 
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mrk said:
So the BMW Aero blades were great.... for half a year :/

Recently they started juddering.

So I think with all the flat blades I've tried over the years I'm now done with them and going back to OEM standard blades and will just replace the rubber strip as and when.
Had some nectar points to redeem so used a portion on Bosch OEM ones:

oem-wipers.jpg
Click to expand...

Let us know how you get on with these as I am planning to get the same ones!
 
I've had enough of the aero type blades on my E46 too. I've tried a few different ones and they all suck big time. They either don't clean the screen completely, or they lift when at speed. The Alca ones I've got on at the minute seems to miss a huge section directly in front of the driver.

Bosch super plus jobbies on order, hopefully they'll just .. work!
 
I fitted some Bosch direct OEM replacement aero wipers to my car almost a year ago and they're still flawless today. My car had OEM aero/flat-blade wipers as standard though so perhaps the shape of the screen and/or the design of the wiper arm somehow complements their operation, I dunno.
 
I've never had a Bosch wiper last more than a year, and thats even with only around 6 months of light to medium use, awful quality like all their other stuff, bosch kettle lasted only a year before hetaing element went bust too, along with a washing machine that didn't last very long, i avoid them like a bargepole now.

Denso hybrids are hell of a lot better and the quality is first rate.
 
ADT said:
Let us know how you get on with these as I am planning to get the same ones!
Click to expand...

I expect they will be the as the factory blades that came with the E46 asvtheybworkedbwell enough. Same blade design and everything.
 
Damn Google keyboard!

The only flat blades I've had good experience with are the Alca ones, but I just don't like the puck sized wedge in the middle of all of them really and the original regular blades for the army the nicest.
 
Atari said:
I've had enough of the aero type blades on my E46 too. I've tried a few different ones and they all suck big time. They either don't clean the screen completely, or they lift when at speed. The Alca ones I've got on at the minute seems to miss a huge section directly in front of the driver.

Bosch super plus jobbies on order, hopefully they'll just .. work!
Click to expand...

Funny thing is, the Aerotwin wipers on mine seem to work best at speed.

Normal wipers work best in the 0-60 maybe up to 70 or 80 mph range.

On the E46, the aerotwins work best at 80-100mph (in Germany, of course).
 
Who needs wipers at those speeds anyways, wind resistance forces water off the windscreen :p
 
Howard said:
I fitted some Bosch direct OEM replacement aero wipers to my car almost a year ago and they're still flawless today. My car had OEM aero/flat-blade wipers as standard though so perhaps the shape of the screen and/or the design of the wiper arm somehow complements their operation, I dunno.
Click to expand...

I suspect they work best with a certain screen curvature or simply a stronger spring in the arm.

On the E46 driver side the reason they skip that gap is because the pressure of the blade trying to maintain the curve is too much of an angle for the screen and/or too high push-back compared to the spring in the arm, so the edges of the wiper push the middle up.

I did think about replacing the spring with a stronger one, but I'm not that desperate to use them. I just like the idea of the design vs normal blades.
 
mrk said:
Who needs wipers at those speeds anyways, wind resistance forces water off the windscreen :p
Click to expand...

Get a LOT of bugs on a 1,000 mile journey ;)

With normal blades... need to slow down to 50-60mph to get a decent scraping of bugs off the windscreen... with these blades you only have to slow down to 100mph to clear the bugs.

/Germany problems... usually average 100-120 on the way too/from Poland when traffic allows.
 
One of these days Google Keyboard won't fool me I promise :p

The Bosch OEM blades arrived today, here's what I mean by the snug and very flush fit, notice how the blades tuck into the arm design, and how the spoiler curves around the arm and it all looks like 'one piece'?

rps20150827_164157_915.jpg


rps20150827_164141_640.jpg


Granted these traditional blades only have 8 pressure points whereas aero blades are supposed to have 100% pressure across the blade, but at high speed all aero blades have lifted to some degree, some more than others. These OEM blades never lift.

Edit*
My best experience has been with Alca aero blades, but others have found them to be less than great, so I wonder if Alca have changed manufacturing sources for the blade rubber in recent times?
 
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