I am ashamed to admit I spent a few hours today reading about windshield wipers. I am a nerd, so it shouldn’t be surprising that I was drawn to researching something so mundane.
My Prius is still using the original windshield wipers after two years, nine months and 34,000 miles. These windshield wipers are the nicest I have used on any car. They are quiet, operate smoothly, and do a good job. Because of this, I have been reluctant to replace them. On my old Corolla, I used the TripleEdge blades from Wal-Mart. They were OK, but not as good as the OEM Prius blades. I thought about buying the rubber refills from Toyota when the time came to replace the Prius windshield wipers.
The wipers have performed well up to now. They’re still OK, but there is more streaking than before. Also, ice got into the assembly and prevented the rubber from completely contacting the windshield during the last snow event. The pressure on the windshield was uneven, so the wiper didn’t do a good job. I’ve had this happen on other cars, where the ice prevents the wiper from compressing correctly against the glass. The quick fix is to just give the wipers a squeeze to crack the ice so it crumbles loose and falls out.
I spent some time catching up with posts on the PriusChat forum, and one of the new topics was by a user looking for new windshield wipers. Several users mentioned the Bosch ICON, so I checked them out. It is a bracketless design. My parents’ Honda CR-V has this type of wiper, but I didn’t know what it was called until now. This wiper type doesn’t have the little bows that press the wiper against the window. Instead, the whole wiper blade is a plastic and rubber arc, and there is metal inside that makes sure the blade compresses against the window. There is nowhere for ice to get trapped in the blade and cause uneven pressure against the glass.
I read other PriusChat forum posts about the ICON as well as reviews on forums for owners of other cars. I checked out the Amazon reviews too. These wipers are expensive, like $18-$25 a piece. I’m used to spending $16 total for both wipers, and I haven’t had to buy any in at least three years. Most of the reviews of the ICON are good, though some people had trouble with them. There were some concerns about smearing or durability. However, several people say these are the best wipers they have ever used, and they lasted two years in one case. Several mentioned Rain-X. I use Rain-X. I learned about it from some storm chaser friends about 10 years ago and have been using it ever since. If the rain is hard enough (not misting), I don’t have to use the wipers as much as I would without Rain-X. Here’s a link to a video I made a while back showing Rain-X at work.
While looking at Bosch’s webpage for the ICON, I saw there was a $15 rebate available on a set of two wipers. Amazon only had one of the sizes I need. I couldn’t find anything that said who else participated in the rebate on Bosch’s site, but eventually saw that O’Reilly Auto Parts is part of the rebate, and their local store has both of the wipers I needed.
If it wasn’t for the rebate, I don’t think I’d go out and spend $40+ on a set of wipers. With the rebate, it almost makes one of the wipers free and brings the cost back toward the normal range. My OEM wipers are still OK, and I wouldn’t have a problem with using them through winter.
I’m going to give the ICONs a try, though. I’m hoping they are as good as the good reviews say they are. I look forward to the ice-resistant design. If the ICONs stink, I can always go back to my old wipers and pick up the rubber inserts for a few bucks at Toyota.
But seriously, who spends hours scouring the internet for info on windshield wipers?
One last thing – I can’t believe people buy those crappy wipers that have the red caps on the end. Those things look so cheap and plasticky. I think those are the cheapest wipers you can buy at Wal-Mart. I’ve seen them on police cars a few times and was very disappointed. Can’t believe someone thought it would be a good or safe idea to put such crappy wipers on a police car.
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