Replacement wipers

[Joe Unni]

Hey all,

Do you have any recommendations for replacement wipers for my '03 Altima? Is it worth looking for "winter" blades?

Any info would be most helpful.

Thanks in advance,
-joe

[John Lanciani]

Hi Joe,

I've been completely happy with the Bosch Icon wipers. They're not cheap, $20 to $25 each, but they work great in rain or snow and they don't flap and flutter in the wind like the cheap winter blades usualy do.

John

[Justin Leiwig]

Hey all,

Do you have any recommendations for replacement wipers for my '03 Altima? Is it worth looking for "winter" blades?

Any info would be most helpful.

Thanks in advance,
-joe

Winter blades are nice as long as it's snow and sleet. Other than that the rubber covers just drag if it's rain or something else. I'll stick with cheap wiper blades and buy 6-7 sets for the cost of one set of the icon blades.

[Glenn Clabo]

Trico Winter Teflon work very well year round here in RI.

[Tom Godley]

FYI - The OE blades that came on the car have replaceable inserts that are available from the dealer.

I either get them from my local dealer or order them online from a Nissan dealer when I am getting other parts.

The inserts are made in Japan and are high quality -- less than $10.00.

Lexus operates the same way. I never get rid of the original blades. This is not the case with the domestic cars I have owned - or some import brands manufactured in the US.


I wish the Germans would sell the inserts


But - with it being a 03 you more than likely tossed the originals.

For our fleet cars we buy all kinds of blades - I have never found all that much difference in the performance. Years ago this was not the case.

The winter blades with the rubber boot can be a pain on the highway -- on some cars the boot catches too much wind and does not stay on the windshield.

I am also not a big fan of the new european style blades -- they are expensive and both cars that I own with them are inferior to the regular style

[Jim Becker]

PIAA. By far the best wipers I've ever discovered.

[Pat Germain]

I've also had good luck with Bosch blades (and every other Bosch product). I've tried the cheap blades. Personally, I don't think I'm saving anything if they don't work well and I have to replace them after four weeks. The weather in Colorado is very dry. Cheap wiper blades degrade quickly here.

[Greg Peterson]

Wiper blades are like spark plugs. No shortage of opinion on what is the best blade, myself included.

I have a fleet of Tacoma's. One day a driver asked that I replace the blades. I went out to the lot with refills in hand only to find the OE blades were still on the vehicle. They were streaking slightly, but after two years I guess those OE Denso blades were starting to go.

We carry Denso product so I got a chance to demo a set of Denso blades last year on my Camry. The Denso aftermarket blades are different than the OE version. They chattered and streaked right off the bat. I went back to Trico's and been happy ever since.

We sell a ton of Bosch blades but I only use Trico on our fleet. In years past the Bosch blade just broke down too quickly. The Trico's just seem to last forever.

I think some blades simply do better with certain windshield 'contours'. Can be a hit or miss proposition.

[mark page]

I personally use the Trico Neoforms. But they are expensive. LOML's van takes 28 inchers and these seem like the only ones to last without streaking. But even with my discount, I drop close to half a C-note on them.

[Greg Peterson]

One other thing I do when changing blades, or just when I think the glass is getting gunky.

Lift the blades up. Take a sponge or a OOOO steel wool pad, wet the windshield and sprinkle a liberal amount of Bon-Ami on to the glass. With the sponge or steel wool, lightly scrub the glass in a circular motion until you've scrub the entire surface. Rinse thoroughly.

This removes any and all contaminates from the glass that would otherwise reduce the performance of the new blades. Pitted windshields benefit from this too.

[Tim Thomas]

I used to always buy the cheapest blades I could find, but I finally tried some high end blades last year on my SUV and I'll never look back. They are Bosch blades and I believe they are the Icon ones, although it has been a while since I purchased them so I could be wrong. They have lasted longer and performed better than any other blades I've ever had and they never make any annoying squeaking or scraping noises. My climate here in the south is quite different from what the OP probably has to deal with, but it certainly looks like other folks in northern climates can also vouch for the Bosch blades. So put me down as another vote for Bosch.

Although, to balance this out a bit, I think the key is the design of the blade and not a particular brand. My wife's Honda came with a similar style of blade to the Bosch and they work just as well. They are a solid, one-piece design where the whole blade assembly is a curved plastic bar with the rubber wiping edge on the bottom, as compared to the "old" style with a metal frame that holds a separate blade. I've seen other blades from Rain-X and other companies that have are similar to the Bosch Icons and I bet they all work pretty well...

[Sonny Edmonds]

What are wiper blades for anyway?
I replace ours when:
A. We get a different (new) car.
B. Or the wiper has rotted so much from the sun it's flying up in my view.


I usually just get Trico or Anco because they seem to be available everywhere.
Last set I got was for our Class C RV. I asked the gal at the parts counter if they made some longer than stock. She checked and I went from 24" to a pair of 26" and I'm much happier with the wipe I get.
(Now don't go there. We're taking about windshields, right?)
It's like sun glasses, they usually get replaced when it rains and you see they are messed up. By cheap ones often and toss them.

[Joe Unni]

Thanks everyone!!

-joe