Windshield Wipers

It's about time to replace my front three wipers. Has anyone tried any other brands or are the OEM the way to go?

I have bosh Icon all across the 16"rs. the center and passanger are a little long but work well. You can cut them down to fit though. Not hard at all. I wont run anything else on any vehicle. Its a shame they dont make 14" ones. I guess the market isnt there!

CarolinaCruiser15 wrote:

It's about time to replace my front three wipers. Has anyone tried any other brands or are the OEM the way to go?

Check with Jami - he replaced his with a buy online. he can tell ya! I think he bought Trico.....ask him

cjcradier wrote:

I have bosh Icon all across the 16"rs. the center and passanger are a little long but work well. You can cut them down to fit though. Not hard at all. I wont run anything else on any vehicle. Its a shame they dont make 14" ones. I guess the market isnt there!

Craig, you said you wouldnt run anything else. Tell me a little about why that is. Im looking for a good "all-season" blade..... rain, snow, mud, you name it. Thanks man!

David B wrote:

CarolinaCruiser15 wrote:

It's about time to replace my front three wipers. Has anyone tried any other brands or are the OEM the way to go?

Check with Jami - he replaced his with a buy online. he can tell ya! I think he bought Trico.....ask him

Thanks David... Ill get with him about that.

Hey Rolando, I responded to your question over on FB. I hope it helps you out some. It has always been difficult for me to find a good blade for any of the cars I have had. Believe it or not I had over 2 years on the factory blades and they were still intact.

Sun Cruiser 6 wrote:

Hey Rolando, I responded to your question over on FB. I hope it helps you out some. It has always been difficult for me to find a good blade for any of the cars I have had. Believe it or not I had over 2 years on the factory blades and they were still intact.

I just read it, thanks for the info. Sorry you had a crappy experience. I think I may try the ones Craig (above) is using. Yeah, the factory ones have served me about 2 years as well. I wanted to try something a little longer though... it seems like the coverage isnt as good as it could be. Maybe Im just picky. lol

CarolinaCruiser15 wrote:

Sun Cruiser 6 wrote:

Hey Rolando, I responded to your question over on FB. I hope it helps you out some. It has always been difficult for me to find a good blade for any of the cars I have had. Believe it or not I had over 2 years on the factory blades and they were still intact.

I just read it, thanks for the info. Sorry you had a crappy experience. I think I may try the ones Craig (above) is using. Yeah, the factory ones have served me about 2 years as well. I wanted to try something a little longer though... it seems like the coverage isnt as good as it could be. Maybe Im just picky. lol

Elaborate on the crappy experience....

They are a single blade design that sticks to The glass like glue. My stock blades lasted Manuel a year but I am a notourios heavy wiper user. Every bug that goes splat I erase instantly. The rain, mud, bug and what ever else is kept out of viewing site. I also am found of a particuler brand of washer fluid the green bug off stuff from prestone. Works miles above anything else I have tried. These two things combined keep me happy. My wife wasn't as picky until she drove my old Dodge in a rain storm with the icons, and now she is convinced they are the best out there, its just the way they clean and shuffle water off aswell as the other elements. Now they are not cheap by any means last I bought them was around 20 a blade and sometimes I get a coupons from autozone that makes it better.
I did find some other brand of blades at Costco while the look like the icons and they were cheaper yes but not the same as my icons have been.
I normally get about 8 months to a set of wipers but the get used everyday 3 to 4 times if not more every day.

cjcradier wrote:

They are a single blade design that sticks to The glass like glue. My stock blades lasted Manuel a year but I am a notourios heavy wiper user. Every bug that goes splat I erase instantly. The rain, mud, bug and what ever else is kept out of viewing site. I also am found of a particuler brand of washer fluid the green bug off stuff from prestone. Works miles above anything else I have tried. These two things combined keep me happy. My wife wasn't as picky until she drove my old Dodge in a rain storm with the icons, and now she is convinced they are the best out there, its just the way they clean and shuffle water off aswell as the other elements. Now they are not cheap by any means last I bought them was around 20 a blade and sometimes I get a coupons from autozone that makes it better.
I did find some other brand of blades at Costco while the look like the icons and they were cheaper yes but not the same as my icons have been.
I normally get about 8 months to a set of wipers but the get used everyday 3 to 4 times if not more every day.

Thanks for the info Craig. I think Ill look into those. Maybe I can find them cheaper online. Did you say somewhere you got yours at Autozone or somewhere like that?

Now just to clarify, are you running three 16" blades or did you cut the middle and passenger ones?

I've done both. I will cut them down if I have time. If not no biggie I will run them at 16 inch. What you could do is buy 1 16 for the drivers side and see what you think. And yes autozone.

Sounds good. Thanks and Ill let you know how it goes.

Hey David, like I mentioned to Rolando the Trico Neoform blades are certainly a great looking wiper and work well on our Dodge Ram but not so well on my FJ. Initially they worked amazingly well and cleared my windshield pretty good. Now several months later they skip over the windshield and just don't clear as well as they did. Disappointing to say the least but they are still working well on our Ram. I wonder if it has to do with the almost vertical stance of the FJ windshield and/or the short length of the wipers. Who knows for sure.

Sun Cruiser 6 wrote:

Hey David, like I mentioned to Rolando the Trico Neoform blades are certainly a great looking wiper and work well on our Dodge Ram but not so well on my FJ. Initially they worked amazingly well and cleared my windshield pretty good. Now several months later they skip over the windshield and just don't clear as well as they did. Disappointing to say the least but they are still working well on our Ram. I wonder if it has to do with the almost vertical stance of the FJ windshield and/or the short length of the wipers. Who knows for sure.

I think Im going to try the Bosh Icons. Craig had great things to say about them. Ill keep everyone posted.

Anyone try these:

http://www.amazon.com/Rain-X-Weatherbeater-Wiper-Blade-14/dp/B000XTHUHE

http://www.amazon.com/Rain-X-Weatherbeater-Wiper-Blade-RX30116/dp/B0003041FM/ref=sr_1_4?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1313717284&sr=1-4

Hey Craig, do you happen to know the part # for those blades? I looked on Autozones website and the only Bosh I could find that is 16" is called the Bosh Micro Edge/Wiper Blade 416A. According to them, it doesnt fit the FJ. Any thoughts?

416A.

Thanks. So, do the 16s all across work well or would you recommend trimming the middle and passenger ones? Is it as easy as just cutting the rubber to size? Thanks for you help.

They work fine. I'll try do do a wiper shorting thread to show how its done.

Perfect! Thanks so much Craig!

cjcradier wrote:

416A.

Hey Craig, can you post this info over on the "parts department" section of "the garage" forum? Thanks

So I put on all three 16" Bsch Icons today. Old ones off, new ones on in less than 10 minutes. It hasnt rained yet today so I "tested" them out running errands and using the wiper fluid.

VERY VERY impressed. PERFECT windshield cleaning, smooth, quiet, look great and yes, the 16" on all three wipers work great with no issues whatsoever.

If it actually rains tonight (like its supposed to), I might have to make an "emergency" trip to Target for something... just to get a better idea of them in real action. lol.

Thanks for the great suggestion Craig!!!!!!

Glad you like them, I miss not having them on my truck for the moment. Ohh And my name is Cliff I just realized the Craig thing. No biggie I have been called worse and even answered to worse.

cjcradier wrote:

Glad you like them, I miss not having them on my truck for the moment. Ohh And my name is Cliff I just realized the Craig thing. No biggie I have been called worse and even answered to worse.

WOW. Ok, thats pretty embarrassing. lol. Sorry about that. Im really not sure where "Craig" came from. Maybe theres someone else on the forum here named Craig. But yes, thank you again for the wiper blade advice

My pleasure, I'm here help out any way I can!