Wiper blades

Author
Discussion

NiceCupOfTea

Original Poster:

25,280 posts

250 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
I have always used Bosch super plus wiper blades from Halfords which seem OK, but they were getting tired on both cars, so ordered some from Autobulbs - ABD Retro-fit Aero blades, which are curved and are supposed to fit the screen much better (wraparound screen on the Saab never works with wiper blades very well).

Anyway, fitted the MX-5 blades yesterday and they are crap! It has a bog standard normal screen with no large radius curves, and a big patch of the passengers side sweep area is left unswept, and although the driver's side area is swept cleanly on the way up, it leaves a mess on the way down. So, I have gone from 2 year old Bosch wipers which were OK, to brand new fancy-pants ones which don't do the job at all!

Found an AutoExpress review of them saying that they leave areas unswept. How can they sell the things when they are clearly unfit for purpose?

Haven't tried the Saab ones yet but all 4 will be going straight back to autobulbs, what a complete waste of time...

What do other folks use?

Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Tuesday 14th December 13:58

g3org3y

20,606 posts

190 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
Bosch Super on the E30 - does what it says on the tin.

Bosch (retrofit) aerotwin on the E36 - very very good in actual fact. I would consider the sam upgrade for the E30 but it wouldn't suit.

chippy17

3,740 posts

242 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
PIAA silicone blades

HellDiver

5,708 posts

181 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
Bosch Super.

Tried various Aero blades, both retrofits and also of cars that had them OE fit, and they were always pants.

danrc

2,750 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
chippy17 said:
PIAA silicone blades
Agreed.

Had them on the Bora for the past 2 1/2 years. Only now after the harsh winter we've had recently have they started to suffer slightly.

Couldn't recommend them highly enough.

NiceCupOfTea

Original Poster:

25,280 posts

250 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
Where would you buy them? And what is PIAA?

ExPat2B

2,157 posts

199 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
NiceCupOfTea said:
Where would you buy them? And what is PIAA?
PIAA is a "cult" japanese supplier. They sell massively overpriced kit that has the saving grace of being the best available.

Last time I looked they wanted 35 pounds for a set plus 25 pounds for the special screenwash you need.

danrc

2,750 posts

209 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
ExPat2B said:
NiceCupOfTea said:
Where would you buy them? And what is PIAA?
PIAA is a "cult" japanese supplier. They sell massively overpriced kit that has the saving grace of being the best available.

Last time I looked they wanted 35 pounds for a set plus 25 pounds for the special screenwash you need.
Hardly cult. They are Japanese though.

I got mine for £30, which is ok for what has essentially been the best set of wipers i've had which have lasted for almost 3 years. You don't need special wiper fluid.

Google PIAA approved suppliers.

Matt_N

8,900 posts

201 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
Very pleased with the Bosch retro fit Aero wipers on my ATR, got them from www.wiperblades.co.uk

BliarOut

72,857 posts

238 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
Mine on the E39 were £3.99 from Tesco, they are wiper blades and they wipe the screen. Nothing more to say..

ExPat2B

2,157 posts

199 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
danrc said:
ExPat2B said:
NiceCupOfTea said:
Where would you buy them? And what is PIAA?
PIAA is a "cult" japanese supplier. They sell massively overpriced kit that has the saving grace of being the best available.

Last time I looked they wanted 35 pounds for a set plus 25 pounds for the special screenwash you need.
Hardly cult. They are Japanese though.

I got mine for £30, which is ok for what has essentially been the best set of wipers i've had which have lasted for almost 3 years. You don't need special wiper fluid.

Google PIAA approved suppliers.
Well it looks like both our prices are well out of date. I just checked my size ( 19 + 21 inch blades ) UK supplier parts box, http://www.part-box.com/accessories-styling-piaa-w... Price was 46 pounds the set !!!!!!!!!!

Waugh-terfall

18,488 posts

199 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
I've got Valeo specific fit Silencio X.TRM (flat blades) on mine, much better than the standard OEM Valeo Silencio hook-fit it came with. I swapped my wiper arms for the non-hooked facelift models arms which take the flats so I didn't have to have the silly adapter fitting.

SWH

1,261 posts

201 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
NiceCupOfTea said:
Autobulbs - ABD Retro-fit Aero blades.....
....seemed like a good idea to me too.

Acceptable on my Laguna for <5K miles (a few months), back to Bosch ones again now - much, much better.

redtwin

7,518 posts

181 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
I have fitted curved aero flat blades to five different cars and haven't had any problems with them not clearing the screen properly. Haven't heard any complaints from people I have recommended them to either.

I have never bought from autobulbs though. I usually buy them from whoever has them cheapest (less than a tenner a pair) on Ebay.

chippy17

3,740 posts

242 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
ExPat2B said:
danrc said:
ExPat2B said:
NiceCupOfTea said:
Where would you buy them? And what is PIAA?
PIAA is a "cult" japanese supplier. They sell massively overpriced kit that has the saving grace of being the best available.

Last time I looked they wanted 35 pounds for a set plus 25 pounds for the special screenwash you need.
Hardly cult. They are Japanese though.

I got mine for £30, which is ok for what has essentially been the best set of wipers i've had which have lasted for almost 3 years. You don't need special wiper fluid.

Google PIAA approved suppliers.
Well it looks like both our prices are well out of date. I just checked my size ( 19 + 21 inch blades ) UK supplier parts box, http://www.part-box.com/accessories-styling-piaa-w... Price was 46 pounds the set !!!!!!!!!!
http://www.speeding.co.uk/acatalog/PIAA_Silicone_Wiper_Blades_Black.html





Edited by chippy17 on Tuesday 14th December 15:44

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

189 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
redtwin said:
I have fitted curved aero flat blades to five different cars and haven't had any problems with them not clearing the screen properly. Haven't heard any complaints from people I have recommended them to either.

I have never bought from autobulbs though. I usually buy them from whoever has them cheapest (less than a tenner a pair) on Ebay.
I bought some for my Nissan off eBay.

They were great for about 3-4 weeks, then they started jumping on the glass, being noisy and not really performing very well. In fact bloody useless after about 6 weeks.

boomboompow

6,703 posts

183 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
Different experience to you I'm afraid; I bought and fitted retro-fit aero blades to my Aero when I bought it last year and it was a massive improvement over the bosch ones that were on there beforehand. The Boschs were ok to begin with but they started to squeak really badly after about a month of use. The aero blades have been fantastic since I fitted them last winter; clean sweep and silent and hardly any sign of wear 12 months on.

Saying that, the Autobulbs website did have the wrong size of wiper listed for my car, but they exchanged them straight away.

hardcorehobbit

1,103 posts

194 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
redtwin said:
I have fitted curved aero flat blades to five different cars and haven't had any problems with them not clearing the screen properly. Haven't heard any complaints from people I have recommended them to either.

I have never bought from autobulbs though. I usually buy them from whoever has them cheapest (less than a tenner a pair) on Ebay.
I bought some for my Nissan off eBay.

They were great for about 3-4 weeks, then they started jumping on the glass, being noisy and not really performing very well. In fact bloody useless after about 6 weeks.
I've just bought some aero style blades off eBay for my Nissan. We'll have to see if the same thing happens to me as you.

redtwin

7,518 posts

181 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
300bhp/ton said:
redtwin said:
I have fitted curved aero flat blades to five different cars and haven't had any problems with them not clearing the screen properly. Haven't heard any complaints from people I have recommended them to either.

I have never bought from autobulbs though. I usually buy them from whoever has them cheapest (less than a tenner a pair) on Ebay.
I bought some for my Nissan off eBay.

They were great for about 3-4 weeks, then they started jumping on the glass, being noisy and not really performing very well. In fact bloody useless after about 6 weeks.
No doubt there must be different manufacturers of these being sold on Ebay. I have had them fitted to my LS400 for a year, Volvo S60 for 8 months (were fine when I got rid), Wife's Fiesta for 2 years, and my MOT guy that I bought them for a while ago now has them on a Micra after raving about how great they were on his previous Corolla or Carina taxi looking thing.

Co-worker has them on his Galant for probably close to 2 years now. Will ask him when next I see him if he has any probs.

For less than £10 a pair I can't imagine buying the branded stuff for 3 times the money again.

mercfunder

8,535 posts

172 months

Tuesday 14th December 2010
quotequote all
Waugh-terfall said:
I've got Valeo specific fit Silencio X.TRM (flat blades) on mine, much better than the standard OEM Valeo Silencio hook-fit it came with. I swapped my wiper arms for the non-hooked facelift models arms which take the flats so I didn't have to have the silly adapter fitting.
I've got Valeo specific fit Silencio X.TRM aero blades on mine and they are absolute st, leave a huge area unswept.
Would never have another set.