Sacrificing my windshield (and wallet) for SCIENCE (and the edification of RAD readers)

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Nate Nagel - 12 Dec 2006 00:54 GMT

Am trying a new product... PIAA "super silicone" wiper blades. I go
through wiper blades - even the supposedly good Bosch ones - like
popcorn, since my cars sit outside all the time, and I imagine the air
quality in this area (DC) is not so good. I didn't like the idea of
buying a PIAA branded product, as they are one of the worst offenders of
selling "bloo bulbs" to ricers, but I'm getting desperate here, and the
concept of using silicone rubber for a wiper blade seems logical. I
just want to be able to see in the rain!

I bought two pair; one for the Fabulous BeaterPorsche and one for Vlad
the Impala. The blades come with a little towel that you pretreat the
windshield with after cleaning thoroughly. This seems a little too much
like Rain-X for comfort, but I went ahead and followed the instructions
and installed the ones on the Porsche. I had to bend the driver's side
wiper arm a little to keep pressure on the blade at the bottom of the
windshield, the PIAA blades are lower profile than the old Bosch ones I
took off were. I wasn't nuts about that but otherwise they look like a
decent product; similar to the Bosch in construction and appearance and
with a very "lively" feeling rubber blade.

I'm going to go clean the windshield on Vlad now and install the other
pair. I'll report back in 6 mos. or so as to whether this was money
well spent or if I just made some ricers in japan laugh at me for paying
$20 each for four $6 wiper blades. This should be a good test, as I
just did my annual cleaning with 0000 steel wool recently, so both
windshields are fairly immaculate. I am, however, keeping the worn-out
old blades in the respective vehicles just in case...

Your friendly automotive guinea pig,

nate

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Nate Nagel - 12 Dec 2006 01:53 GMT

> Am trying a new product... PIAA "super silicone" wiper blades. I go
> through wiper blades - even the supposedly good Bosch ones - like
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
>
> nate

By the way, I found another reason to hate GM - the wipers on my Impala.
The wipers are "hidden" but don't actually hide. When they're parked,
the blades are half on the glass and half on a plastic trim piece. The
driver's side wiper runs off the edge of the windshield when you use the
wipers.

I knew all this stuff. But the NEW peeve is that not only can you not
lift the blades off the glass to clean the glass like every other modern
car out there, but you literally can't lift the blades more than about
2.5 inches off the glass. It makes replacing the blades unnecessarily
difficult and frustrating.

there are SO MANY little things that I hate about this car. Other
manufacturers manage to make cars that don't have nearly as many
ergonomic and functional issues as this POS, why can't GM? I really,
REALLY miss my GTI 1.8T. It is so nice to have a car provided for me by
my employer, but it is so frustrating that it has to be such a shitty one.

nate

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DYM - 12 Dec 2006 02:13 GMT

> Am trying a new product... PIAA "super silicone" wiper blades. I go
> through wiper blades - even the supposedly good Bosch ones - like
[quoted text clipped - 28 lines]
>
> nate

I'm curious. How often do you clean the glass between the 0000
treatment? When you wash your car, or every fill-up? I'd be interested
to know if that factors in to it. I don't go through blades that much, I
clean the glass every fill up. Keep a squirt bottle for that.

Doug
Out in where there are more Landis than Smiths.

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Nate Nagel - 12 Dec 2006 02:27 GMT

>>Am trying a new product... PIAA "super silicone" wiper blades. I go
>>through wiper blades - even the supposedly good Bosch ones - like
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
> Doug
> Out in where there are more Landis than Smiths.

I'm really bad about periodic cleaning, although now that I have an
actual useful driveway and an actual useful garage, I will probably be
better about it in the future.

I typically do take the opportunity to take a swipe with the squeegee
when I'm filling up the car, however, assuming the bucket isn't either
empty or frozen. I don't wash the cars as often as I should, however,
as the automatic car wash most convenient to me has already put a few
marks on Vlad (it's not a brushless one) and bent one license plate.
That too will likely change once the weather warms up (see real driveway
above)

nate

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Arif Khokar - 12 Dec 2006 07:24 GMT

> I typically do take the opportunity to take a swipe with the squeegee
> when I'm filling up the car, however, assuming the bucket isn't either
> empty or frozen.

You should buy your own squeegee
<http://www.starbrite.com/Prodimages/40043-Plastic-Squeegee.jpg> and
keep a spray bottle of glass cleaner and some paper towels with you.
It's a good way to keep both sides of the windshield clean (except for
the edges on the inside).

I've bad experiences with gas station squeegees (scratched glass, oil
smeared on part of my windshield, etc.)

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Ted Kennedy - President of DDDAMM (Drunk Driving Divers Against Mad Mothers) - 12 Dec 2006 04:44 GMT

Someone wrote:

>Vlad
>the Impala

Excellent name.

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MLOM - 12 Dec 2006 13:53 GMT

Ted Kennedy - President of DDDAMM (Drunk Driving Divers Against Mad
Mothers) wrote:

> Someone wrote:
> >Vlad
> >the Impala
>
> Excellent name.

Agreed. A friend who visits from Columbia, MO has his own version of
Vlad.

It reminds me of about 15 years ago when I used to wear one of those
fake aviator jackets. Someone would ask me what I flew, and I'd say
the S-15. Didn't mention that at the time I was referring to a 1989
GMC Jimmy. Drive around Johnson County, Kansas and you might see the
glimpse of truth in "flying" the S-15.

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Ted Kennedy - President of DDDAMM (Drunk Driving Divers Against Mad Mothers) - 15 Dec 2006 04:16 GMT

Someone wrote:

>Ted Kennedy - President of DDDAMM (Drunk Driving Divers Against Mad
>Mothers) wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>GMC Jimmy. Drive around Johnson County, Kansas and you might see the
>glimpse of truth in "flying" the S-15.

I guess in that regard I used to fly a mustang. :-)

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Nate Nagel - 18 Dec 2006 02:22 GMT

> Am trying a new product... PIAA "super silicone" wiper blades. I go
> through wiper blades - even the supposedly good Bosch ones - like
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
>
> nate

First follow up... I'm not nuts about the way they work on the Porsche;
even with the driver's side wiper arm bent slightly the blade does not
make good contact at the bottom of its sweep on the driver's side. This
seems to be a geometric issue not an issue with the blade itself
however. I may see if I can mod the wiper arm to work better with these
blades because on the Impala they work magnificently. It's rained at
least three days since I installed them and at first there was a lot of
smearing on the windshield that I wasn't nuts about but it would clear
up almost immediately. I think that was an artifact of the windshield
prep solution that they had me put on and now that the blades have run
in a little it's all but disappeared. They actually do an excellent job
of keeping the windshield clear and even clean.

If these last longer than a year, I'm going to have to (grudgingly,
because they're made by PIAA favorite brand of ricers everywhere) give
them a big thumbs up.

I may even have to see if I can retrofit the rubber bit to a Studebaker
wiper blade, as refilling them is a custom proposition anyway. I've got
it down to where I can "make" a set of Stude refills in about half an
hour or so if I have a set of original, unmolested Stude blades and a
set of aftermarket refills.

nate

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bryanska - 21 Jan 2007 19:38 GMT

> > Am trying a new product... PIAA "super silicone" wiper blades. I go
> > through wiper blades - even the supposedly good Bosch ones - like
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> > concept of using silicone rubber for a wiper blade seems logical. I
> > just want to be able to see in the rain!

I've had PIAA silicone blades on my car since 2003. That's... 3.5
years, I think. One has never been replaced.

The other has always worked fine, but the finish came off the frame!
PIAA did, however, replace them ASAP no-questions-asked.

They work BEAUTIFULLY. Nothing else comes close. Even three years
later! Paid for themselves twice over, at least. You won't regret it.

Now, I want to try the Silblade brand and see if they're any good.

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Nate Nagel - 21 Jan 2007 19:38 GMT

>>>Am trying a new product... PIAA "super silicone" wiper blades. I go
>>>through wiper blades - even the supposedly good Bosch ones - like
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>
> Now, I want to try the Silblade brand and see if they're any good.

That's good to hear. It's been only a little over a month since I
installed them, but at least in the Impala (I haven't driven the Porsche
very much) I've been happy with them so far. I wonder how well they
will hold up though because the wiper mechanism on this car is very
idiotic; the driver's side wiper will run over the windshield molding in
normal operation, and when the wipers park, they're half on and half off
a plastic molding. I guess if they last on this car they should last
even longer on any other.

nate

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