What is the best way to clean a wiper blade? I heard that taken a cotton swab, soaking it with alcohol and then cleaning the blade is a good way. My 6 month old Mini's blades are starting to streak. Shouldn't be time for new blades yet. At least I hope not.

Thanks,

 

Wiper blades are free while your car is under warranty. So if you live near-ish the dealer, just stop buy and get some.

6 months sounds about right (to me) for the useful life of a wiper blade.

 

Wiper blades are not free up here, but they are $15 for the pair. I just got a new drivers side holder thing, can't remember what it is called, and put it on the passenger side.

The passenger side one without the air dam was lifting on the highway, which I'm on all the time. The drivers side blade is an inch or so shorter, but it works fine on the passenger side.

Mine streak from nicks, caused by wiping bugs off. No amount of cleaning will fix that.

I use aftermarket winter blades in the winter. The springs are covered in rubber so they don't freeze up.

 

rubbing alcohol does work great to clean them. They get dirty quicker than they wear out. . .

I clean mine from time to time because I am using the Sillblades which are silicone blades with a 5 year warranty. . . .

 

Where do you get those? Do they fit on the MINI blades
, or do you buy the whole thing? Blade and rubber?

 

Depending on how much one of my cars sit outside in the sun and how much the wipers are used, I typically get 6-12 months out of a set of wipers. If a car is driven daily and not stored inside, I can see wipers easily needing replaced in 6 months time.

To clean mine, I usually just take the microfiber towel that I used to clean the windshield off, spray some glass cleaner on it (usually Stoners), and the wipe the blade with the towel.

-Keith

 

www.silblade.com

They even have winter ones for you, my dear Canadian friend! :smile:

They can take a while to conform to the windshield (according to some people that have used them with MINI's). Mine have been great. I can't exactly say that they are leaps and bounds better than anything else, but for longevity they are really nice.

You do have to clean the sap and bug guts off of them from time to time to keep them smooth. . . something I should go out and do right now. ..

They do not have the little scoopy thing to press them onto the windshield. . . perhaps you can refit the one from your MINI, but I tossed mine away so can't say yes or no on that. . .

 

Thanks, they look good. But I think my blades wear more from nicks, cleaning off bugs, than the rubber getting dull.

The replacement rubber is cheap. It does say you can only replace the rubber once on the blade. Thats bunk, I'm on my 5th set of rubber in 2 years, and I use winter blades.

I do find the air dam does help alot on the highway.

 

I can definitely agree with you that new blades made from nearly any material will always perform better than older blades regardless of their construction.

If I had to do it over, I probably would not get those expensive blades, but now that I have them I might as well keep cleaning them from time to time!

 

I never bother, after three to six months I hit my dealer up for a new set thanks to the warranty... Heck if the car goes in for any kind I service I have them give me a new set whether it needs them or not...

 

Thanks, I'll do that next time I'm in.

 

Since I was asked in a PM, you will need an 18" blade for the driver side and a 19" blade for the passenger side when replacing wiper blades. . :smile:

I think the new PIAA silicone blades with the little wing on them look nice too!

 

Wow. My car is three years old and has only had the front blades replaced once and the rear has never been replaced. It's my daily driver, sits in the sun all day, but is garaged at night. I rarely use the wipers since I keep the glass waxed. I never use the windshield washer. My free maintenance runs out in two weeks so I plan to take it in one last time.

 

To answer the first question, I would recommend 303 Aerospace Protectant to clean the blades and make them last longer (as well as any other rubber molding, seals, etc)

If you go to your dealer's parts department, you can get the rubber only part of the wiper, mine charged $7. You can't beat that.

...well, you can, because they'll do it for free if you're under warranty, as others have stated.

 

My passenger side wiper always streaks and jumps across the windshield. The original blade did it, then I installed bosch 18inch on both sides. Drivers side ok but passenger side streaks. Can swap from driver to passenger and it still streaks.The noise drives me crazy especially since my wifes subaru is quiet and no streaks. I tried out a new NAPA one piece blade and it streaks and jumps as bad as the others. Does anyone have a solution?? I've cleaned the windshield till I'm blue in the face.

 

Try silicone blades like Siliblade or PIAA made ones ... I have the PIAA and they are super quiet and last long.

Also if I am not mistaken, one blade is longer than the other on the MINI, and you have the same size 18" blade on both sides.

 

I just got new rubbers for my OEM blades. I also got a drivers side blade with the air dam on it for the passenger side. No more chatter on that side, while on the highway.

The inch that the passenger side is longer, is the outsiide of the sweep. Makes no difference to me, to have it shorter.

 

Because kseckel99 lives near Disney World in Florida, 6 months in the sun here is a life time in other places.


The rear blade is 12".

 

--Hey jwardell is that 303 stuff safe to use on our dashboards? How long have you been using it? I keep seeing this product popping up on this board so I was curious. Thanks.

--pyratio

 

Also to keep your windshield (and the rest of the windo wsas well) clean & smooth for the wiper blades, clay-bar them. You will be amazed at what a difference this makes.

 

concur - clay bar or good super fine polish....keep the glass smoooooooth and super clean.

switched to PIAA blades and haven't looked back....PIAA gived you a silicon treatment for the glass. I suppose it is along the lines of Rain-X. Once applied you need the wipers less....the water sheets off.

 

I've cleaned my wipers on all sorts of cars with some regular glass cleaner on a paper towel then drag a razor blade (not cutting, but scraping) across the edges to scrape off any schmeg that didn't come off with the cleaning.

Incedentally, I've had goop form on my windshield in some instances - I don't know if it's a reaction between rainX, washer fluid, and the wiper blade... it had to be razor scraped off the glass - it was like melted rubber smears. Nasty stuff... I've since stopped using rainX, but not certain that's what it was that caused it.

Not trying to hijack the thread - just an observation.

 

Our MINI is in for service and my girlfriend just called me because they would not replace the wiper blades. I spoke with the service person at the dealer and they said that they only replace the rubber wiper and not the whole assembly and since we had replaced the assembly with non MINI wipers they would not do it under warrenty. They said we had to buy the assembly for $20 so we decided to just go and buy them elsewhere. We needed wipers in a hurry when it was very rainy and didn't realise that MINI would pull this on us. This is after they denied the windshield replacement because of what they said was a stone hit.

 

Good point, never thought about that aspect before. Thanks

 

i have the PIAA blades and just had my windshield replaced ... cleaned the windshield and the blades, but they don't wipe clear anymore.

what is the "treatment" originall included with the PIAA blades? and can it be bought separatelly to treat the windshield?

any other suggestions? i really don't like Rain X on the windshield ...