Thought I would pass this along. I picked up some Duralast flexblades today at autozone. I didn't know it at the time but they are on sale. 1 at reg. price, 2nd one 1/2 off. Since the MINI is not listed for the product, I took my OEMs off the car and eyeballed them to the new. Drivers side is 18". Passenger is 19". It is my first time with these on the MINI but my wife loves them on her truck. If memory serves, I think Crashton uses these also? So with the discount it was like $22 and change. If you like the rain-x blades they are on sale also.
I got the rain-x ones last year: the drivers side works great, but the passenger side isn't a good fit. It always misses an area just below centre of the windshield. I haven't tried Duralast yet.
Wiper are like tires you need to get the ones that are best suited for your driving style. How well any given wiper works is directly associated with the climate they are used in and the mostly condition of your windshield. Like tires there is no best wiper solution for every conditon. Wipers also need to be taken care of which means periodically cleaning them and checking the leading and trailing edge for wear which effects its performance. Changing them at least once a year or even at the change of season should be a good practice. Wipers and the arms can be adjusted with a little patients to achieve a full contact over the wipe range of the glass.
Almost every time I look at this thread there is a Google Ad on the left side for the New Michelin Stealth Wiper Blade. Far be it from me to tell anyone to click the ad, in fact I can't do that according to Google rules. But I was wondering if anyone has tried them.
Buy a set & I'll run them through the winter as a test. No charge to you, just a small expense to buy the test wipers.
Good advice! I used to change out wipers every spring & fall. Now that I've been running the Bosch Ikon's once a year is enough.
I've never adjusted my wiper arms or fiddled with them in any way and my car's going on 6+ years old now. All I want to do is just put new ones on 2-3 times a year when they start to streak (I hate streaks). I don't want any noise/swueaks/squeals. Oh, and I want to SEE. In my experience, stock BMW blades and cheap, AutoZOne-type units like the crap-o RainEx units typically begin to streak for me in the 2nd/3rd month, and begin to make annoying noises soon thereafter. By month 4-6, they're noisy, squeaky messes that just move dirt around. Contrast that with the PIAA's I bought from Outmotoring - they're now almost *6* months old and are still NOT streaking and are still whisper-silent. Every swipe is totally clean with no residue at all. And the PIAA's were cheaper than the BMW OEM replacements, and came with a silicone wipe that you use to "prime" the windshield for the silicone wiper blades, which makes rain basically blow right off the 'shield at any speed faster than walking in anything but a downpour. In fact, EACH blade has one, so you have a second for a re-application in a month or two when water stops beading). Sooooo... cheaper, longer-lasting, and work better, all in a single package? That translates to "I will no longer consider other brands" in Matt-speak... :beer
After going 4.5 years on the 1st set of OEM blades, it didn't rain much in TX, I put OEM's back on in April. They are dead, then again Ohio has been in monsoon season since April anyway. Think I'll go for a set of PIAA's soon
One aspect of the Bosch Ikons that I like is the fact the blade is not open like the oem & Piaa. In winter they do not ice up like the open ones do. Nathan, do you know of snow? :smilewinkgrin:
I put a set of Bosch Ikons on last fall, used them this morning on the way to work. No need to replace them for the upcoming Winter. Crashton is right about them not collecting ice like the open designs. The 24 inch refills I used to buy and cut down for the rear disappeared from the auto parts store around here so I modified the wiper arm to accept standard 13 inch replacement blades.