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Silicone wiper refills/blades?

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adrw.hong

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hi all,

Looking to try out silicone wipers, PIAA specifically. Measured the claw width on OEM wipers, both 8mm but the PIAA 16" refill wiper is only 6mm.
Will it work, just a little loose? Or do I have to buy the full wiper blade instead? What is everyone else doing?

Thanks
A
 
#2 ·
According to the Car Care Nut, the OEM blades and rubber pieces are the best.

Watch these videos to see what he says:


 
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#3 ·
Believe it or not, the OEM wiper blades on our '11 RAV4 still work fine, but the vehicle does not spend a lot of time in the sun. I soon probably will need to change the OEM wiper blades on my wife's '10 CR-V and hers spends more time in the sun.
 
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#7 ·
I cannot believe anyone can tolerate 10 year old wipers. I use OEM rubber and change out every 18-24 months or so. The improvement is clear, literally. Agree that it depends on sun exposure, environment. But it also depends if you are driving at night, in the rain or snow. Your tolerance for error is far lower.

I was checking out pure silicone a couple years ago. Would also like to try, but I refuse to remove all the original wiper metal. I like just swapping in the rubber parts and nothing more. I get it -- costco Michelins are actually quite cheap. But all the waste in the landfill ruins the deal for me.
 
#8 ·
Live in the snow belt and have tried several different types and brands of aftermarket wipers over the years and none of them are of as high a quality and as rugged as OEM Toyota. Often times wipers are frozen to windshield and suffer abuse while being pried off. Aftermarket jobie's just don't hold up as well as OEM, at least I haven't found any yet.
 
#9 ·
Just buy the rubber inserts from the dealer or from an OEM online parts store. They are cheaper than buying the whole arm from a parts store. I find they last 1-2 years typically. I just change them when I notice they aren't wiping well.
 
#10 ·
adrw.hong said:
Thanks all for the input, I'll try one more set of OEM wiper inserts and go from there. Reconsider silicone next year if they wear out too fast
Click to expand...
Were you simply interested to try Silicone or were you trying to save money on the PIAA part or do you NEED new blades and wanted options?

Nobody actually helped you with the PIAA size option of those particular size option however you were presented with many other options.

I am curious though: Are your wipers worn out and you want an upgrade? Are you wipers fine and you want an upgrade?
Are you trying to keep OEM as a spare and 'try' the Silicon PIAA model?

Or did you actually want advice on "what is everyone running for wiper blades"?
 
#12 ·
Maybe if you're buying the whole wiper assembly. I have Bosch Icons on two other vehicles and I really don't notice any benefit and they are 2 to 3 times more than the wiper inserts from Toyota. If it is a Toyota I will always buy the inserts. The only reason I ended up with Bosch Icons on my other 2 vehicles is that is all that was available at the parts store when I bought them. They aren't bad, but I don't think they are worth $25-$30 a blade.
 
#13 ·
I have switched out traditional wipers to beam styles on other cars and they are much better. There is a reason why that virtually all high-end cars use them. The insert type has been around for many decades. The rubber compounds have changed over the years but the arms themselves have not changed much. They are inferior to the beam blades because they are less aerodynamic and have only a few contact points with the rubber. Toyota still has rear drum brakes on their Tacoma’s, they work but are not superior to disc brakes.
 
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