Originally Posted By: barlowc
But isn't that the point of beam-style wipers? They should have more even pressure than traditional frame-style blades because there's not just a few pressure points?
In theory, yes, but in reality, sometimes the old type works better. I had Rain-X Latitude blades on my Optima and got rid of them in less than a year. They were not not wiping cleanly in the center part of the blade's area of travel over the windshield. They never worked well from day one, so it wasn't age related.
This only happened on the driver side which is a 24" blade (passenger side is 18"). My speculation is that the longer blade had a tendency to lift off the windshield in the middle due to inconsistent pressure across the blade. It was almost like it was pushing too hard at the ends.
Also, they would skip and chatter at highway speeds, another problem I never had with regular blades... guess the wind was catching them even though they are supposed to be more resistant to that issue.
Switched to cheap Rain-X Weatherbeaters and haven't had either problem even after 10 months.
Quote:
There's a lot of variability in wiper performance, across both styles of blades, that is due to the varying curve in windshields, axis point of wiper arms, etc.
Exactly. For this reason, I might try OEM from the dealer next time.
No matter what, I have found that a good CLEAN windshield goes a long way. Also, every month or two, wipe rubber on the wiper blade with a soft cloth dampened with a good window cleaner such as Invisible Glass. This can greatly improve wiper performance, and help save money buy not replacing wipers as often (especially if you buy the expensive ones).