Has anyone had good luck with a silicone blade?

[horse123]

All I can say after owning a rear wiper from silblade, despite a lot of people posting good reviews--I assume because they're amused by the water beading that the blade leaves for a couple days at first--, is that I will never purchase another one unless it costs significantly less than the $6 and $8 rubber ANCO 31 series I bought. It worked OK for a month, and ever since about 3 months after I installed it all it's served to do was smear debris all over my rear window. I replaced it with an ANCO blade which wipes perfectly fine and for half the price I'd be perfectly happy if it lasted only 8 months or so like many blades seem to.

Can anyone actually report a good experience where silicone wipers have lasted as long as people claim they do?

 

[Astro14]

I've used silicone blades in the front of both Volvos. PIAA blades bought from the tire rack. Very smooth, long lasting, and include the spoiler to keep them in good contact at high speed. Never gone back to regular blades on those cars, the silicone are great.

 

[horse123]

How long lasting, and what do you consider to be still working? My friend claims the original blades on their 2012 A7 still work fine even though they smear like a butt wipe gone awry.

I couldn't pay $20 for a single blade when I can buy a full set of 3 for less if it only lasts 2x as long.

 

[djb]

I have two sets of Jamak / JMK wiper blades that have lasted for years. They weren't especially expensive, and nominally had a lifetime warranty.

The problem is that I'm now unable to find them in stores. Apparently making long-lasting wiper blades isn't a good business model. Not because you can't make money, but because you can't get space in retail stores.

 

[edwardh1]

I wish there was a list of the new blade types introduced since say 1950.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted By: djb
I have two sets of Jamak / JMK wiper blades that have lasted for years. They weren't especially expensive, and nominally had a lifetime warranty.

The problem is that I'm now unable to find them in stores. Apparently making long-lasting wiper blades isn't a good business model. Not because you can't make money, but because you can't get space in retail stores.


My brother swore by these. They started off selling them in specialty stores and mail order - made in Texas. I never had good luck with them, but I tried them on a windshield that already had over 200K miles on it (with all the scratches and pits that go with that).

As far as the lifetime warranty goes, to redeem it you had to send the blades back to the company and pay a shipping and handling cost easily equaling the cost of the blades. So, pretty worthless. Though, on the whole, if they worked on your particular windshield, they were longer lasting than a natural rubber blade.

 

[DBMaster]

They were sold at Wal Mart for years using the Tripledge brand name.