I pretty much have OCD with my cars, and one of the things I always do when replacing wiper blades is figure out what sizes provide optimum windscreen coverage.

For our cars, the ideal sizes are 24" for the driver's side, and 20" for the passenger side. The sweeps of each wiper cover nearly all visible area, and get rid of most of that annoying untouched section in the middle of our windscreen that's left by the stock 20" and 18" sizes. At these longer lengths there is no interference between the wipers, they reach almost all the way to the edges of the windshield, and I have not noticed any undue strain on the wiper motor due to the added length.


Best wipers I have found out there are the Silblade silicone wipers--last forever (many years), smooth like butter leaving absolutely zero streaks, and amazing warranty:

http://www.amazon.com/Silblade-UB124...2882577&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Silblade-UB120...2882577&sr=8-5


I know it's a silly post, but just thought I'd throw this out there for any who suffer from the same affliction I do.

 

Bosch ICON and no complaints here.

 

Ya i definitely have no problem with the 20" and 18", but still interesting to know lol.

 

Me either. Mine seem to cover the windshield just fine, but thanks for the info devtec.

 

Hmm. Interesting, I always buy the $2.99 wipers from walmart, so far they have been on for about 8 months and still going strong. I'm just using the 20/18 though. Maybe i will give bigger sizes a try...

 

Haha, not that the stock 20/18s are any real problem. Like I said, this is pure OCD.

I always switch to the silblade wipers anyway when I get a new car, since they are so smooth, streak free, and the silicone blades last many, many years, being cheaper in the long run. You can even send them in for free replacement if they start streaking. Have had my 8 now for a couple weeks, and just noticed that the untouched area in the middle was quite large, larger than other cars I have owned. So I upsized when I ordered the silblades, and now that triangle is basically gone (maybe 1-2" high now). Yeah!

Incidentally, the car did have Bosch icons on it from the previous owner, could not have been more than a year or two old, and were streaking a lot. So on went the silblades: spend $30 one time, and get many years of higher quality service out of them.

 

I was wondering about this exact thing the other day. Thanks, it's too bad I just bought a set of rain-x.

 

PIAA own bosch and Rain-X.

 

Rain-X. Expensive but worth it in heavy rains.

 

^+1

 

So I hear, but I can't find them anywhere near me.

 

Does anyone have problems with the passenger side edge, when using the one-piece blades, they don't touch? I have Bosch ICONs 18" on passenger side. It never touches the very right edge at the bottom.

 

www.amazon.com for PIAA but look at the website for the model you want first.

 

I'm sure the PIAAs and silblades perform very similarly. However, the silblades are a bit cheaper, and lower profile without all that PIAA "spoiler" business. At any rate, I recommend them.

 

I use trico wiper blades. They even weigh less than thestock ones lol.
I'm not that paranoid when it comes to wipers but knowing the max dimensions may come handy

 

Great post - very useful thank-you. Can I just add for those of us in non Left hand drive areas - I found that the sweep must be slightly different on the RHD cars - you can use a 24" on the RHD driver's side but a 20" on the passenger's side bangs on the windscreen surround at the cowl. So for RHD Cars: 24" Driver's Side, 19" Passenger's Side is best.

 

Rain X 20/18 never had any problems.

 

So 13 years later, unsurprisingly, they don't make Silblade Uni anymore..got any similar recommendations?

 

later…I have Bosch Icons and am very impressed thus far.A larger size 24 inches for a LHD and 20 inches for the passenger side covers all the window areas previously nor touched by the smaller sizes.

 

Thank you I'll try those out