Aftermarket Wipers

[sha4000]

has anyoneelse bought wipers from autozone,pepboys or strauss and put them on and they dont wipe the whole windshield. ive tried the bosch, aanco and rainx, but the passenger side wiper always leaves a spot all the way on the right side of the glass on the bottom untouched

[akewlguy]

My wipers sort of smear across my windshield when it is only slightly wet....

Should they be cleaned or something? If so with what?

[SKperformance]

The new wipers are probably too long .

I used to buy aftermarket wipers but have found using rainX and oem lexus wipers the best combo for price ,reliability ,cleaning and chatter free cleaning hands down over every blade i have used before.

[blake918]

My last set of OEM wipers lasted me well over a year! When they wore out, I wanted to try something different (for no apparnet reason), so I went with Michelin wipers. They were easy to get in, and I don't have any fitment issues. I'd recommend them, but I don't know about their longevity since I've had them for about a month.

[sha4000]

My wipers sort of smear across my windshield when it is only slightly wet....

Should they be cleaned or something? If so with what?

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clean the wiper with alcohol

thats what i thought sk, i started to get the rainx but didnt ill pick some up tomorrow and see how it fits

[akewlguy]

So you can use the wipers with rainx? I heard it pollutes the blades and kills them.. I know I could look at Google to find the answer but I ask you.

Time for bed to dream of the LS... I mean my wife!

[nc211]

I've used rain x on all of my cars over the years, and the wipers. The blades on my car are oem and have been on there for 18+ months with no signs of wearing out. The only thing using rain-x and wipers will do is create a smudge line right where the passenger side stops on it's upward movement. You just clean it off. In my opinion, a very small price to pay for having clear vision in rain.

[akewlguy]

So you just follow the directions to apply the Rainx?

I have a ton of that stuff in my garage and for sure I am going to use it.

What is the OEM? How much are the OEM's from LEXUS?

Cheers to the LS... Thanks for the information

I have used the RAINX in the past and its a great product.

[nc211]

Yep, just follow the directions on the bottle. I use it on all windows and even the lights. I find it makes the glass much smoother and helps keep the wind noise down. OEM = stock, original parts.

So you just follow the directions to apply the Rainx?

I have a ton of that stuff in my garage and for sure I am going to use it.

What is the OEM?

Cheers to the LS

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[bartkat]

Aquapel > Rainx

[914lps]

On the wiper. It could be the arm or the holder the blade goes into, and not the blade at all.

RainX.. Great! can't live without it. Have used for over 10- years. But some things to know.

The claener the glass is before you apply it the better it works. Clean glass with lots of Paper towels and rubbing alcohol.

Once you have rainx on thw glass, you should not clean the glass with anything but paper towels and water. If you use a cleaner it will effect the rainx and your windows will look dirty.

Reaplly the rain x every now and then. Clean the old rainx off first.

To clean your glass and get all the rainX off, use lots of paper towels and rubbing alcohol.

I have found with rainx on all my windows and out side marrors, seeing in the rain is no big deal. And I almost never even need to turn the wippers on.

[Reyi]

I'm pretty sure the earlier poster was referring to using RainX BRAND wipers, not the fluid. I've used the RainX wipers on a few cars and thought they were great on everything except my current 94 LS400. The left wiper never seems to want to remain in its proper place. It slides down the arm very slowly over time, so that every month or so I have to pull it back into place (otherwise the bottom of the blade hits the bottom of the windshield and causes the blade to skip).

Other than that, though, the RainX brand wipers are awesome, and used in conjunction with RainX brand windshield washer fluid (much easier to use than the regular hand-apply fluid) the visibility is phenomenal.

[nc211]

another great way to clean the glass is to use a mr. clean magic eraser bar/sponge. They're like a $1 at the store. love those things man, just love them!

[sha4000]

I'm pretty sure the earlier poster was referring to using RainX BRAND wipers, not the fluid.  I've used the RainX wipers on a few cars and thought they were great on everything except my current 94 LS400.  The left wiper never seems to want to remain in its proper place.  It slides down the arm very slowly over time, so that every month or so I have to pull it back into place (otherwise the bottom of the blade hits the bottom of the windshield and causes the blade to skip).

Other than that, though, the RainX brand wipers are awesome, and used in conjunction with RainX brand windshield washer fluid (much easier to use than the regular hand-apply fluid) the visibility is phenomenal.

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i was referring to the wipers and i will try the rainx fluid also. how expensive is that stuff?

[914lps]

YOU TALKING BOUT ME!!!!!!!!!

If you where talking about my post I did mean the fluid not the wipers. Stuf works great. As I said in my post when it rains I almost never need the wipers.

[cardona6569]

YOU TALKING BOUT ME!!!!!!!!!

If you where talking about my post I did mean the fluid not the wipers.  Stuf works great.  As I said in my post when it rains I almost never need the wipers.

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Hi: Rain X is a great product it repels water and leaves the glass super clean also. If you replaced the OEM Blades with Bosh and do not find refills for them, you can buy the Rally brand they sell them at Pep Boys like for 4.00 a refill instead of spending the 10-15 to replace the whole blade, they worked very good on mine. The OEM in my dealer they costs 15 installed, not bad either, but since the dealer is an hour and they will take about couple of hours intalling/taking the car I went for those aftermarket refills, my aftermarket refills needed to be narrow, that is the key. Make sure your refill is exactly wide if the one in the car is wide and viceversa if it is narrow like mine. The rally has a little picture on the box and you can compare the refill with the picture and the length of the blade mine was 21 N you could also use the 22n.

C. PR

[CUMan]

I just replaced the wiper refills on my 93 LS with OEM refills ordered from www.newlexusparts.com. The cost was $4.50 for the passenger side and $4.78 for the driver side. They ship by UPS, and they pay the shipping charges.

I also replaced the blade assemblies on both sides. This is the part that holds the refills. The paint on both had deteriorated over the years and was flaking off.

The cost of these parts was $13.36 for the passenger side and $21.28 for the driver side.

It has always seemed to me that the OEM wiper blades do a much better job than any aftermarket blades I have tried.

[SRK]

I'm with CUMan on this one. I put Trico wiper blade assemblies on the LS when I bought it as the factory ones were showing silver as the black anodizing flaked off. Those Trico's did not but chatter and squeal at anything less than a downpour. Drove me nuts. I put Toyota/Lexus refills on the GS when I bought is. Perfect. Clean dry screen with every sweep, absolutely silent, and cheap. So I had to buy complete assemblies for the LS - not cheap - as I threw the originals away. But they work perfectly, quiet, dry, any amount of rain.

Stick with OEM parts, and forget about the chemicals. You won't need them.

[prix]

i have a smoky film on my window glass that i never seem able to remove. even when i pay someone to clean the car inside and out, when i get it out in the sun, i can see streaks. i've tried glasscleaner with newspapers, glasscleaner with paper towels, glasscleaner with regular towels and all of the above with an ammonia solution and so far, the steaks are still there. a few years ago, the car had a valve gasket leak and probably a lot of microfine oily gunk was getting into the air from that until i figured out that that was going on and fixed it..at least that's the only explanation i can come up with. so would this mr. clean sponge and/or rubbing alcohol work better? what would be the surefire way to get rid of the streaks?

YOU TALKING BOUT ME!!!!!!!!!

If you where talking about my post I did mean the fluid not the wipers.  Stuf works great.  As I said in my post when it rains I almost never need the wipers.

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[nc211]

Prix, I've used the Mr. Clean on the windows as well. I've had, and do have this problem too. But my fiance's 2003 Honda Civic has it too, as does all of her families cars. I think it's a condition of humidity matched by just environmental gunk. The Mr. Clean bars work great, but you'll need them to be pretty wet. Have a towel over the dash to prevent splater from the water. And really dry the window good too. I thought about hitting it with alcohol afterwards to make sure, but haven't done that yet...just the mr. clean bars and water.

[sha4000]

i didnt realize this thread was still going.anyway sometimes i have to wash the windows real goodwith soap and water then clean it a couple of times with glass cleaner to get it looking good

[cardona6569]

i have a smoky film on my window glass that i never seem able to remove.  even when i pay someone to clean the car inside and out, when i get it out in the sun, i can see streaks.  i've tried glasscleaner with newspapers, glasscleaner with paper towels, glasscleaner with regular towels and all of the above with an ammonia solution and so far, the steaks are still there.  a few years ago, the car had a valve gasket leak and probably a lot of microfine oily gunk was getting into the air from that until i figured out that that was going on and fixed it..at least that's the only explanation i can come up with.  so would this mr. clean sponge and/or rubbing alcohol work better?  what would be the surefire way to get rid of the streaks?

YOU TALKING BOUT ME!!!!!!!!!

If you where talking about my post I did mean the fluid not the wipers.  Stuf works great.  As I said in my post when it rains I almost never need the wipers.

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MIne had a Gasket leak, when checked the valve covers were loose, I just got them retorqued to about 20 degrees angle and the leak is a thing of the past.

C. PR

[914lps]

The "film" is most likly on the inside. It comes from the off gasing from the dash etc.

Best glass gleaner in the world. 1 cup isopropyl alcohol. 1 cup distilled water 2 oz. ammonia. Use a micro fiber cloth to clean. But cleaner in a spray bottle.

[dfkd]

RainX fluid kicks butt...i've used it forever and it's awesome.

I've found, bladewise, that there are these teflon blades here (at least here in Canada) and they've worked great for me.

I know they work because I just took a pair off after about 18 months and i was feeling a lil broke so i got some cheaper ones (not complete cheapos but not teflons) and now i HATE using wipers...not a good feeling in Vancouver (Seattle-like rain for the Americans).

Even with rainX they suck. So I'd suggest checking out some kinda "teflon" coated blade. They've worked well for me (clean wipe with no squeaking at all) and I'm seeing the failure of the alternative now.

And about the film and fog on the inside...my other car, a Taurus, does that all the time too.

As far as i've read, it has something to do with some buildup in the A/C vent system. Combined with high humidity, (Vancouver again) it's horrible. The Taurus is almost always frosty inside. Ford actually had a recall for that reason.

A/C system overhaul seems to have been the only solution...maybe a few sacks of Silica gel would do some good. lol.

Otherwise, RainX makes a fog preventer for the inside of the glass too. It comes in a black bottle (outside stuff is yellow bottle). I've tried that and it works too.