Wiper blade recommendation.

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
Post Reply
mountaindude
Advanced Member
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2013 10:04 am
My tercel:: 1984, 1985
Location: Northern Nevada

Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by mountaindude »

My 84 and 85 both have what is referred to as "bayonet" style wiper arms. The brackets for the wiper blades that I find at Wal Mart, simply break, freeze and break, or just fly off.
Lost both last night in a snow storm. What good quality wiper blades do you recommend for sub zero, harsh Winter conditions?
User avatar
Petros
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by Petros »

the Boshe work well, but are costly. there are better quality blades that usually have a higher quality arm and mount as well, I like the composite Teflon blades, I do not remember the brand, but it is their upper line (more expensive) blade. It lasts much longer too.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
mountaindude
Advanced Member
Posts: 52
Joined: Sat Apr 13, 2013 10:04 am
My tercel:: 1984, 1985
Location: Northern Nevada

Re: Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by mountaindude »

Thanks. I don't mind paying more. Having the Wal Mart offerings fail during a near "white out" was awful.
Hiro
Advanced Member
Posts: 52
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2016 4:42 pm
My tercel:: 1986 Toyota Tercel FWD 5spd

Re: Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by Hiro »

I usually rock auto mine and try to stick with Bosche or Trico. For the price of a set at Advance Auto or walmart, I can usually get 3 or 4 good sets shipped from rock auto, which usually last me 2-3 years. Apparently, you're supposed to replace wipers around ever 3-6 months anyways... I go until they start streakin...

You get what you pay for, but at the same time, you can still save money if you look for the closeout and clearance deals for the same rock auto stuff. The clearance ones still have good rubber on them; unlike my skeptical friends, I've not had a bad lot of blades or oil filters from rock auto.
'86 T2 DLX (114,000 miles and counting)
'90 EE4 RT4WD
'92 EG VX Hatch
'95 YJ 4.0L
'05 C6 Z51 (460rwhp)
User avatar
Petros
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by Petros »

3-6 month replacement blades? sounds like junk.

We really need good wiper blades here in the PNW, and with the gravel roads I drive daily we pick up a lot of fine sand and silt on the glass, particularly after a long dry spell (about 3 weeks for this area). I have found the Teflon composite blades last about a year if I clean them off regularly (wipe down with rag and soapy water, and use silicone or armorall on them). I too have had blades fly off the arm in the middle of the storm (it flew off into road side brushes and a ditch...spent too much time looking for it and gave up), so the cheap attachments I am leery of as well.

I have tried to just replace the blade itself, and reuse the arm assembly (which is better quality on the higher priced blade assemblies), but the pivots wear out and they get sloppy (particularly after a year of heavy gritty use). So I find it is just as well to just replace the whole arm assembly with a the new blade already in it.

One time I bought in a clearance sale some techie looking double blades (in Red, for my black pathfinder, just to dress it up for fun), and to my surprise it not only worked exceptionally well, it also lasted longer. Though it too eventually wore out and I did not want to pay the full regular retail price, so I went back to the regular quality blades. likely you can get some decent ones on ebay or Amazon at a good price. These did some serious window clearing in heavy rain, snow and ice. the only ones I could find were on alibaba, so not sure of quality, though Autozone says they sell something similar.

looked like this:
Wholesaler-Original-double-windshield-wiper-blade-with.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
Hiro
Advanced Member
Posts: 52
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2016 4:42 pm
My tercel:: 1986 Toyota Tercel FWD 5spd

Re: Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by Hiro »

Petros wrote:3-6 month replacement blades? sounds like junk.
Sorry; you might have misread my comment. I was restating typical service intervals for wipers. Kind of like how some cars have 25k mile service intervals for tie rods. Sure they may not work as well as new, but they aren't bad enough to be a safety risk or justify money to replace...

Life of blades will vary from environment to usage to care. Running wipers on a dry windshield will wear out faster. Pitted windshields with cracks or chips will eat up wiper blades. Low humidity and high temperature environments dry out blades. Sitting in direct sun dries them out. Etc. I usually get 6-9 months out of lower cost blades, but I'm okay with that because I spend significantly less over time than a good set of blades that last 9 months or longer. If the lower cost set works equally well as a higher cost set, but requires replacements 30% more frequently but cost 80% less, why pay more? This is what works for me, but I understand it may not work for everyone :)
'86 T2 DLX (114,000 miles and counting)
'90 EE4 RT4WD
'92 EG VX Hatch
'95 YJ 4.0L
'05 C6 Z51 (460rwhp)
donnyre
Newbie
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2017 1:32 am
My tercel:: 95 Tercel

Re: Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by donnyre »

I can say that Bosch wiper blades are worth the price. Not noisy, and no streaking.
User avatar
ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by ARCHINSTL »

I buy replacement wiper "inserts" (refills?) and have been using them on replacement 18" blades I installed in 2005. The inserts are getting harder to find, however. I replace them in the Fall and again in the Spring. The last pair was $8.00 at AZ.
Tom
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
User avatar
splatterdog
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 1623
Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:26 am
Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by splatterdog »

Gets harder and harder to find wipers with screw on mounts. The push on ones do like to fall off. I usually go cheap/replace often on blades.

Our first winter blast I saw a "guy" pulled over and it looked like he was calling someone for help. The problem- a flipped wiper blade! Send help!!!
User avatar
MotorLicker
Newbie
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2017 1:20 pm
My tercel:: 1985 DX 5dr 2WD
Location: Vancouver BC

Re: Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by MotorLicker »

I'll add to the echo chamber and say Bosch!!

Bought a cheapo pair from lordco this winter one flew off on a bridge during a snowstorm which was pretty interesting. Luckily I still had the old Bosch to put on. Better to have a streaky old blade than one which flies off randomly.
User avatar
marlinh
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 1584
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:15 am
My tercel:: 'Everett' Blue 87 4WD Wagon (Rocky 86, recently retired)
Location: Kootenays

Re: Wiper blade recommendation.

Post by marlinh »

Hope you weren't on the Port Mann bridge. The ice bombs that fall off of that one could easily take out a Tercel!
Post Reply