Windshield wipers are not simple strips of rubber that sit on your windshield. The amount of engineering that goes into producing top-quality windshield wipers often goes unappreciated even as they're being used. When the wipers on your car no longer leave a clear windshield surface after a single pass, it's time to look at replacing them. Here's how we came up with our picks for best replacement windshield wipers:
Finding the Best Wiper Blades for your Car
Design
Not all windshield wipers share the same design. Some of the newer more effective models sport a hinge-free design which are more aerodynamic and resist freezing up in the winter. Though different manufacturers use their own designs to ensure that the wiper blade stays pressed against the glass, the end effect is that these wipers deliver superior windshield clearing ability. While traditional hinged wipers can lift off the windshield at higher speeds, hingeless designs channel the air to stay glued to the windshield surface.
Rain Performance
A windshield wiper exists primarily to remove precipitation and debris from your windshield. This is done to clear your vision so you can see where you're going in any weather. When shopping for a replacement wiper, only consider the models which can easily clear your windshield.
A wiper which cannot effectively clear water from your windshield is a useless wiper. This can happen for a variety of reasons with older wipers. The rubber compound wears down with use, and eventually hardens up and begins to crack. The pieces used to apply uniform pressure to the wiper blade itself can lose tension over time, or can become damaged with rough handling. The result of this is streaking and messy wiping.
Winter Performance
If you live in an area that gets icy winter weather, you've probably experienced frozen wipers before. Not only is this an inconvenience, it can lead to a safety hazard as well. A wiper with frozen hinges can not conform to the contour of your windshield, and will fail to clear your windshield of vision-obstructing materials. It's best to avoid this altogether by using a hinge-less windshield wiper. This means you can leave a single set of windshield wipers on your car year-round and not have to worry about swapping sets for the cold seasons.
Price & Value
Obviously, spending $50 for a single windshield wiper is silly. On the other hand, you'll most likely regret your purchase if you spent $5 on a wiper which ends up streaking and becoming intolerably noisy after a few uses. As with everything else, you don't want to over- or under-spend. Since windshield wipers are considered a wear item, some people may choose slightly lower-priced options over ones that perform better. Our take is that because windshield wipers constitute vehicle safety, it's important not to cut corners. It is in fact possible to choose an affordable, high-quality wiper like our #1 pick, the Rain-X Latitude.