rear wiper blad

[hankhill11]

hey all. i've looked in many places but was unable to come up with a good replacement for the rear wiper on my 08 mazda3 5 door. none of the manuals in store list a rear blade for the 3, for any brand i looked at. what brand/size do you use?

 

[sunrun176]

I've been debating between just having the dealership replace it or getting a Rain-X Latitude blade assembly of the correct length and just swapping out the blade from it, which might cost just as much, but which could possibly last longer than the OEM blade, which has been overdue for replacement for almost a year.

(Aside: Most wiper blades only work well for ~6 months and then they start to really suck at wiping. I'm hoping the Latitudes on the front will last ~12 before getting to that point. Consumer Reports says they should, but whether they will or not is another matter.)

(Another aside: "Rain-X'ing" your windshield reduces the need to use the wipers in the first place, which increases their useful life span by reducing actual wear. They'll still need replacing due to age, though, but that would theoretically be longer than if they wore out from use.)

(Yet another aside (last one, I promise ): for some reason Rain-X doesn't seem to work very well (or indeed at all) on the rear window or the side view mirrors, but works fine on the front and side glass. Any glass experts out there know why this is?)

 

[icspots]

The rain-x doesn't work well on the sides and back well because of the airflow. On the front and side glass air is traveling laterally across the surface of th glass. The reduced surface tension the rain-x gives the glass then allows the water to be blown off. Notice that when sitting still the glass will bead up, and some water will flow off the glass, but when yo start drivng it all flows off.

 

[Zapp]

Bosch Hindsight

Don't know if these are any better than anything else, they are made for some Mazda's and not for others...... I've even written to one of their online distributors asking is there is one for my particular Mazda, but there has been no answer from them.
I have Bosch Icons on the front and love them. In fact I just drove home from town yesterday in a total downpour and remarked to myself that they really did the job.

 

[RENE063]

I refused to have to go to the dealer and pay for a wiper blade for the rear. I bought a bosch refill from advance that would work for the front wipers and measured the rear blade and cut it down to size. You can gently bend the wiper blade out of the assembly and pull it out. Then put the new blade in carefully. Voila, new wiper for the rear for no more than $6.

 

[ejh]

Don't know if these are any better than anything else, they are made for some Mazda's and not for others...... I've even written to one of their online distributors asking is there is one for my particular Mazda, but there has been no answer from them.
I have Bosch Icons on the front and love them. In fact I just drove home from town yesterday in a total downpour and remarked to myself that they really did the job.

How long have you had the Icons? I put them on 3 1/2 weeks ago and they were awesome at first. Then 2 weeks later they started to streak minor hairline streaks that are getting worse. I'm very disappointed because they weren't cheap. I live in Oregon and winter here means rain most days.

 

[sunrun176]

How long have you had the Icons? I put them on 3 1/2 weeks ago and they were awesome at first. Then 2 weeks later they started to streak minor hairline streaks that are getting worse. I'm very disappointed because they weren't cheap. I live in Oregon and winter here means rain most days.

To reiterate...

(Aside: Most wiper blades only work well for ~6 months and then they start to really suck at wiping. I'm hoping the Latitudes on the front will last ~12 before getting to that point [see next Aside below]. Consumer Reports says they should [wipe as well after 6 months as they did when they were new], but whether they will or not is another matter.)

(Another aside: "Rain-X'ing" your windshield reduces the need to use the wipers in the first place, which increases their useful life span by reducing actual wear. They'll still need replacing due to age, but that would theoretically be longer than if they wore out from use.)

 

[Zapp]

How long have you had the Icons? I put them on 3 1/2 weeks ago and they were awesome at first. Then 2 weeks later they started to streak minor hairline streaks that are getting worse. I'm very disappointed because they weren't cheap. I live in Oregon and winter here means rain most days.

EJH,
I am in OR also, I've had the Icons on now for just over two months and I am still totally in love with them. My car came from AZ and wipers were fried (so were the tires) so after the first time it rained I started shopping.
Obviously the windshield had been "glazed" with something as the windshield was thoroughly cleaned before the new wipers were put on, now I can see the whole thing has those tiny sand marks that all my AZ cars have ever had. But the vision through the front is like there is no windshield even there!
I agree with you though, winter in OR = mucho rain unless you live in one of those awful places where you get the "other" stuff.....ugh. I got new tires also, the ones on the car were wretched and didn't grip worth a nickel when the streets were wet, I went with Toyos and they work very well in wet.
Zapp