Recommend windshield wipers

Ram 1500 in particular. TIA

 

Replace them every six months. Brands don’t matter, they’re all the same.

Since the advent of longer blades, the rubber has to be softer to get a good sweep across the glass. They’re only good for about six months, so don’t think that spending $70 each for the ultra-soooper-high-zoot ones will do anything to justify the expense.

 

I think beam type are the best

I have found that rock auto might be the best place to buy wiper blades. I buy three sets at a time and then always have them when needed. They are considerably cheaper than buying local and have almost every option

 

I mostly agree with @pickled egg . The last set I purchased were from Bosch (I get an employee discount) and quite honestly they were no better in my application than the much cheaper options after a few months. I will likely run them again if they offer a deep enough discount but only if its one of the cheaper options.

 

Long term parking at the airport?

 

2WD or 4WD....sorry had to pull an autozone

 

Rain-X is my best option, though I do replace rubber regularly also.

Honda sells the rubber inserts separately, if you still have OE arms. Extremely inexpensive, relatively.

 

Ive had good luck getting wipers to last a year or so by swabbing with a cotton ball & alcohol. Also I use rainX or some kind of coating on the windshield to bead up the water.
I dont live in a cold climate though...

 

Rain x is a gamechanger in warm weather states

 

Oem replacement rubbers, like Egg said... every 6 months or so. Ski

 

I use Rain X washer fluid and Toyota OEM wipers on my Camry, though Rain X wipers are good too.

Best part of using the fluid is my wiper speed during rain driving is much lower than before. And the need to use the wipers to begin with is delayed.

 

I use the orange Rain-X wiper fluid and my blades last quite a while, talking like 2+ years if not longer. I can drive down the road at 60-65 mph and not need to use them at all. Of course that depends on vehicles in front of you and type rain.

 

RainX is my go to for my car, really like them and they seem to be coated with some slow release rainX that remains on the windshield for a long time.

 

I like the rain-X wipers too, also use their wiper fluid. I think the fluid is a bigger help than the wipers.

 

I found ice is easier to scrape from Rain-X'ed windshields also. When driving in slushy, ice forming weather the chunks blow off easier also.

 

Keeping the rubber blades cleaned however one chooses to extends the life of whatever you are running. I've applied more Rain-X and cleaned the wiper blades with paper towels when stopping for fuel in the rain hundreds of times in my life.
I'm old though. I shared how well Rain-X worked with my Dad in the very early '80's and he being raised in the depression, chose to Rain-X his class C Tioga camper regularly, instead of paying someone to repair the wiper motor/ mechanism.

 

I wasn't intending to endorse their wiper blades. Those came later. They built their reputation on their early fluid in the very early 1980's. I was intending to say the treatment is the cat's meow, and has been my 'go-to.'

 

Chemistry lesson time.....normal glass is basically silicone dioxide, Si - O - Si - O - Si etc... Now Silicone (Si) is very friendly and it likes to have more friends (chemical bonds) than I drew there. So it really looks like this:

This is the glass surface layer....

OH OH OH OH
| | | |
- Si - O - Si - O - Si - O - Si - O -

Those OH groups are very water friendly...we say Hydrophilic...greek for water loving. The water from rain just loves to hang there. They are basically 2/3 of what water is. Like half brothers or close cousins. That's why water beads just spread out on plain glass.

Rain X is a chemical that has a group on one end that will react with OH groups and replace them and the other end is a water hating group (hydrophobic). So when you treat glass the idea is to remove those Hydrophilic groups and replace them with Hydrophobic groups. This is actually a chemical reaction and the old school RainX needed some water to react and some time for the reaction to occur.

That's why it worked best when your windshield was damp, or washed and wiped off and then applied. And why they say to wait 20-30 minutes until exposing to rain after applying. Otherwise the chemical will just wipe off.

OK. Chemistry lesson over.

 

Exactly what my Chemistry professor told me in 1983. He was literally a former rocket scientist with NASA.

Yes, the original formula left the windshield totally streaked until you wiped it clean with a damp rag. I still follow this routine when applying it.