Published December 29, 2009 | 
Updated Jan 25th 2010 – See bottom
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Not all bracket-less wiper blades (also called beam blades) are created equal. I have tried Anco Contour Premium, Bosch Icon and now Rain-X Latitudes and I must say that Rain-X Latitude Wiper Blades are by far, not only the worst bracket-less wiper blades I have ever had, they come close to being the WORST wiper blades I have ever had, in general.
Compared to regular bracket (old fashion) wiper blades, Rain-X Latitude Blades cost twice as much. That’s where the differences stop. They do not work any better than traditional wipers and they do not last longer either. At high speeds they also skip just like traditional blades. I started getting bad streaks after only 1 month of ownership and not even during bug season. Transitioning to winter, the rubber blades gets to hard they become completely useless (anything below 30 Degrees Fahrenheit). I must blast my windshield with hot air for at least 10 minutes until they soften up to the point of being able to remove fluids, and if I stop using defroster mode to heat the windshield, they stiffen up and become useless again (dangerously useless)! |
| In comparison to other bracket-less wiper blades (Bosch Icons and Anco Contour Premium blades), well, there is no comparison. Both the Bosch and Anco have a different spoiler design. Where Rain-X Latitudes have their spoiler right in the middle of the blade, making them symmetrical (and useless), Anco and Bosch put theirs on 1 side, making them work more like a real spoiler (see image). The effect of this real “spoiler” design creates down force on the blade and thus, the faster you go, the better these wipers work. Never will these skip on the highway, even in the winter. |
Bracketless Wiper Blade |
I have found the Bosch Icons to have better longitudinal structural rigidity than the Anco Contour Blades. Where on 20″+ plus blade sizes the Anco’s may start to skip at the ends where they aren’t quite stiff enough, however annoying it is, it doesn’t seem to effect performance too much. Both of these work well in the winter and stay soft enough to remove water even during very cold temperatures. Ice buildup is not a problem and one smack against the windshield after a night of freezing rain is usually enough to completely clear them. I feel that while the Anco’s perform very well, the Bosch Icon’s seem slightly better in almost every way (maybe its just me).
An annoyance some people find (with all bracketless blades) is that the ends of the blades do not make as good contact as traditional wiper blades do. You may find that the last 2-3 inches of the blade smear a bit on certain lengths of the wiper stroke. For example, on my old Saab, the last 4 inches of the blade wouldn’t make contact on the lower right hand side of my windshield (but would for about 70% of the rest of the stroke), leaving that area either dirty or wet. These areas of no contact are nowhere near my line of sight, and thus, do not bother me, but some people find it very annoying.
In my opinion, there are no better blades than the Bosch Icons and they will always be my blade of choice. Not only do they outperform other bracket less blade designs, they last, for me, about twice as long as the cheap old fashion blades and completely outperform anything I have tried in cold winter weather.
What do you think of these blades? What other kinds are out there?
Update: Here is an interesting development… It was a pretty gusty day today in Maine (Blades are just over 4 months old at this point). As I was driving along the highway at about 60MPH, a gust of wind hit and literally blew apart my Rain-X Latitude Windshield Wiper into pieces. The entire spoiler on one side of the frame flew off, taking with it the clip that holds the rubber wiping blade in place, in turn which caused the rubber wiping blade to slide 1/2 way out of the frame! This was pretty dangerous as it was raining very hard and I was left with only a fraction of my wiper actually clearing my windshield, not to mention this is absolutely ridiculous for a $17 blade! See the picture below. VIP auto parts (where I bought the blade) was kind enough to replace it for me free of charge.. So we’ll see how long this new Rain-X blade lasts. Unfortunately they don’t carry any other bracket-less wipers at that store so I’m stuck with this brand for at least another 6 months or so (if they last that long!)
Update 2!:Ok so my new Rain-X Latitude replacement wiper blade (because the old one exploded a few weeks ago) has started leaving a large 3″ wide smear section directly in the middle section of the blade, right in front of my view through the windshield, for the entire sweep. Yes I have tried cleaning the blade… I am dumbfounded. In my entire history (over the years) with these I am now on my 3rd set of Rain-X blades and the quality has remained consistently horrible…
Broken Rain-X Latitude Wiper
(click to enlarge)
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