Flat Blade Wipers?

My wipers are in need of replacing and rather than put the standard ones back on I was wondering about fitting the new style low profile ones. I've been very impressed with them on my new Passat. Has anyone already tried these on the 996 and have any thoughts about how they look or work? I've also seen them advertised on Ebay and was wondering if anyone has bought them from there?

I've no experience of the 'flat blade' wipers, but I use the PIAA silicone wipers, which are far better than the standard Porsche/Bosch offering. Not as sexy as some of these flat blade types though.

You must be refering to Aero blades which are fitted to the passat. Check the wipers on your porsche first as aero blades are normally fitted with a single pin fix, none of the old clips.

I think the aero blades only fit cars that were designed to from OE. Non OE needs an adaptor which I am led to believe from a friend who fitted some to his Audi TT are not vey good.

Aero blades are better when they are new but they go brital quicker to. There is the option of fitting vw arms to i suppose instead of adaptors?

Had a feeling that might be the case. The ones I saw had adpators to allow them to be fitted as none OE. However these would probably wear as well. Guess it's back to the Bosch.

Richard I quite fancy the PIAA blades myself for my '99 cab. PIAA website says that I need a normal blade for driver side and a curved for passenger side. Is that what you use or have you just got the same for both sides? Regards Ellis

Actually, I didn't realise the passenger side blade was curved until recently. (There is a similar thread on Renntech). When I got the car it had straight blades on both sides, so I just replaced like-for-like. I haven't had any problems. I just bought a new pair (still not knowing this). Next time I'll get it right! They also do one now with a spoiler, but to be honest I don't think it is absolutely necessary. I got them from www.a-pp.com

when I changed mine, I got them from Porsch-Apart - usual excellent service. There is a recent thread on the 944 forum regarding new style wipers obtained from e-bay - I think they lasted on the car for a couple of days followed by an advisory "don't waste your money on these" type posting.

There is an article in this week's " Auto Express " in which they review a number of wiper blades from various manufacturers. Their "Best Buy" was the Valeo Silencio X.TRM UM622 + UM664 , priced at £25.98 for a pair (5/5). These are the latest flat-blade technology, allowing a retro-fit, plus a UV sensor to indicate replacement required. There were two "Recommendeds" - Bosch Aerotwin 928S & Champion Aerovantage SX53 + X45 . The PIAA Super Silicone Wiper 8C + 11 , priced at £35.98 achieved 2/5 with the comment "we did notice a slight smearing on the screen at every upstroke...this isn't the end of the world as they're generally impressive but it's a niggle which makes the price a little hard to justify". If anyone's interested I could scan and post the entire review. Neil.

BB_996 - that would be an interesting read. Currently (well, for a while acutually) toying with the idea of new wipers and the aeros are really keeping my attention. Some more background info' would be helpful.

Right, try these...hopefully the print is large enough to make out without too much eye strain... Neil.

part deux...

That's great. Thanks.

Its interesting to read the above threads. Has no one tried "RainX" I swear by the stuff and generally (unless moving very slowly) removes the need for wiper use. Thus you only need to use the wipers less frequently and better vision all round The faster you go the better the visibility A bottle from Halford will set you back £6 quid! Bob Lovelace

Hi Bob, I didn't know you had ever taken the car out in the rain !

I use Rain X as well, it is great stuff. I swear by it on my 1957 VW, as wipers generally sit 1mm off the screen at the best of times. Stu

I used to use Rain-X, but I use Rejex now - seems to last a lot longer and doesn't make the wipers judder like Rain-X used to.

Bumping this back up... Did anyone ever buy any of the alternative, or "best buy" wipers in the article? Or is everyone using the PIAA ones after all? [ ]

I bought a set of the Valeo(Sp?)Aero blades of Ebay last year for around £20 and must say they work better than the originals especially at high speeds, my old ones used to judder at a ton plus (track use of course)where as the Aero's stick to the screen. The passenger side does miss a bit but thats were your tax disc is!