Last year my stock wiper blades started streaking so I replaced them with the crappy tire 'teflon' blades. They were OK for a few weeks and then they started to make this annoying gripping chatter sound, (almost as bad as scratching nails on a chalkboard :angry: .) Even with liberal use of RainX and using speed 6 on the variable speed intermittent wiper switch it was annoying as hell.
A few weeks ago Canadian Tire began show an ad (with geeko smarty pants pitchman) for the new 'REFLEX' wiper blade, the one that looks like it is just a refill with no hinged support mechanism. I said to myself, what the heck, and gave it a try.
Boy, what a difference! :) They are quiet, and they don't have those hinges where snow and ice can freeze them up and not provide a full clean sweep. They look kind of odd with no hinged mechanism but they work.
Ya I got these about 2 months ago and haven't had a problem with them yet, I think they're great. I even got both my parents to buy em for their cars too. And they make a rear wiper that will fit and is just as good.
I've seen the advertisement, definatly going to try those reflex ones next year. I found the teflon ones were OK so long as you also use teflon washer fluid.
I threw those reflex on my truck and tehy have been great, now lets see how long they last, if they stand the test of time they will be going on the Focus as well
David
The teflon ones are useless! They're just the regular winter blades with a teflon coating on the blades... if you don't use teflon wiper fluid the coating washes off in a couple uses. Such a scam. I bought winter blades earlier this year, but s**t the wind lift on them is horrible. If I'm driving over 80, the prospect of wiping my windows is terrifying.
I wanna try those reflex ones tho.
I bought the teflons once also, i've since replaced them them with the aerofoil. So for so good, it's been 8 months i'd say. I still have the teflon on the back though, and it's garbage. The contact was only good for a month or so. Now, when I wipe the back window, it starts out full coverage but reduces to 3inches right at the peak.
I was going out to pick up a reflex for the back. Hope it works.
Hey whatever happened to blade replacements? I remember you could just unclip the blade and replace it. None of this replacing the whole thing.
you know the "Reflex" blade from Canadian tires is a copy of the same wiper blades from the Mercedez Benz, my friend has one and i was looking at it the other day, and i was like, hmm... i wondering if i can buy this from mercedez and put it on my focus... and lo and behold, Canadian tire makes it too! guess i get to save a bunch of $$$ from not buying it at the Mercedez Benz shop!
Sweet, I've been thinking about trying these blades, definitely going to now.
And yes, the technology has been around for awhile, even the first Marauder had them, and my bro has had them for a couple years on his GTI. Cool none the less.
I'll have to try a set when the current set wears out.
Reflex eh? *Mr Burns voice* Exxxxcellent.
I dunno why everyone has such problems with their wiper blades? I have stock blades on for 2 years, and have no streaking or noise problem with mine, they even work great in the winter with snow and all that s**t. I just give the blades a good wipe every few months with a cloth dipped in washer fluid and wipe them clean. you will see a big difference if u do this, brings life back to old blades.
The only blade that is giving me a hard time is the F^$& rear wiper blade, i have to do something about that one.
SLIP STREAM SVT,Dec 29 2004, 01:51 PM Wrote:you know the "Reflex" blade from Canadian tires is a copy of the same wiper blades from the Mercedez Benz, my friend has one and i was looking at it the other day, and i was like, hmm... i wondering if i can buy this from mercedez and put it on my focus... and lo and behold, Canadian tire makes it too! guess i get to save a bunch of $$$ from not buying it at the Mercedez Benz shop!
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I think all panther based cars have them like crown vic, marauder. The 500 also uses them straight from the factory to. We wanna try the reflex ones on the car here, they work awesome on the crown vic interceptor's around here so might as well give em a try.
i work at CT and we discourage people from buying the Teflon blades because we thinks they are absolutely useless. As For the reflex blades when we first recived them in stock we figured that they were useless also but after reading these post and speaking to some customers i may also start recomending them and put them on my focus when i need new ones. right now though the ones on my car (assuming stock cause i bouhgt it wiht 25000 kms) are working fine.
After 1 month of these at CT, the boy reports people are returning them quicker then I can get my undies off for my wife.
They are breaking under any stress of snow and ice.
You have been warned!
meford4u,Jan 8 2005, 05:42 AM Wrote:After 1 month of these at CT, the boy reports people are returning them quicker then I can get my undies off for my wife.
They are breaking under any stress of snow and ice.
You have been warned!
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Good info, maybe its not the weight but rather the materials can't take the cold?
I use those cheap Teflon combine with the cheap ass $1.99 wiper wing to add some down force to it, work great and improve the aero design of my zx3. Result is the car more stable on hwy speed and improve gasmilage. :D
j/k
the wiper wing work great in my opinion but is a little loud.
So far so good for me. After being parked all day during the last snow storm, they worked perfectly. I did not have to bang the wipers to breakup the built-up snow and ice that would have been in the hinges of the old wipers. I'll see how it goes. My car is usually in the garage at home so I can only really test them while I'm at work.
the new ford 500 uses wiper blades that look an awfull lot like the refelx ones that they sell at crappy tire
They look like a great design on paper, and I wanted to get a pair, but the boy said that because of there lack of hinges they are a flimsy design and are breaking very easily in the cold temperatures.