Neither?

I've used both, and they aren't impressive.

A 'parts' car (that I drove for 5 years) came with silicone wipers on it,
and the wipers outlasted the car.
So that's what I use these days, because changing the wipers every 6 months stinks.
Especially since I'd never get around to it, and run around with garbage wipers for a year...

They're roughly 3x as expensive, but last so much longer that it's economical in the
long run even if you don't factor in the hassle...

old guy opinion,
t

 

A 'parts' car (that I drove for 5 years) came with silicone wipers on it,
and the wipers outlasted the car.

Link to the silly-conehead blades you like?

 

Once I bought a Valeo that was total garbage. Then I bought Genuine BMW (61612458347) and last time I bought the Bosch Aerotwin (3397118904) which is also good and half the price of the OE one.

I never had a silicone one, so no experience with that.

 

Don’t get Bosch, they don‘t work well at all.
I never had trouble with refills from the dealer, but I had a hookup for those BITD, not sure what pricing is like now.

 

Same here. Both for the Bosch not working well (lots of chatter) and for getting refills from the dealer which have worked well and were not expensive a few years ago when I last bought replacements (I paid around $55 for the set after asking nicely for a discount).

 

I was frustrated with how short my Bosch wipers lasted, how loud they were, and how expensive they were to begin with at 45 bucks for the set.

On a lark and as an experiment I bought these silicone refill pieces, super price for $10

www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BX63MVVB

You have to reuse the metal parts of the old rubber blades from the existing set of wipers, then sandwich the silicon pieces into the metal stays, and then slide them back into the frame.

It's abit of work but worth it IMHO... very reliable quiet and perform amazingly well.

They work so well I even swapped out a set of rubber blades from some Valeo beam wipers on my other car, a 2011 f10. They work amazingly well on that car too.

So $10 for two cars seems pretty reasonable and the performance is great.

Edit: you'll want to wear blue gloves to handle the silicone blade material, it's treated with a graphite substance that gets all over your hands.

 

Are these easy to trim down to match the length if the current wiper frames I have on my car?

 

Sixto beat me to it- yeah, that's what I ordered last time, about 3 years back, now...

Altho, siliconE, not silicoN. The glass is made of silicA, and silicoN will just etch the hell out of it....

t

 

I got some no-name brand off Amazon for my wife's car and was very impressed with their build quality and performance (very quiet). They also make a set for our cars and I'll be picking up a set when it's time to replace mine. Here's a link.

 

Hmm, those look interesting indeed. They have a 22" / 19" kit which fits the E46 and are also available in silicone. Amazon.com
Is this frameless wiper blade setup more effective/efficient cleaning the glass? I have never purchased/ used these and always gone with the framed type, so curious to know if i should give this configuration a try.

 

I use the Bosch mono blade style and so far 2 years and still good. Shop around as some places sell the exact same item for 3 times or more than others. In Oz they're a rip off and auto shops slap a stupidly high profit margin on them.

 

I’m singing with the silicone blade crowd, they’re expensive but will last near forever assuming you don’t freeze them in snow and ice.

 

Had a set of the PIAA blades on my mk3 Golf. I replaced them because I thought the wipers were streaking. New blades streaked exactly the same, the windshield was crap. Was so mad I realized that after the trash had already been collected. Best wipers ever, but expensive.

 

Should the E46 wiper lengths be 22/19 or 24/19? I have sern both measurement variations.

 

here is the silicone material version of the Motium branded wipers

https://a.co/d/eas24HR

 

Yes, just a razore blad

b

let's eat, grandma

 

I treated my windshield years ago and keep apply a fresh treatment once every ~month or so (when it's warm and dry outside, low humidity so I can rub the material dry into the glass). The water doesn't remain on the windshield long enough to activate the wipers. Today was the first time I had to use wipers on a car I was driving (in 5 years?). I had to drop my car off at the dealership and they issued me a 440 M convertible. It started raining on the way out of the dealership and you couldn't see anything through the windshield (never treated).

The best treatment I found was something called 'Visionblade' made by STP, but 'it worked' so they stopped making it years ago. Rain X isn't worth the letters it's printed on. I have been using Invisible Glass with Rain Repellent the same way. Clean the windshield first and dry it. Spray on the Invisible Glass with Rain Repellent and let it sit for about 30 seconds then buff it dry with a clean microfiber towel. For best results, do it twice. It has lasted on my car for about a month before having to do it again, but then it's right back to rain balling up on the glass and off it goes once you get moving at any speed above 45 MPH. With Visionblade, water wouldn't stay on your windshield sitting still.

I have not used my wipers on my car in so long, I don't know if they even work. LOL The harder it rains, the faster the rain runs off at road speed. The only time water 'may' sit on your windshield (and as I mentioned, it will ball up) so you can see around it is when you are sitting still or going very slow.

 

So are these Bosch wipers sold by FCP Euro conventional rubber?
I will answer my own question courtesy of the Bosch website

• Blended dual rubber compound with graphite coating for long life.

The part number on FCP for the below wipers show as a frameless model, while on the Bosch site it is listed as a conventional frane type wiper.

BMW Wiper Blade Set - Bosch 3397118909

BMW Wiper Blade Set - Bosch 3397118909

www.fcpeuro.com

 

The frame blades are NLA from BMW. Pretty sure the old frame blade part number is superceded by the frame less and if yoframe less. That p/n you still get the frameless.

A friend was complaining about her driver's blade on her e46 getting stuck in a weird position. Took a look and found a set of semi-frameless blades on the car (big, chunky plastic bodied blades.) The guide for the frame blade was still installed, so I popped it out and sent her down the road. I'll have to check in and see if it helped.

 

How did you remove that factory guide out of the driver's side wiper? Curious to know as I fiddled with the one on the wiper arm of my car butbdid not want to come off easily and did not want to force if off by possibly breaking it.