Ever heard replacing your wiper blade rubber? The previous generation used to replace the wiper blade rubber rather than the whole blade. It’s cheap and environmental friendly compared to replacing the whole thing.
Nowadays, vehicle owners replace the whole blade rather than replacing the rubber because it’s cheaper (manual work fee) and saves time. It costs as low as HK$23 for a pair of front wiper blade. Before you start purchasing a new one, let’s understand more about the wiper blade that keeps sweeping in front of you.
Conventional (bone) wiper blade
Used in most Chinese and Japanese made vehicles for older models. New vehicles these days original equipped with boneless wiper blade rather than the conventional.
It’s called bone because of metal frame that holds the rubber. It’s strong, keeping it stable and withstand solid debris during wiping on the windscreen.
Modern vehicle, back from some years ago, have a windscreen that is slightly curved. Although bone wiper blade do have some flexibility (red arrow pointing metal can slightly adjusted according to the windscreen it put on), the invention of boneless wiper blade, theoretically, have a better cleanliness compared to bone wiper blade. In theory, boneless wiper blade clean better on curved surface. Therefore, modern vehicles are original equipped with boneless wiper blade.
Pros:
- Very low price. Just around HKD19 for a pair of wiper blade
- Hard and strong. Keeping it stable upon wiping.
- Good enough for most Chinese and Japanese vehicles that are originally equipped with conventional wiper blade.
- Very suitable for light goods vehicle and truck
Conventional Wiper Blade Connector
Conventional wiper blade connection always match with “J” hook wiper arm with 3mm thickness (and 4mm normally) and a standardize width on the vehicle.
Vehicles with “J” hook wiper arm normally comes with 3mm “J” hook, sometimes 4mm. However, I met a very rare case where the vehicle wiper arm was actually replaced by a substitute, with a wider width “J” hook wiper arm.
Below image shows a “J” hook wiper arm, normally found in Chinese/Japanese manufactured vehicles and older model Mini Cooper.
How to Install?
- Measure the two wiper blade length. NEVER exceed the original equipped length.
(After getting the new wiper blades)
Originally using bone wiper blade
2. Press the lock button around the “J” hook area of the wiper blade to unlock and take out the wiper blade.
Originally using boneless wiper blade
2. Use any tools to lift up the lock and take out the wiper blade.
3. Install the new bone wiper blade, ensure that the wiper blade is securely locked. You normally hear a “click” sound if you securely installed it.
4. Turn on the washer fluid to try the new wiper blade. I advise to try the fastest speed of the wiper blade for some seconds.
There are lots of video tutorial online related to “J” hook wiper blade replacement. Any video can show you how to do the replacement. It’s the simpliest of all wiper blade available.
Beam (boneless) wiper blade
Used in most modern vehicles especially in Western manufactured vehicles such as BMW. Boneless wiper blade got a flexible curved like plastic holding the rubber to wipe the windscreen.
It uses reverse aerodynamic theory like car rear spoiler to stick onto the windscreen firmly and its flexibility utilize the wiper blade rubber fully on the windscreen.
Some users may find boneless wiper blade isn’t as good, or around the same cleaning ability as conventional wiper blade. In fact, the shape of the outer wiper blade plays an important role in it.
This wiper blade is more expensive than the conventional one. Yet, you may probably find some that is the same price as conventional one – just around HK$23 for a pair.
How it works?
In aerodynamic theory, airplane can fly because of the wing AoA (Angle of attack). If the angle is too small, it cannot lift up the plane. If the angle is too big, it will lead to stall.
Reversing this theory, it helps the wiper blade to stick onto the windscreen tightly. Hence, the shape of the outer wiper blade that directs the wind plays a role upon wiping the windscreen. Some boneless wiper blade may look like any others, but it actually did not have this function on it. Similar to vehicle owners who uses glue to stick a spoiler at the rear but it actually does not have any effect on the vehicle.
How to install?
Unlike conventional wiper blade, beam wiper blade can have multiple connector for different types of vehicle. There are 18 (or maybe more) types of connector, including “J” hook.
Strongly suggest to watch video online learn how to disconnect the wiper blade from the arm if your vehicle(s) is/are not using “J” hook. It’s still easy to disconnect, just that too many types of connectors available based on different brands and models of the vehicle.
Hybrid wiper blade
Often used in Toyota Vellfire and Alphrad. It consists of both bone wiper blade stability and boneless wiper blade reverse aerodynamic ability.
The metal frame is hidden under the plastic container(see the circle on the image above).
This wiper blade connector commonly for “J” hook wiper arm, which are normally for Japanese made vehicle.
This type of wiper blade cost slightly more expensive than the beam wiper blade. However, some may find the cost as low as HK$23 for a pair.
Water Spray Wiper Blade
Normally found in premium vehicles like Tesla Model X. The wiper blade is attached with water pipe. The washing fluid goes from there to clean the windscreen instead of spraying the fluid from the front.
It’s more expensive than the any other three above. The cheapest one you can find probably around HK$100 for a pair.
Conclusion
It’s normally not a concern for European/US made vehicle owners as they only purchase beam wiper blade or water spray wiper blade.
For Chinese/Japanese manufactured vehicles, it may be a no brainer to get at least a beam wiper blade / hybrid wiper blade given the three types of wiper blade prices are just around the same. I tried all three of them on a Toyota Vellfire and none proved superior to the others.
Possibly those beam wiper blades aren’t just working with the reverse aerodynamic, or maybe the rubber on conventional wiper blade is slightly better that makes it cleaning on par with the others.
However, it’s not enough just to understand the types of wiper blade for your vehicles. The rubber it holds, is the main part that does the job of cleaning. There are 3 types of rubbers available which I will explain in the next article.
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