The Best Wiper Blade Brands You Should Consider

Comparing the Best Wiper Blade Brands

High-quality wiper blades can improve safety and driving comfort by ensuring the effective removal of rain, snow, and debris from your windshield. Here are some of the best wiper blade brands known for their durability, performance, and reliability:

Trico and Anco Wiper Blades

Trico and Anco wiper blades are both owned by First Brands, LLC. First Brands also owns Fram filters, Champion Labs (filters), Strongarm lifts, Autolite spark plugs, Airtex fuel pumps Carter fuel parts, and Brake Parts Incorporated (Raybestos brake parts).

Anco is a reputable brand known for offering affordable and reliable wiper blades. The Anco 31-Series is a popular choice for those seeking a traditional frame-style wiper blade that provides consistent performance at an economical price. Anco also offers the Contour and Profile series, which are beam-style blades designed for improved performance and durability. Anco wiper blades are easy to install and provide good value for money.

Trico is one of the oldest and most respected names in the wiper blade industry. The Trico Force and Trico NeoForm series are among their top offerings, featuring beam-style designs that provide excellent wiping performance and durability. Trico wiper blades are known for their innovative designs and materials, which enhance their ability to resist wear and tear. The company offers a wide range of blades suitable for various vehicle types and weather conditions.

Michelin wiper blades are made by Pylon

Michelin is a trusted name in the automotive industry, and their wiper blades are known for their quality and performance. The Michelin Stealth Ultra series features a hybrid design that combines the benefits of both frame and beam-style blades. These wiper blades offer superior durability and excellent wiping performance in all weather conditions. The Smart Flex technology adapts to the curve of the windshield, ensuring maximum contact and a streak-free wipe.

Valeo wiper blades made by PIAA

The PIAA Super Silicone series is particularly popular, featuring a silicone rubber blade that coats the windshield with a water-repellent film, improving visibility during rain. These blades are durable and offer excellent resistance to wear and tear. PIAA wiper blades are available in various styles, including traditional frame, beam, and hybrid designs, catering to different preferences and vehicle types.

Rain x wiper blades made by ITW Global Brands

Rain x wiper blades made by ITW Global Brands makers of Black Magic, Blue Coral, Devcon, Fast Orange, Fix-A-Flat, Genuine Innovations, Gumout, No Touch, Permatex, Slick 50, Slime, Spray Nine, The Right Stuff, and VersaChem

The Rain-X Latitude series offers advanced beam-style blades with water-repellent coatings that enhance visibility by repelling rainwater. These blades are durable and provide streak-free wiping, making them a favorite among drivers who frequently encounter rain or snow. Rain-X also offers a variety of other wiper blades, including the Rain-X Weatherbeater, known for its reliable performance and affordability.

Bosch wiper blades

The Bosch ICON series is particularly popular, featuring a beam-style design that provides excellent wiping performance and durability. These blades are designed to resist wear from exposure to UV rays, ozone, and other environmental factors, making them ideal for all-season use. Bosch wiper blades are known for their quiet operation and consistent performance across different weather conditions.

Wondering WHEN you should replace wiper blades? See this post

Choosing a Wiper blade style

Standard wiper blades

Up until the 90s, all cars and trucks came with standard wiper blades. The wiper blade was built with a frame that connected to the wiper arm and several springs to distribute the downward force to the rubber insert. Standard wiper blades contain either two or four springs to achieve either four or eight pressure points along with the rubber insert.

Standard wiper blades are the least expensive of all types. They work fine to remove water, snow, ice, mud, and road grit. However, due to their open design, snow can pack into the springs, preventing them from exerting even force along the rubber insert. When that happens, you get uneven wiping, which leaves streaks and unwiped areas on your windshield.

One option to avoid the problem is to use standard wiper blades in the Summer and Fall and switch to Winter wiper blades with a boot or Winter extreme blades in winter.

Beam-style wiper blades

Carmakers switched to a “beam” style blade to improve wiping evenness. The beam blade eliminates the traditional frame and spring and uses a flat, curved spring with a rubber squeegee attached to the bottom portion. In theory, the spring steel is supposed to apply equal pressure across the entire rubber squeegee. The design works well on shorter blades but doesn’t do quite as good a job with longer wiper blades. In those applications, the edges of the blade don’t wipe as well. So wiper manufacturers beefed up the design with reinforcement along the back and also introduced a hybrid blade.

Reinforced beam-style blades

This blade is similar to the original beam style but with the addition of a curved reinforcement member to prevent edge lift. That’s an especially important feature for longer wiper blades. If you have a choice between a traditional beam blade and a reinforced beam blade and you have long wiper blades, choose the reinforced style.

Hybrid wiper blades

Hybrid wiper blades provide all the advantages of a standard frame and a reinforced beam-style blade. They provide more stability, especially at higher speeds. The hybrid design greatly reduces skipping and chatter and performs much better than the earlier designs.

The Best Wiper Blade Brands— According to Rick

Anco and Trico are my two go-to American and Asian brand vehicles, and Bosch is my favorite for European imports. Anco wiper blades are my personal favorite because they’re available at all Walmart stores, and they’re priced competitively.

Anco, Trico, and Bosch use high-quality rubber squeegee material to prevent UV degradation and “park set,” a permanent “set” caused by leaving your wipers in the parked position.

Economy brands use plastic frames and springs and lower-quality rubber material. You’ll experience shorter life and more chatter, flex, skipping, and unwiped areas with less expensive brands.

Avoid economy wiper blades

Sure, they’re cheaper, but there’s a reason for that. They don’t work as well or last as long.

Best places to buy wiper blades

Buy Anco blades right off the shelf at WalMart or rockauto.com. DON’T buy them from a retail auto parts store—you’ll pay almost double if you buy the same blades at auto parts stores.

What’s the difference between Anco wiper blade styles

Anco Conventional: Standard design with frame and springs. Least expensive. Prone to snow packing.

Anco Contour: Beam style. Great for shorter blades. Can experience edge lift with longer blades

Anco Profile: Beam blade with reinforcement and aerodynamic assist. Best blade for wiping at highway speeds. The aerodynamic reinforcement bar uses wind pressure to force the blade onto the glass to prevent wind lift.

Anco Hybrid: Best of beam and conventional designs. Sturdy and best wiping of all styles

Anco Winter with boot: A conventional blade with frame and springs wrapped in a rubber boot to prevent snow packing. Great for winter. Not very pretty.

Anco Winter Extreme: Provides best winter wiping with no snow pack in a more attractive design