The perfect silicone wiper blades

n3umw

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After exactly one year of use, the 18" and 26" OEM wipers on my 2019 Coupe were leaving behind droplets of water at the center of the driver's side wiper. I decided to bite the bullet and buy the best replacements available, PIAA silicone replacement assemblies for $30. The replacements were very easy to install. The blades came with multiple adapters but these were not needed. After installation, I noticed that the center pivots at rest sat much higher than the OEM. The OEM were almost flush with the hood and the PIAA stuck out about an inch higher. I was not happy.

I knew the OEM were refillable and looking at the old blades, it was easy to see that you could slide the rubber insert away from the tip and easily remove the rubber section. I noticed that the OEM blades had Mitsubishi stamped on the sides of the pivots. Maybe I could swap the old rubber with the new silicone from the PIAA blades? Unfortunately I could not see an easy way to release the silicone insert from the new blades. After trying to unlock the PIAA tip sections, I gave up grabbed a pair of small needle nose plyers. I slid the silicone back and bent two corners of the plastic channel at the inside part of the tip upwards. This created a small neat gap in the channel, just large enough to remove the silicone before the tip. The gap was small enough that I could put the wipers back together if my plan didn't work. A utility knife or small pair of side cutters might have also worked. In effect, I made the new blade assemblies refillable.

The new silicone insert installed easily into the OEM blades and I put them back onto the car. PERFECT! The PIAA blades came with cleaning wipes, but I cleaned the windshield with Rain-x fluid in the 4 oz bottle instead.

This morning I drove to work in the rain and the new blades functioned perfectly! Very quiet and no water at all left on my windshield.
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fenix-silver

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PIAA blades are the best out there, IMO. I had a set on my previous car for 5 years and they were still doing a pretty good job when I sold the car. I just flipped the original OEM inserts in my Civic wipers last evening and I was happy to see they come out very easily. I noticed the OEM inserts have a trapezoidal profile to the top side if the insert instead of the squared off profile that the PIAA inserts use. Was this the case for you and did it present any issues when inserting the PIAAs into the OEM blades?
 

Gruber

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I wrote this some time ago wondering if the PIAA inserts would fit OEM blades. Then I bought some thing PIAA either blades or inserts but I haven't tried them on yet.
https://www.civicx.com/threads/wiper-blades-oem-or-bosch.25393/page-3#post-496743
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The OEM blades are probably fine so I don't feel any need to replace them. However, Honda only has crude rubber refills afaik, and they are not cheap for the refills.
A regular rubber refill should cost no more than $2.99.

If I ever replace the OEM blades I will not use any brand that doesn't offer silicone rubber inserts. Silicone rubber is just superior to anything else but is not commonly offered in stores today, apparently because it lasts too long.

Silicone rubber inserts can be bought for $12. I wonder if these would fit directly in the civic wiper blades.

http://www.piaa.com/store/p/315-Silicone-Wiper-Refill-26-650Mm.aspx
 


NHCivicGuy

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fenix-silver

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Awesome find! I'm going to test these out when my OEM ones finally wear out. I found the refills on Amazon, so if they don't fit I'll be sending them back easily when the time comes.

Driver side- https://www.amazon.com/94065-Silicone-Wiper-Blade-Refill/dp/B0002Z9R16
Passenger side- https://www.amazon.com/94045-Silicone-Wiper-Blade-Refill/dp/B0002Z9R0W
Someone needs to measure the width of the OEM inserts. I'll do so when I think of it and report back. The issue is that PIAA uses a 6mm wide insert for shorter blades and an 8mm one for longer. So, assuming both OEM inserts are the same width (and hopefully 8mm), we'd just need to purchase a 26" blade and a 24" blade (and just cut it to length). http://www.piaa.com/store/c/72-Wiper-Refills.aspx
 

NHCivicGuy

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Someone needs to measure the width of the OEM inserts. I'll do so when I think of it and report back. The issue is that PIAA uses a 6mm wide insert for shorter blades and an 8mm one for longer. So, assuming both OEM inserts are the same width (and hopefully 8mm), we'd just need to purchase a 26" blade and a 24" blade (and just cut it to length). http://www.piaa.com/store/c/72-Wiper-Refills.aspx
The reason I didn't even consider that is because the OP in this thread swapped over the inserts from the PIAA blades themselves and didn't mention anything about that, so I assumed they were match for match on the stock width.
 

Drake

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Any strong opinions on which PIAA blades (Aero Vogue, Super Silicone, or Si-Tech) are the best for the Civic? The Si-tech seem to appeal to my OCD for some inexplicable reason...
 

86salmon

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Any strong opinions on which PIAA blades (Aero Vogue, Super Silicone, or Si-Tech) are the best for the Civic? The Si-tech seem to appeal to my OCD for some inexplicable reason...
I'm running si-tech for a couple months now. Had trico for over a year after stock died in three months...they worked great, but I wanted to check out piaa

So far so good
 


Drake

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I'm running si-tech for a couple months now. Had trico for over a year after stock died in three months...they worked great, but I wanted to check out piaa

So far so good
How was the instillation/fit? Easy enough?
 

86salmon

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How was the instillation/fit? Easy enough?
Blades click right in. I'll be able to use inserts from now on

Got them on sale direct from piaa and sat on them. Don't remember the price
 

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Wish I could see this earlier... I've got the OEM ones ready, got to use that first
 

86salmon

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fenix-silver

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