I see so many people saying they've had nothing but trouble when trying to replace the OEM wiper blades. I just went to Walmart and bought RainX Latitudes. The 28" blade for the driver side and the 14" for the passenger side. I had my buddy order an OEM blade for my rear window. Everything seems to fit fine and work okay? Will I regret this later?

The only thing that's weird is the passenger blade (14") is wiping 1" less [shorter] than the OEM blade did. It only bothers me a tiny bit...

 

i only use oem refills. in fact i replaced the front ones on da GK the other week. easy and cheap to do. why bother going aftermarket?

 

I am pretty sure that Honda does not make wiper blades. So, all blades are aftermarket, even the ones with Honda's name on the package. I suspect there are a lot more Walmart around than Honda dealers, which makes going there a lot more convenient than going to a Honda dealer. Porsche uses Mann oil filter. You can buy a Mann oil filter for $8, or you can buy the same oil filter with Porsche on the box for $35.

 

Wiper blades from Walmart only come as an assembly...the dealer inserts are just the rubber (and therefore, are a bit cheaper).

You need to be careful of aftermarket blade assemblies...my last Walmart blade (on my wife's van) rusted up in a year and was only cleaning a 3" portion of the glass.

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Wasserball: The thing about Honda dealer parts is, THEY ARE MADE TO HONDA SPECS. So you KNOW they will work at least as well as OEM. I have found that many of the common consumables (such as brake pads, oil filters, wiper blade inserts) are quite reasonably priced (especially when purchased from the online discount dealers).

Other things (such as brake rotors) are 'way overpriced even at the discount dealers. So, it pays to shop even when not eliminating factory parts as a source.

 

yes, what you say is true. For wipers, there are many manufactures. If I were to get a wiper from walmart, I would take the old blade with me to make sure the length is exactly the same, not something slightly shorter. Maybe Honda is reasonable in parts, but my experience with boutique cars is they are more expensive. I can order OEM parts from 3rd merchants for less.

 

Instructions for replacing just the inserts are in the manual. Not hard at all. Inserts are much cheaper than replacing the whole arm assembly too.

 

Something you can do to extend the life of your wiper blades is rotate them. Every few months, remove the insert and flip it 180 degrees. It's like getting a new wiper blade.

 

For 20 years I always replaced my Tacoma wipers with the whole assembly because I was too lazy to deal with the inserts. When my Fit's front blades needed replacing I used Aero aftermarket blades. I never even thought about ordering the Honda inserts. When the rear blade needed replacing I decided to order the oem insert and like 2Rismo2 says, it's an easy job.

The Aero blades are very good but when they wear out, I'll definitely replace them with the oem inserts. Glad I kept the original brackets...

 

I haven't done anything yet.
But I would say, with my brand new 2016 Fit, the wipers have been a disappointment.
They squeek, chatter, and the drivers side one is smearing instead of clearing a portion on the center.
They work to a passable level if I keep the window treated with Rain-X...but start to fail pretty obviously as the treatment wears off.

But I think it's pretty much JUST the drivers side blade. And hopefully, maybe, I just got a lemon of an insert from the factory.
I'm going to try replacing with OEM inserts...even though this set is new.

I'll see if it continues to be a problem. Or if it fixes the situation.

 

One way to extend wiper blade life, particularly for those of us who don't see much rain, is to lift each blade off the glass momentarily after using them. This straightens the rubber blade and prevents it from taking a set. It also prevents chattering.

 

Mine chattered (2016) but the refills from my dealer were 100% better than the originals supplied with the Japan made car.

 

I had trouble finding a replacement blade for the short side ... I checked around a bit and no one seemed to have it in stock. Then I read another thread here about inserts and decided to go with that. It's been great so far, handled the recent rain and snow no problem. Price is right too.

 

Fitchet
I a m experiencing the same problem with the driver side wiper on a new LX 2016. I picked up a set of
2 28A BOSCH ICON WIPER
2 13A BOSCH ICON WIPER
I did a quick comparison of the OEM and the Bosh. The Bosh Rubber insert seemed to be larger. The chatter went away after the Bosh blades were installed. I kept the OEM blades and will revisit then in the spring. There was a $10 rebate at Autozone. We have a mixed bag of ice/snow coming in on Monday.

 

We bought our '15 CPO, original owner had already replaced wipers with whole new seemingly single-piece assemblies, so....will likely just continue to go this route...I work too much/too hard to be bothered with saving a few bucks using inserts....."BE A NURSE, they said...IT'LL BE FUN, they said..." ...bastards....working in the medical field will drain you of your lifeblood, nightshift especially....

 

My dealer will install the inserts free.

 

Nice ....as they should I guess, since I gotta replace the whole assembly(s) as of now, I could get Honda assemblies and do inserts in the future....I mean, it's not like I've never done inserts (been driving 43 years), just outta the habit since they're not a local convenience item around here.

 

Update:
Bought a new insert....$6.00 at Honda Dealership.
So far much better. No smearing, chatter.

The one I had...was horrible from day one, driving off the lot.
Didn't see anything visually wrong with the old one...but the new one is better.

 

sounds good and good choice. ive experimented with many different aftermarket brand blades and keep coming back to oem refills. oem and aftermarket are not the same.

 

Blades that come with the vehicle stink. I easily replaced mine with the Bosch Evolution blades, which are very simple to install and do a fabulous job, especially with snow and ice.

 

The wiper blades are fine. It's been raining here like all week. No issues whatsoever.