With winter just around the corner, thought it would be a good idea to pick up a new set of wipers for the Civic. The windshield was recently treated with Aquapel and the old set was only 1 year old and still wiping great. Having the window treated , honestly I haven't been running the wipers that often anyways.
One problem i have been having with wipers is skipping and chattering when there is very light rain. This problem happens sometimes depending on age of rubber, car wash wax residue , spring pressure , etc. Because hydrophobic coatings don't allow rain to build up on windshield so friction between wiper and windshield is higher.
In my quest to get to the bottom of wiper noise even with new wipers, i have tried quite a few brands on the market. Materials range from natural rubber, teflon coated blades, beam style , frameless, silicone. Before putting down a lot of money for PIAA Super Silicone wipers that have great reviews, I decided to try a new product offered by Walmart called Ultimate-X flex frame fusion.
Ignoring all the marketing buzz word on the package, these wipers are manufactured by CAP Corp. which is a Korean manufacturer of OEM auto parts http://ecapauto.com.
The blade is steel construction with sections of plastic covering the entire arm. Blade was wrapped with a blue protective cover that needs to be removed before use. Wiper blade says it has repellent infused in the rubber which lays down a continuous coating of rain repellent as it wipes. No where does it state that the blades are made of silicone, as other manufacturers state with wipers containing repellent.
Packaging did say Smooth & Quiet, repels , rain, sleet & snow. Bring it on! I will provide my long term test update in a few months.
Installation was simple. Standard hook at the end of wiper arm slipped into a pivoting clip. To complete the installation a cover snapped on the top finishing it nicely giving it a clean OEM look.
Before using instructions say clean the windshield and run wipers on high on a dry windshield for at least 10 minutes. This transfers some of the water repellent coating onto windshield. I skipped this step since Aquapel was already applied.
Update Oct 30, 2010
So far quietest wiper owned so far. Seems to work well with Aquapel.
Update Nov 16, 2010
Got a ton of rain today. Noticed wipers on the driver side started to skip on the return stroke. Haven't washed my car for a couple of weeks so not sure if road grime buildup on wiper or windshield is to blame for that. There is definitely something on windshield because at the stops just before wiper heads for downstroke there is a definitive line of film. tried to squirt wiper fluid to clean but after a few wipes skip comes back
Wipers are still very quiet despite the skip and maybe just need a cleaning to remove any coating. Will use Stoner's Invisible glass which has some acetone to strip the windshield clean.
Update Nov 18, 2010
Another rainy day in Mississauga, On today. night before i had the opportunity to throughly clean the windshield with invisible glass and wipe down the wiper blades. Skipping wipers a couple days ago are gone now. This indicates that some coating on windshield is causing extra friction. The main street was freshly paved the other day so the tar spray probably caused this skipping effect. Wipers work perfectly now without any smearing or voids. Very impressed still with wipers. Next text in a couple of months will be how they perform in snow and ice.
Update Dec 12, 2010
Snow missed us again today , instead got the rain. Took the car to a coin wash place and i think wax got on windshield because chattering came back again. It was too wet to clean the windshield again, but after a while it settled down. The harder it rained it seemed to make the problem less pronounced. Wipers still doing a great job with no degradation.
Update Dec 18, 2010
Weather changed overnight with a flash freeze that froze all the doors of the car as well as putting a sheet of ice on the windshield. Ultimate X wipers were frozen and didn't flip . These were not advertised as winter wipers where wiper arm is encased in a rubber cover. I found the plastic cover over the arm was an area where ice would form. A few smacks on the windshield broke off the ice and this help restore clean wiping again.
Update Jan 22, 2011
In the deep of winter today the temperature -22 celsius plus wind chill. With the windshield warmed up i squited some washer fluid and wiped a few times. Very clear wipe and these wipers are approaching the 3 month mark. Driver side wiper void in the middle of the wiper where the fluid was not being wiped away. Ice on the underside of the wiper prevented the passenger side from flipping properly. Cleared the ice and it was fine again. Good test of wipers on how flexible they are in extreme temperatures. Blade is still very clean and no signs of rubber wear. next update in a couple of months.
Update July 20, 2011Spring was a wet one and the wipers got a good workout. Its now mid summer and its pretty dry so I will close out the review at the 9 month mark.
Recently i started noticing more black residue on the wiper blade as I cleaned the blades. Running my fingers along the bottom of the blade you could feel the profile was not as razor sharp as it used to. When wipers were new a few squirts of washer fluid would clear the windshield. Now smearing has started despite cleaning the blades beforehand. As the wipers aged they are now leaving marks where the wipers stop/change direction. Not certain if this is residue from the rain repellent treated blades.
From my experience 1 year for a set of wipers is pretty good. I would rate durabilty of the Ultimate-x as average.
Pros:
- Quiet wiping operation
- fits windshield with no areas of missed wiping
- Easy to install, nice retention clip to ensure wiper is locked into arm
Cons:
- experienced smearing near end of wiper life
- expected longer service life since it is at premium price point
- Plastic arm cover tends to build up ice in winter months (but not designed as winter blade)
