Finally put my new PIAA windshield wipers on today. Each blade comes with a silicone impregnated cloth to prep the windshield after cleaning it with glass cleaner, which helps the blades glide smoothly and water to bead up. Most silicone wiper blades are made just with silicone, but these are a rubber/silicone mix which PIAA says is more streak free and durable. I checked to see if people were having any issues with silicone only wipers, and many report streaking and/or durability problems. The car had RainX ones on it, and I kind of like their connectors better, as they have a definite click putting them on. The PIAAs fit, it's just that you have to really push down on them and pull the locking tabs out to make sure they're in position.
I also had bought a 4 pack of rubber "top hat" grommets to secure the rubber/plastic cosmetic strips that sit at the lower corners of my windshield. They are intended to cover up an area where the windshield molding overlaps. This wouldn't have even been necessary had the auto glass shop that I had replace my windshield not pulled them off like disposable bandaids instead of using a proper plastic pry tool to nudge them out. It left the upper tips of them permanently deformed sticking out like a sore thumb, and the driver side one is so loose it's now hard to get the whole upper half of the 6 or so inch strip to lay down. I was livid when the guy at the auto glass shop said, "they're just cosmetic".
There's a 10mm diameter short post molded into the underside of the top half of the strip. I figured I could take one of these grommets, which are 9mm ID, slip the non flange end of it over the post after roughing it up and spraying it with extra hold hair spray (a trick MTBers have used for decades to secure grips on handlebars), then tuck the flange of the grommets under the edge of the windshield and the body edge of the car. It's not a 100% ideal solution, but it won't be visible and the silicone grommet should dampen vibration well. I'm still not too miffed at the auto glass store, as the installation included a free 3 mo membership at the biggest tunnel car wash biz in our state, that have at least 28 locations.
That nearby tunnel wash has been an eye opener, especially since I don't have tenant parking yet and the street in front of our building has huge leaf trees that aphids voraciously devour the leaves of and poop sap-like "honeydew" all over our cars. It gets so bad it's hard to even see out your windshield if parked there for a couple days in warm weather. I also learned you definitely want to clean it off BEFORE rolling down any windows, as tiny grit can get stuck in it and scratch your windows when you roll them up and down. So I poke along the 30 blocks on the nearby avenue the tunnel wash is on to wash the car before I go anywhere that time of year. I think there's only about 2 tenants ahead of me on the list for our 24 stall lot, and the day they notify me there's an opening can't come soon enough! Just my luck I'll get a spot that's under a big tree.
