Wiper Issue

I bought a nice set of either BOSCH icon or evolution wipers. The problem is they streak the day after installation. Autozone gives me a free set every time I complain but its getting old. Any suggestions for good wiper blades or arms even. I'm thinking of installing wiper arms off a newer GM vehicle. I heard Moldy Mac did that... Any suggestions for that? The B-Body arms are small for the sheer size of the windshield.

There are some threads on replacing the arms on the forum, and also on ISSF. I put some arms that I got off of a Saturn on my OCC. I had to modify one a little. Others have used arms off of another Buick. I am not sure which model. Do a search.

The arms are long enough, but they do not have enough spring tension to hold the blade against the glass with enough force for a clean pass. The blades will take a set when they are parked against the glass for a period of time. Dirt on/under the blade will also cause a streak. The original design used the small ramps on the cowl covers to hold the blade off of the glass when they are parked, but they do not work, because the wipers never seem to park there.

I use the Goodyear blades on my stock wiper arms on my 96 Roady.   Not expensive (Wal-Mart) at all and they work just fine.   I like that the blades are black-painted metal, and not plastic-framed.   The plastic ones tends to fade quickly.   My friend Ben's (Silverfox's former car) blue 94 Roady has the newer style arms off I believe a LeSabre (?), and they have the more-modern mounting setup.  

My main complaint with the newer-style arms is that you SEE the arm a lot more from inside the car, especially the elbow where they pivot near the base.  

On my '96 Roady with the stock arms, all you only see is the top of the wiper blades from inside the car.  On Ben's 94, you see the arms and the entire blades...   I wasn't crazy about that view from the driver's seat...kinda ruins the view over the dash and hood.    I think the stock setup looks smoother.   BUT my car is mainly used as a weekend toy now that hardly sees rain anymore, so I understand function may trump form here.

One other thing that bothered me was the one-piece blades on Ben's car tended to THUNK when they reached the upper position and then switched to swing back down.   We got stuck in some rain on our Northeast adventure, and I'd thought it was the wiper hitting the edge of the glass at first, but it turns out it was the actual square-blade pivoting when changing directions.   I'd meant to install standard blade refills on his car before leaving, but didn't know the correct sizes for those LeSabre arms, so I didn't get to that.

-Mike

Oh and one note, my stock arms DO park on the ramps when off, which holds the blades off the glass.  Never had an issue with them not working right, interesting to read above that Fred has seen them that don't sit right (?)   The LeSabre arms on Ben's car no longer use the ramps, so the blades sit against the glass all the time.   Not crazy about that.  

Projects!

Thanks! For now I'll get some different blades, and if that doesn't work I'll look into better arms...